DENOUNCED 33

he leapt from his horse, alarmed at the pallor of the old
butler’s face.

“Ves, Master Charles, I have some very bad news, and
have been waiting for the last two hours here, so as to stop
you going to the house.”

“Why shouldn’t I go to the house?”

“Because there are a dozen soldiers and three or four
constables there.”

“And my father?”

“"Fhey have taken him away.”

“This is bad news, Banks; but I know that he thought
that it might be so. But it will not be very serious; it is
only a question of a fine,” he said.

‘The butler shook his head sadly. “It is worse than that,
Master Charles; it is worse than you think.”

“Well, tell me all about it, Banks,” Charlie said, feeling
much alarmed at the old man’s manner.

“Well, sir, at three this afternoon two magistrates, John
Cockshaw and William Peters” (“Both bitter Whigs,”
Charlie put in) “rode up to the door. They had with them
six constables and twenty troopers.”

“There were enough of them then,” Charlie said.“ Did
they think my father was going to arm you all and defend
the place?”

“T don’t know, sir, but that is the number that came.
The magistrates and the constables and four of the soldiers
came into the house. Sir Marmaduke met them in the hall.

“To what do I owe the honour of this visit?’ he said,
quite cold and haughty.

“We have come, Sir Marmaduke Carstairs, to arrest you
on the charge of being concerned in a treasonable plot
against the king’s life.’

“Sir Marmaduke laughed out loud. ‘I have no design
on the life of William of Orange or of any other man,’ he
said. ‘I do not pretend to love him; in that matter there