CHAPTER I.The circumstances which I am about to relate to my juvenile readerstook place in the year 1647. By referring to the history of England,of that date, they will find that King Charles the First, against whomthe Commons of England had rebelled, after a civil war of nearly fiveyears, had been defeated, and was confined as a prisoner at HamptonCourt. The Cavaliers, or the party who fought for King Charles, hadall been dispersed and the Parliamentary army under the command ofCromwell were beginning to control the Commons.It was in the month of November in this year that King Charles,accompanied by Sir John Berkely, Ashburnham, and Legg, made his escapefrom Hampton Court, and rode as fast as the horses could carry themtoward that part of Hampshire which led to the New Forest. The kingexpected that his friends had provided a vessel in which he mightescape to France, but in this he was disappointed. There was no vesselready, and after riding for some time along the shore, he resolved togo to Titchfield, a seat belonging to the Earl of Southampton. After along consultation with those who attended him, he yielded to theiradvice, which was, to trust to Colonel Hammond, who was governor ofthe Isle of Wight for the Parliament, but who was supposed to befriendly to the king. Whatever might be the feelings of commiserationof Colonel Hammond toward a king so unfortunately situated, he wasfirm in his duties toward his employers, and the consequence was thatKing Charles found himself again a prisoner in Carisbrook Castle.But we must now leave the king and retrace history to the commencementof the civil war. A short distance from the town of Lymington, whichis not far from Titchfield, where the king took shelter, but on theother side of Southampton Water, and south of the New Forest, to whichit adjoins, was a property called Arnwood, which belonged to aCavalier of the name of Beverley. It was at that time a property ofconsiderable value, being very extensive, and the park ornamented withvaluable timber; for it abutted on the New Forest, and might have beensupposed to have been a continuation of it. This Colonel Beverley, aswe must call him, for he rose to that rank in the king's army, was avalued friend and companion of Prince Rupert, and commanded severaltroops of cavalry. He was ever at his side in the brilliant chargesmade by this gallant prince, and at last fell in his arms at thebattle of Naseby. Colonel Beverley had married into the family of theVilliers, and the issue of his marriage was two sons and twodaughters; but his zeal and sense of duty had induced him, at thecommencement of the war, to leave his wife and family at Arnwood, andhe was fated never to meet them again. The news of his death had suchan effect upon Mrs. Beverley, already worn with anxiety on herhusband's account, that a few months afterward she followed him to anearly tomb, leaving the four children under the charge of an elderlyrelative, till such time as the family of the Villiers could protectthem; but, as will appear by our history, this was not at that periodpossible. The life of a king and many other lives were in jeopardy,and the orphans remained at Arnwood, still under the care of theirelderly relation, at the time that our history commences.