"Pain me not by a refusal, I implore you, most gracious prince," she said. "And think not you are depriving me of aught. I cannot live long, and I have no children. 'Tis the last assistance I shall be able to render your royal house--for which I have lived, and for which I would die." "I accept the gift, madam," replied Charles, with unaffected emotion, "with as much gratitude as if you had placed a large sum at my disposal. You are, indeed, a noble dame; and our family may well be proud of a servant so loyal! If I succeed in my enterprise, I will recompense you a hundred fold." "I am fully recompensed by these gracious words, prince," she rejoined. "Nay, madam," he cried, pressing her hand to his lips; "mere thanks are not enough. You have not confined yourself to words." "My eyes are very dim, prince," said the old dame; "and what you say to me will not make me see more clearly. Yet let me look upon your face, and I will tell you what I think of you. I am too old to flatter." "You will not offend me by plain speaking," said Charles, smiling. "You are a true Stuart," she continued, trying to peruse his features. "But there are some lines in your comely countenance that bode----" "Not misfortune, I trust?" said Charles, finding she hesitated. She regarded him anxiously, and made an effort to reply, but could not. "What ails you, madam?" cried the prince, greatly alarmed by the deathly hue that overspread her features. Her strength was gone, and she would have fallen, if he had not caught her in his arms. Her friends, who were standing near, rushed forward to her assistance. "Alas, all is over!" exclaimed Charles, mournfully, as he consigned her inanimate frame to them. "She is scarcely to be pitied, prince," said the Romish priest. "'Tis thus she desired to die. May the angels receive her soul, and present it before the Lord!" "The sum she has bestowed upon me shall buy masses for the repose of her soul," said Charles. "Nay, prince," rejoined the priest. "Her soul is already at rest. Employ the money, I beseech you, as she requested." Much affected by this incident, Charles continued his march through a fine champaign country, well-timbered and richly cultivated, containing numerous homesteads, and here and there an old hall of the true Cheshire type, and comprehending views of Bowden Downs and Dunham Park on the left, with Norbury and Lyme Park on the right. At Headforth Hall he halted with his body-guard, and claimed the hospitality of its owner; while his troops marched on to Wilmslow, and forced the inhabitants of that pretty little village to supply their wants. From Wilmslow the prince's march was continued to Macclesfield, where he fixed his quarters at an old mansion near the Chester Gate. CHAPTER II. ATHERTON'S GIFT TO CONSTANCE.