"I do not think we any of us know what we can do till we try," said Winifred. "When I look back over this week, and think of all that has happened, it seems to me that I am hardly the same person I was last Sunday—I feel so much older. I wonder what the reason is?" "'Tis the care, child! Care and trouble make young folks old, and you have heretofore known little of either. My poor grandmother's hair turned gray all in a single week while her mother was in prison, and she was a young woman not thirty years old. Those were fearful times, and who knows but we may have the same back again, since the king is a papist, and by all account as hard-hearted and as much led by the Jesuits as Queen Mary herself!" "Do you think all papists are hard-hearted, mother?" asked Winifred. "I have heard Priscilla say that the Lady Stratford, with whom her mother lived, was a kind, good lady." "No doubt there are good and bad among them, as among others. The king has had provocation, too, that cannot be denied, both of late, and in the old times of the Popish Plot. Nevertheless, that does not excuse what has been done in his name in this and other places. Well, Winifred, you have become entangled in this matter by no fault of yours, and I do not see but you must carry it through. It seems hard, or at least strange, that you should have been allowed to fall into such trouble and danger, only for doing your duty and aiding the distressed." "I think it often happens so," said Winifred. "The apostles were all put to death for teaching people the way of salvation, and you know, mother," she added, with reverence, "our Lord Himself laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." "True, my daughter! That is the real spirit of Christ. I trust, however, that you may not be called to any such sacrifice. Now, to bed and to sleep, my child, and do not dream of the dangers you have passed." CHAPTER VIII. THE DISGUISE. THE next day Winifred went up to the Hall, as usual, promising Jack to bring him something good, and not to remain away longer than she could help. As she entered the court-yard, she saw several horses standing before the door, and it was with no little satisfaction that she learned from one of the servants the news that Sir Edward was going up to London that very day, along with Colonel Kirke, who had been sent for by the king. She was conscious of a great lightening of her heart as she skipped along the passages to Mrs. Alwright's room, and then watched from the window the two gentlemen mount their horses and ride away, followed by their servants and baggage-horses. Presently Mrs. Alwright entered, considerably heated and flurried.