Millicent was considerably more of that opinion when a few months were over. Early one spring morning, before anyone was up, some slight but singular noises roused Mrs Jane from sleep, and calling Jenny, she desired her to look out of the window and see what was the matter. Jenny's shriek, when she did so, brought her young mistress to the casement in a moment. Bentley Hall was surrounded by armed men-- Parliamentary soldiers, standing still and stern--awaiting in complete silence the orders of their commander. Mrs Jane went very white, but her self-command did not desert her. "Never mind screaming, Jenny," she said coolly. "That will do no good. They'll not take you, child; and these Roundheads, whatever else they are, are decent men that harm not women and children. I must say so much for them. Come quick, and dress me, and I will go down to them." "Oh dear!" cried Jenny. "Madam, they'll kill you!" "Not they!" said the young lady. "I'm not afraid,--not of a man, at any rate. I don't say I should have no fear of a ghost. Jenny, hast thou lost thy head? Here be two shoes--not a pair--thou hast given me; and what art thou holding out the pomade for? I don't wash in pomade." Jenny, who was far more flurried and frightened than her mistress, confusedly apologised as she exchanged the pomade for the soap. "But--Oh dear! madam, will they take you?" she asked. "Maybe not, child," said Mrs Jane, quite coolly. "Very like not. I guess 'tis rather my brother they want. We shall see all the sooner, Jenny, if thou makest no more blunders." Jenny, however, contrived to make several more, for she was almost too excited and terrified to know what she was doing. She put on Mrs Jane's skirt wrong side out, offered her the left sleeve of her kirtle for the right arm, and generally behaved like a girl who was frightened out of her wits. Mrs Jane, dressed at last, softly opened her door, and desired Jenny to follow. "I will wake none else till I know what the matter is," she said. "Come after me, and I will speak with the Captain of these men from the little window in the hall." Jenny obeyed, feeling as if she were more dead than alive. Mrs Jane quietly unfastened the little window, and said to a soldier who had taken up his position close beside it--"I would speak with your Captain." The Captain appeared in a moment. "For what reason are you here?" asked the young lady. "Madam, I hold a warrant to take the bodies of Thomas Lane, and John Lane his son, and I trust that none in this house shall impede me in the execution of my duty." "My brother!--and my father!" exclaimed Mrs Jane, under her breath. "Sir, we shall not do that. But will you suffer me to say to you that my father is an old and infirm man, in weakly health, and I beg of you that you will be as merciful to his condition as your duty will allow." The Roundhead captain bowed.