Albans. With a
fidelity more creditable to his heart than to his head, Sir Richard had
clung to the cause of Charles I, had lost his entire fortune, and in the
end was forced to bend his neck to the yoke of Cromwell to save his life.
When Charles II returned to the throne, he easily forgave Sir Richard his
enforced apostasy, but failed to return his estates, forgiveness being so
much easier than restitution to an indolent selfish nature.
So it was that at the time this story opens, which was several years
after King Charles's return, Sir Richard and his two daughters were
living almost in poverty at Sundridge, hoping for help from the king,
though little expecting it. Without assistance furnished by myself and a
former retainer of Sir Richard, one Roger Wentworth, who had become a
prosperous tanner of Sundridge, my cousins and my uncle would have been
reduced to want. But Wentworth and I kept up a meagre household, and I
was on watch at court to forward my uncle's interest, if by any good
fortune an opportunity should come. At last, after long waiting, it came,
though as often occurs with happiness delayed, it was mingled with
bitterness.
I think it was in the year 1662 or '63--it may have been a year or two
earlier or later, I cannot say at this distance of time--the Duchess of
York, who, with her husband, lived in Whitehall Palace with King Charles,
announced her intention of choosing her maids of honor by personal
inspection.
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