be let loose upon unfortunate England. We could hear the groans of the wounded and dying, and the screams of insulted women; and we could see distracted people flying from their homes which were in flames.
'But I must go back a little. Our nearest neighbour was a Mr. Henry St. Clair. He and my father had been great friends before the civil war broke out, but that cursed event caused the sudden termination of many friendships and changed life-long friends into the bitterest enemies So it was with my father and Mr. St. Clair. The former embraced the cause of the Parliament, the latter that of the King. Those days were happy ones, and now they appear to me to have been most holy. They were not seared and embittered by the accumulated hardness and selfishness of riper years. I had come to Devonshire with my parents at an early age, and the two families lived for some time in perfect peace, and took the greatest delight in each other's society. My parents, with their only daughter, myself and my twin brother Charles, would frequently walk to Rhyndal House, Mr. St. Clair's residence, and, though uninvited, we were always welcome to spend the day there. On these occasions we would all go out romping and gipsying together—we three of the Winbourne family, and two of the St. Clairs. These were Helen and Clara, and, strange to say, they were also twins. They were a pair of most lovely girls. We often took our ponies out with us, and the sight of Helen and Clara on horseback made my heart beat with pleasure. Our fathers took their guns, when the seasons permitted, and rambled about together, or they would sit at home and talk over their books. Our mothers loved each other like affectionate sisters, and we, their children, I frequently detected, were often the subjects of laughing conversations and plans for the future. Helen and I were, and must have been, according to their delighted
