The Grateful Indian, and Other StoriesKingston, William Henry Giles
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The Grateful Indian, and Other Stories
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Children's stories; Juvenile literature; Poetry
This was indeed a trying moment. The young lord was now to be
transformed into the peasant boy--his long bright curls were cut off,
his face and hands were stained with a brown liquid to make him look
sunburnt, as if he was used to work in the fields, and his rich velvet
apparel was changed for coarse homespun woollen cloth. But he cared not
what they put him on--his only thought was that he was going away from
his beloved mother, perhaps never to see her more. He clasped his arms
round her neck and clung to her sobbing, as if his heart would break,
and the tears were streaming down her cheeks too, as she fell on her
knees and murmured a prayer that heaven would watch over and protect her
fatherless boy.
"My lady--my dear lady," said old Hubert; "you must not stay here
longer--the sooner this parting is over the better it will be for you
both. Come, my Lord Henry, it is time we were moving."
So saying he gently disengaged the boy from his mother's encircling arms
and lifted him into the cart, making a private signal to Rolf to drive
away as fast as he could. He then respectfully entreated his unhappy
lady to return to her party, and she, scarcely conscious of what she was
doing, suffered him to lead her back, and as soon as he had seen her
safely placed in the litter with Cicely and the two children, he mounted
his horse and galloped off as if to join Rolf and his young charge, but
in reality to take quite another route, for Henry was to pass, during
this journey, for a poor boy whom Rolf was taking home to his native
village, and it would not have done for him to be attended by Lady
Clifford's seneschal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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