One afternoon in November, Lady Peckham sat in the bow-windowed parlor, looking into the garden with her two young friends, busied with her knitting, while Paulina and Winifred read aloud in turn. Either the chronicler was not very entertaining or the readers were preoccupied, for Lady Peckham often let her knitting fall as she looked absently into the garden, Paulina seemed in imminent danger of going to sleep over her frame, and Winifred more than once lost her place, when they were suddenly startled and effectually aroused by the entrance of Mrs. Alwright, in a state of perturbation and alarm most unusual in that staid and discreet spinster. "O madam! O my lady! John Footman has just come home, and he says there is certain news come that the Prince of Orange has landed at Torbay with all his army, and is marching direct upon Exeter by this very road. What shall we do? What will become of us?" The whole party started, and Winifred turned pale as death. She well remembered the undisciplined rabble of Monmouth's army and the horrors which followed its defeat. Lady Peckham seemed the least disturbed of the three. "I do not think there is any cause for present alarm," said she. "Yes, my poor Winifred, I see well of what you are thinking, but I believe this will be a very different matter from that wretched affair of the Duke of Monmouth. The Prince of Orange is a worthy Christian gentleman, and his wife the next heir to the throne. I have reason to know that he has been invited over at this time by some of the foremost men in the kingdom. His troops are famous for their discipline and good order, and he has with him many English gentlemen." "Then your ladyship does not think we had better begin to pack up our goods?" said Alwright. "On the contrary, I think you had better prepare for the reception of guests—especially of some one who loves sweet sausages and saffron cakes—for I am mistaken if we do not have a visitor before long!" The next few days were days of great excitement to all the people of Exeter, and our friends had their full share of interest in what was going on. Some of the cathedral authorities, as soon as they heard of the landing of the troops at Torbay, left their posts and went up to London. The magistrates who favored King James remained in their places, but they could do nothing against the universal feeling of the inhabitants, and, wisely enough probably, did not try.