And Winifred shuddered at the thought of being brought before the terrible chief-justice, whose face and voice overcame even the boldest men, and had actually scared to death a young lady at the assizes in Tawton not long before. It must be remembered that this was no mere fancy on her part, such as girls sometimes like to scare themselves withal. It was an event likely enough to happen, if she were found out in helping or concealing any follower of the Duke of Monmouth. "But why should I fear?" she continued. "If God means any such trial for me, why should I doubt that He will give me strength and grace to bear it, and take me safely through? Even if I should lose my life, the pain will be but short, and then comes heaven, which will never, never end, where I shall see all the saints and angels, the holy martyrs who have died for the truth, and our blessed Lord Himself." Winifred's fears were gone—lost in the thoughts which now came crowding upon her. Thoughts of her heavenly home—speculations as to what it would be like, and what would be her employment there. She often dwelt upon these realities of another world, as other girls dwell upon their air-built castles, reading over and over the last chapters of the Revelation, and everything she could find in the Bible relating to her future state, till the mansions of her Father's house in heaven seemed as real to her as the gray thatched farm-house in which her days had been spent, or the old Elizabethan Hall whither she was going, and than which she had never seen anything finer. She was so absorbed in her own reflections that the mile and a half between the farm and the Hall were quickly passed over, and she almost started to find herself at the park gate. Holford Hall was a quaint old red brick pile, all angles, and gables, and projecting turrets, and clustered chimneys, with a stately terrace and a long elm-tree avenue where the rooks built, year after year. Sir Edward had often called it barbarous and antiquated, and wished he could build it over in more modern style, but fortunately he had never been able to command money enough for such an undertaking, and so the old Hall remained as it had come down from the days of Elizabeth. Sir Edward was a man of more cultivation and reading than many country gentlemen of his day. He read the "Sylvia," and corresponded with its accomplished author, Mr. Evelyn, and he took great pride in the stately evergreens, formal clipped yews, and brilliant flower-gardens which surrounded the Hall. And not without reason, for in those days it was no uncommon thing for a gentleman's country house to have all the litter of farm and stable-yard directly under its windows, while the only garden consisted of a few gooseberry bushes and pot-herbs, and perhaps some knots of common flowers, all mingled higgledy-piggledy, and growing as best they could.