CHAPTER XII.

HIDE-AND-SEEK IN EARNEST.

-'Now go we in content

To liberty, and not to banishment.'

AS YOU LIKE IT.

H! James, what shall I do here without you?'

'Very well, I doubt not, sweetheart,

as you did before I came. Why! 'twas yourself, Bess, who reproached me for giving myself up to the Parliament. Have you forgotten that?' 'Nay, it is quite right that you should go, I know, but-but I shall be so lonely; and oh, brother! suppose it all fails, and is found out?'

'Why should it fail?' said James, with a slight impatience in his manner. All is ready, and what is there to fear this time? You are grown so timid and fearful of late, Bess, that I scarce know my bold ready-witted little fellow-conspirator of a few months ago.'

'Ah! when it seemed uncertain and such a long

way off, I did not care so much; but it has been coming nearer and nearer, and now-oh, James! when I think that you really are going away tonight, I can't help feeling unhappy.'

Here the little girl quite broke down, and, resting her head against her brother's shoulder, sobbed bitterly. James did his best to console her with the kindest and most caressing words that he could think of; but the task was not an easy one, for, now that the time was so near when he must part with the little sister who had been his chief companion and adviser for so long, recollections and regrets which he had scarcely felt before, came crowding fast upon him, and he found the office of comforter a most difficult one to fulfil. It gave him a pang to notice how white and thin was the face which Elizabeth at last lifted up from his shoulder a sad little face for only twelve years old, her brother could not help seeing, even though she was drying her eyes now, and saying, with an attempt at a smile, how selfish it was to be sorry that James was going away to be free and happy.

'I shall come back for you, Bess, some day,' he said, pulling her curls, and trying to rally his spirits and drive away the fear that had just entered his mind, Charles and I, with a whole French army at our heels; and we'll deliver you out of the custody of these miserable Roundheads with a high hand.'

The Duke of York and his Sister.

187

Elizabeth did her best to smile at this castle in the air; but the effort ended in a sigh,-so very far away seemed the prospect of her brother's triumphant return, and so much more distinct the certainty that she was going to lose him in a few hours.

'Heaven send the day, brother!' she said; 'but— suppose—we may not all live to see it, you know. I' James stopped her mouth with a kiss.

I

'Bessie, Bessie, don't! you must not give way to such gloomy fancies. They make your face look so pinched, and your eyes so sorrowful. can't bear to see you so. Why, Bess, if I were to cut off these curls and dress you in a starched and plaited cap, you would look as dismal-faced and puritanical as the Carewes' waiting - maid, Susannah. There! smile, lady-bird. That's right; and now look up and tell me how I these straight black locks of mine turn into a lady's ringlets at a moment's notice, as they ought to do when I put on hood and kirtle. Truth to tell, that's the part of the business that I like the least; but I suppose it must be done.'

am to make

Elizabeth, if trouble had in some respects made her seem older than her years, was still a child, after all; and her smiles came back in good earnest as she watched the Duke of York standing before her mirror, vainly endeavouring to twist the stiff obstinate masses of hair which hung over his brow, into the row of tiny curled locks which a lady of

fashion in those days was wont to wear upon her

forehead.

'Oh! James, this will never do!' exclaimed his sister, after finding her own attempts equally fruitless. And both laughed at the effect she had produced. They must give you a periwig, or, I tell you fairly, people will think you the ugliest damsel they ever saw in their lives.'

James bore this uncomplimentary opinion with tolerable equanimity. Indeed, to say the truth, he was rather gratified by it than otherwise; for, like most boys of his age, he would have been sorely offended at being told that he would make a very pretty girl.

'I care not a penny-piece about that,' said he, 'if only they think me a damsel at all; but, Elizabeth, tell me, how am I to dispose hood and muffler so as to hide my face as much as possible, as ladies do, you know, when they walk in the streets?'

James was still before the glass, and had caught up a mantle of his sister's, with which he was rehearsing various wonderful and startling effects of drapery hitherto quite unheard of in the annals of female attire.

'It is of no use,' said Elizabeth, 'you will never arrange it properly when I am not there to show you how. But, James, surely there will be some woman in Mr Tripp's house to help you,-some wife or daughter, or at least a woman-servant.

And if

Unusual Affability of the Duke. 189

so, you must trust to her skill as a tire-woman; for you will never make yourself fit to be seen by your own efforts.'

'I believe you are right, Bess,' James owned, laughing. 'It all looks awry, I can see; though I can't tell what's amiss. But, hark! was that a knock at the further door?' he added, throwing off his extemporized head-gear, and advancing into the outer room.

It was Maurice, who stood at the door of the Princess's sitting-room-a sanctum he rarely penetrated-and who said, Mr. Francis bids me tell your Highness that he waits us both for morning lessons in the study.'

'I will be with him directly,' said the Duke, with more alacrity than he usually showed on answering this summons, which alacrity was probably owing to the thought that filled his mind. 'A few hours more, and I shall be rid of this crabbed old preceptor, and his close-printed dusty folios.' And this reflection, of how soon he should be freed from all his present companions, infused an unwonted amount of amiability and complaisance into James's behaviour throughout that day. He was polite and gracious to his attendants; very gentle and affectionate to his little brother and sister; cordial to Rosamond; and so civil and amiable to Maurice, that the latter declared in private, little guessing how near his words were to the truth, that something must be about to happen,