"Poor Stephen!"
"Oh, indeed 'tis very well to cry, 'poor Stephen,' when he is beyond your pity. You might have pitied him when he was alive, that would have been something to the purpose. All his short, unhappy life has been one constant battle with Puritans and poverty. Oh, how I hate those Stuarts! I am thankful to see you can weep for him, Jane. I think you ought. God knows he loved you well, and most thanklessly. And he is the last, the last de Wick. Root and branch, the de Wick tree has perished. I wish I could die also."
"And Cymlin, Matilda?"
"I shall marry Cymlin,—at the proper time."
"You may have sons and daughters."
"I hope not. I pray not. I have had sorrow enough. My father and his three sons are a good ending for the house. It was built with the sword, and it has been destroyed by the sword. I want no de Wick like the men of to-day—traders and gold seekers. And if they were warriors, the old cares and fears and anxieties would be to live over again. No, Jane, the line of de Wick is finished.[3] Cymlin and I will be the last Earl and Countess de Wick. We shall go to Court, and bow to the Stuart, and be very great people, no doubt."
[3] Matilda's desire was granted her.
She died childless, and the lands
of de Wick reverted to the Crown.
As for Swaffham, Cymlin, at his
death, left it to the eldest son of his brother
Tonbert; but the young man
longed for America, and soon sold it.
During the eighteenth century it
changed hands often; but in the early years
of the nineteenth century the
old house was replaced by a modern structure,
less storied but of extensive
proportions and very handsome design.
"And Prince Rupert?"
"Is a dream from which I have awakened."
"But he may still be dreaming."