"And your mother?" "Has married Hugh Price, a cavalier." Robert told a part of his story, ending with the announcement that he was forced to fly from home to escape prosecution for treason. This he told with much reluctance, for it was a poor recommendation that he was an escaped prisoner. When all was known, Robert found an abundance of sympathy, and was told that he might make his home with his relatives, until he could be provided for. Then followed long weeks, months and years of the most delightful period of his life. His relatives were kind. Their home was attractive; but kind relatives and an attractive home were not the chief magnets which attracted him to the spot. It was the joy of a pair of soft brown eyes which held him. Ester Goffe was the most interesting person at Boston. She was a creature born to inspire one with love. She was young, hardly yet budded into womanhood, when first he saw her. Day by day and week by week she seemed to him to grow in beauty and goodness. The third day after his arrival, General Goffe mysteriously disappeared. He had been gone almost a week, when Robert asked Ester where her father was. "He is gone," she answered. "The king's men learned that he was here, and were coming after him, when he escaped." "Whither has he gone?" "Alas, I know not." "What would be his fate if he should be taken?" "He would suffer as did Sir Henry Vane. No mercy will be shown to a regicide." "You must suffer uneasiness." "I am in constant dread, though my father is brave and shrewd, while the king's officers are but lazy fellows with dull wits, who do not care to exert themselves, yet some unseen accident might place him in their power." Then he induced her to tell the sad story of their flight from the wrath of an angry king, and how they had walked all the way from Plymouth to Boston. The year 1675 came, just one century before the shots at Lexington were heard around the world. There was a restless feeling in all the colonies. The governor of Virginia was a tyrant. The Indians were becoming restless, and a general outbreak was expected. Robert had been informed by his mother that his friends had procured his pardon from Governor Berkeley, and he was urged to come home. Robert was now twenty-six years of age. Ester was twenty-two, and they were betrothed. Their love was of that kind which grows quickly, but is as eternal as the heavens. The regicide had been home very little for the last five years. He came one night to spend a short time with his daughter. They had scarce time to whisper a few words of affection, when Robert ran to them, saying: "The king's men are coming." In a few moments a dozen cavaliers with swords and pistols rushed on General Goffe. "Do not surrender; I will defend you," cried Robert.