and the men who fought against him are reckoned as guilty as those
that cut off his father's head." "But the people will never uphold it.
The little leaven remains, and one day it will leaven the lump."

"Tut, the people are all fools--except such as are knaves. See how
they're given up to drunkenness and vain pleasures. Hypocrisy and
libertinism are safe for a few years' reign. England is _Merry_
England, as they say, and she'll be merry at any cost."

"Poor John, it will be a sad blow to him!"

Ralph had been an eager listener to the conversation between the
yeomen, who were clearly old Whigs and Parliamentarians.

"Pardon me, gentlemen," he interrupted, "do you speak of John Rushton
of Aberleigh?"

"We do. As good a gentleman as lived in Lancashire."

"That's true, but where was he when this disaster befell his
household?"

"God knows; he had fled from judgment and was outlawed."

"And the Crown confiscated his estate, you say, and turned his family
into the road? What was the indictment--some trumpery subterfuge for
treason?"

"Like enough; but the indictment counts for nothing in these days;
it's the verdict that is everything, and that's settled beforehand."