It may be thought by some, who from prejudice or ignorance are not in a position to judge properly of the matter, that there is nothing in this part of England which is worth writing of or describing,...

It would appear most fitting to the proper usages that, before going further, I should tell you something about our family and the mode of life we kept in my younger days, and also some particulars of...

Upon a certain fine afternoon in the early spring of 1631, dinner being well over, and my father smoking his pipe in the chimney-corner, while my mother was busied elsewhere on some matter of domestic...

“I am going to find primroses,” said Rose, picking up her basket. “I know where they grow,” said I. “Come along, and I will show you the best places.” And so we went through the wood, gay as the sprin...

Upon the very evening of the day whereon I had buried Philip Lisle’s guinea in a corner of my garden, there came to our house Parson Drumbleforth, who had walked along the highway from Darrington to h...

It was in the middle of spring when I was first taken to school, and my life till the end of the following summer was comparatively uneventful. On Saturdays I went home, to tell Jacob Trusty of my doi...

My mother, womanlike, was somewhat disturbed at the idea of having aught to do with law matters, and she looked exceedingly grave when the sheriff’s officer announced his mission. But my father, comin...

I was too much horrified by the sudden attack upon my father to cry out or even to move. I sat for what seemed an age without even drawing my breath. Dumpling quivered beneath me; I heard the mare sha...

After that time many years came and went and brought nothing of moment with them. It seemed, indeed, to me that however the great world’s affairs might go, naught disturbed us at Dale’s Field, where t...

During the next few days Jack Drumbleforth was in his element. Naught pleased him so well as to be manager of a feast or entertainment, and he found vast delight in making plans how this or that shoul...

Now, it seemed to me when I heard Philip Lisle’s voice, that I was walking in a dream from which I should presently wake to find myself elsewhere, so strange was it to meet with him and Rose standing ...

That day was an eventful one to us at Dale’s Field in more than one way. As soon as breakfast was over we had to commence our preparations for the evening’s festivities, which were to be on a larger s...

I think there was little more dancing amongst us upon that evening, for no one seemed to have much heart left for merrymaking after hearing Philip Lisle’s news. Certainly the country had not been so p...

It can hardly be said that Philip Lisle’s appeal to those gathered together in our barn had met with much success, for of all the men he spoke to, only two had promised to go with him, and both these ...

Now, what with the noise and confusion of the last few minutes, taken together with a somewhat hard blow that lighted upon the back of my head, I was so dazed and astonished that it was some moments b...

Now, when he had brought us into a place of safety, and had seen us lodged in somewhat more comfortable fashion than that we had lately enjoyed, our deliverer sat himself down before us and looked at ...

I cannot deny that when I heard the last ring of the horses’ feet, and realized that Philip and Jack were gone, perhaps to great adventures, I was somewhat downcast at the thought of being left behind...

Now, as good fortune would have it, Parson Drumbleforth happened to be in our house at the very moment of the arrival of Jack’s letter, and knowing that the latter would not fail to send news to his f...

During the next few months we heard little news of Philip Lisle and Jack Drumbleforth, for the war made but small progress, the rival armies being for the most part in safe quarters for the winter. No...

I suppose that I was very quiet and reflective during that walk home from church, for more than once Mistress Rose Lisle rallied me on my silence. And indeed I had cause for reflection, for I knew tha...

I suppose that a child which is caught in the very midst of some naughtiness feels pretty much as I did at that moment. There I stood, with the pistol hanging in my hand, first staring at Rose and the...

You may be quite sure that we threw wide open our hearts and doors and welcomed our travellers with no little rejoicing. For though they had not been away from us for such a great length of time, havi...

Even as I had expected, Philip Lisle consented willingly to give up his Rose to my keeping. From our first time of meeting there had been a kind of fellow-feeling ’twixt him and me, and we had grown t...

And now, whether I would or not, I was forced into active participation in this war which was being fought out ’twixt Englishman and Englishman, and made to take a part in it which I had never dreamt ...

I was something more than surprised to see my two friends staring at me from their upper window, for I had no idea but that they were hundreds of miles away. Nevertheless, so heartily glad was I to se...

I do not suppose it possible for any man who has not actually seen bloodshed and war to form a proper understanding of what happens when two armies meet to give each other battle. Never, indeed, could...

The troopers into whose hands I had fallen were some twelve or fourteen in number, all of them sturdy fellows of the same type that I had seen so much of on the previous day. They were well mounted on...

I was exceedingly well pleased to regain my liberty on such easy terms, and said so to the trooper who conducted me outside the camp, and who was the same grayheaded man that had brought me in earlier...

Now, although I had been away from home but a few days, I had in that short space of time passed through such strange and remarkable adventures that it seemed to me as though ages had elapsed since I ...

Ben Tuckett, I think, was somewhat comforted when he heard that Captain Trevor had ridden away, but he had hardly recovered his peace of mind when a fresh matter came to trouble him. This time it was ...

Now, those who rejoiced that the investment of the Castle had come to so speedy an end were considerably disappointed when they found that Sir Marmaduke Langdale and his men were under the necessity o...

Now at midnight on the 27th of May, while I was sleeping in my quarters, there came to me Ben Tuckett, who had been on guard at the Barbican, and woke me somewhat hurriedly, saying that I must rise at...

We rode in silence down the rough lane that leads from Baghill to Darrington, keeping along the stretch of grass at the wayside as much as possible, so that the sound of our horses’ feet might be dead...

We came shortly into Rotherham, where we found men busily engaged in the casting of cannon for the Parliamentarians, and on that account we tarried there but a short time, and succeeded not in learnin...

The noise I heard outside the house was caused by the trampling of a horse’s feet on the pavement in front of the door, followed by the jingling of steel and harness as the rider alighted. Then came t...

“Alas, Will!” whispered Philip, as Captain Trevor approached us, “we are on the wrong track. This man is innocent enough. We have been fooled somewhere.” “And what brings you here, gentlemen?” asked C...

When we had sufficiently rewarded master innkeeper and his companion in villainy according to their several deserts, we thought it time to be moving on our way, and one of the troopers fetched Rose’s ...

So Dennis Watson had escaped me, and there was naught for it but to wait with what patience I could for some future opportunity of settling matters with him. We left the wretched old man his father to...

It was now drawing near harvest time, and I determined to see my crops gathered and garnered before I did aught else. To tell truth, I had lost a good deal during the recent hostilities, for the Round...

So there was no more talk of our marriage at that time, and I went sadly enough to tell Parson Drumbleforth that it would not take place, and that his son Jack had got a grievous hurt. And thereupon a...

I drew near to my house with many anxious feelings, not knowing what news might be in store for me. We had been so jealously watched during our confinement in the Castle that it had been almost an imp...

I spent five days in travelling to London, riding my own horse all the way, and keeping him up to his five-and-thirty miles a day by letting him have his fill of good food and a long night’s rest betw...

It was about the middle of the afternoon of that eventful day that I set out from my lodging in Westminster, and walked by way of Whitehall towards Charing Cross. Whither I was bound or with what aim ...

So strongly did Dennis row that he reached the stairs on the north bank of the river, close upon the head of the bridge, while we were yet some four boats’ lengths away. He leaped from his boat and wa...

By the time we reached the inn where I had stayed when I passed through Peterborough on my journey to London, the stranger’s illness was much increased, so that it was all I could do to keep him uprig...

I entered upon the final stages of my homeward journey with very different feelings from those which had filled me when I left London. When I rode away from Master Goodfellow’s house I thought of litt...

It was one of the most beautiful days I ever remember to have known, that Easter Sunday of 1649, for it was all sunshine and springing of flowers, and yet it went by surely in slower fashion than ever...

It was long past sunrise when I rose on the morning of my wedding-day, for the excitement of the previous night’s adventure and the task of carrying Rupert Watson home had wearied me no little, and I ...

William Dale’s fears on this ground were ultimately realized. There is now no trace of house or farmstead on the spot where he and his forefathers lived, and their acres are swallowed up in the neighb...