_Author of "The Bow of Orange Ribbon," "I, Thou, and the Other One," "The Maid of Maiden Lane," etc._
_With Illustrations by Lee Woodward Zeigler_
_Copyright, 1901, by DODD, MEAD & COMPANY_
I. SWAFFHAM AND DE WICK II. DOCTOR JOHN VERITY III. WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY IV. SO SWEET A DREAM V. SHEATHED SWORDS VI. ON THE TIDE TOP VII. TWO LOVE AFFAIRS VIII. UPON THE THRESHOLD IX. CROMWELL INTERFERES X. RUPERT AND CLUNY XI. OLIVER PROTECTOR XII. HOLD THOU MY HANDS XIII. CHANGES AT DE WICK XIV. A LITTLE FURTHER ON XV. THE FATE OF LORD CLUNY NEVILLE XVI. OLIVER THE CONQUEROR
"When he came again it was harvest time."
"Then he dropped his blade into the sheathe with a clang."
"Beheld Cromwell standing upon the threshold."
"'Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and the King of Glory shall come in.'"
"Unknown to Cromwell as to me, Was Cromwell's measure or degree.
He works, plots, fights, in rude affairs, With 'squires, lords, kings, his craft compares, Till late he learned, through doubt and fear, Broad England harbored not his peer." --_Emerson_.
"Sway the tide of battle which way it will, human existence is held together by its old, and only tenure of earnest thoughts, and quiet affections."
During the seventeenth century Swaffham Manor House was one of the most picturesque dwellings in Cambridgeshire. It was so old that it had a sort of personality. It was Swaffham. For as the Yorkshireman, in speaking of his beloved rivers, disdains the article "the" and calls them with proud familiarity, Aire, Ure, Ribble, so to the men of the country between Huntingdon and Cambridge, this ancient dwelling was never the Manor House; it was the synonym of its builders, and was called by their name--Swaffham. For it was the history of the Swaffham family in stone and timber, and no one could enter its large, low rooms without feeling saturated and informed with the spiritual and physical aura of the men and women who had for centuries lived and died under its roof.
The central tower--built of the white stone of the neighbourhood---was the fortress which Tonbert Swaffham erected A.D. 870, to defend his lands from an invasion of the Danes; and five generations of Tonbert's descendants dwelt in that tower, before William of Normandy took possession of the crown of England. The Swaffham of that date became a friend of the Conqueror; the Manor was enriched by his gifts; and the Manor House--enlarged and beautified by various holders--had the singular fortune to be identified with the stirring events of every dynasty.