Beverley. The colonel would have
persuaded Jacob to have altogether taken up his residence at the
mansion, but to this the old man objected. He had been all his life
under the greenwood tree, and could not bear to leave the forest. He
promised the colonel that he would watch over his family, and ever be
at hand when required; and he kept his word. The death of Colonel
Beverley was a heavy blow to the old forester, and he watched over
Mrs. Beverley and the orphans with the greatest solicitude; but when
Mrs. Beverley followed her husband to the tomb, he then redoubled his
attentions, and was seldom more than a few hours at a time away from
the mansion. The two boys were his inseparable companions, and he
instructed them, young as they were, in all the secrets of his own
calling. Such was the state of affairs at the time that King Charles
made his escape from Hampton Court; and I now shall resume my
narrative from where it was broken off.
As soon as the escape of Charles I. was made known to Cromwell and the
Parliament, troops of horse were dispatched in every direction to the
southward, toward which the prints of the horses' hoofs proved that he
had gone. As they found that he had proceeded in the direction of the
New Forest, the troops were subdivided and ordered to scour the
forest, in parties of twelve to twenty, while others hastened down to
Southampton, Lymington, and every other seaport or part of the coast
from which the king might be likely to embark.
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