Great Britain -- History -- Civil War, 1642-1649 -- Fiction
It was towards the end of April when the news reached Raglan that the
king, desperate at length, had made his escape from beleaguered Oxford,
and in the disguise of a serving man, betaken himself to the
headquarters of the Scots army, to find himself no king, no guest even,
but a prisoner. He sought shelter and found captivity. The marquis
dropped his chin on his chest and murmured, 'All is over.'
But the pang that shot to his heart awoke wounded loyalty: he had been
angry with his monarch, and justly, but he would fight for him still.
'See to the gates, Charles,' he cried, almost springing, spite of his
unwieldiness, from his chair. 'Tell Caspar to keep the powder-mill going
night and day. Would to God my boy Ned were here! His majesty hath
wronged me, but throned or prisoned he is my king still--the church must
come down, Charles. The dead are for the living, and will not cry out.'
For in St. Cadocus' church lay the tombs of his ancestors.
On deliberation it was resolved, however, that only the tower, which
commanded some portions of the castle, should fall. To Dorothy it was
like taking down the standard of the Lord. She went with some of the
ladies to look a last look at the ancient structure, and saw mass after
mass fall silent from the top to clash hideous at the foot amidst the
broken tomb-stones. It was sad enough! but the destruction of the
cottages around it, that the enemy might not have shelter there, was
sadder still. The women wept and wailed; the men growled, and said what
was Raglan to them that their houses should be pulled from over their
heads. The marquis offered compensation and shelter. All took the money,
but few accepted the shelter, for the prospect of a siege was not
attractive to any but such as were fond of fighting, of whom some would
rather attack than defend.
The next day they heard that sir Trevor Williams was at Usk with a
strong body of men. They knew colonel Birch was besieging Gutbridge
castle. Two days passed, and then colonel Kirk appeared to the north,
and approached within two miles. The ladies began to look pale as often
as they saw two persons talking together: there might be fresh news. His
father and his wife were not the only persons in the castle who kept
sighing for Glamorgan. Every soul in it felt as if, not to say fancied
that, his presence would have made it impregnable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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