THE KING AND THE BONDMEN.

 "s I am free now, father," answered Roger, shaking
Hubert's hand heartily, "and no man has a right to
hold or harm me. And when a man can look whom-
soever he will in the face without fear, shall his eye not
be bright and his countenance brave ?"
 I would I were free too, my son," replied Hubert;
"thy words make me feel the more how hard it is to
be a bondman."
 Grieve not, father," said Cicely, "let us be cheer-
ful now that my brothers are come home ;" and she
kissed her father and patted him on the cheek, as
though coaxing him to forget the one great sorrow
that weighed him down. She then set herself, with a
willing spirit and ready hand, to prepare their homely
supper.
 How happy was Joan! she seemed never to grow
tired of gazing at Roger, and admiring his altered
looks, and to know that Ralph had returned un-
harmed from all the dangers of the insurrection,
was to her satisfaction enough, though Hubert said
it would have been better had Ralph hidden himself
in London for a year and a day, and then he too
would have been free. Then Roger told that he had
come home with Ralph, because he hoped to be able
to buy his father's freedom with the money which
he had saved. Every one looked pleased on hearing
this except Hubert, who shook his head and said,
that as he had lived a thrall, so did he believe he
should die a thrall. Cicely, however, begged him
not to despair, and afterwards Ralph related all that
had befallen him from the time of his departure. He
had seen the king at Mile End, when the meeting
with the vassals took place, and heard him promise
the charters of freedom, and had helped to shout,
" Long live King Richard !" believing, with the others,