"Be calm, be calm, Cicely," whispered Sir Miles, and the next minute he had lifted her out of the boat, and placed her in her father's arms; and then turned to receive the children from the servants, and hand them on to waiting friends.
The welcome thus awaiting her reassured Lady Paton, and she kissed her mother, amid smiles and tears, when her father led her to where Lady Guildford was waiting to receive her.
As soon as the whole party had landed, Sir Harry Guildford hurried them away from the throng of waiting loungers, who had gathered to see the boat come in. "Not a word, mind, until we reach home," he had whispered to Cicely, as he led her to her mother, and so it was almost in silence that the little party met and walked through the well-remembered streets of the town. An air of subdued gaiety, touched with dignity and royal splendour, seemed to pervade the atmosphere—at least to Lady Paton—and the silence did not depress her, for it gave her time to recognise and once more enjoy the sense of being at home.
Scarcely a word was spoken as they walked through the streets and market-place, where the butchers' stalls stood, with their well-remembered display of meat, and the 'prentice lads bawling,—"Here's pork, a halfpenny a pound; beef, young and tender, halfpenny a pound; and mutton from the King's own sheep for three-farthings. Now then, who'll buy, buy, buy, buy?"
But they stopped their calling when they saw Sir Harry and the ladies, and doffed their caps, wondering what could have brought the gentlefolks that way.
In reality Cicely had expressed a wish to go through the market-place, but before she left it for the more aristocratic quarter of the town where her father lived, she turned a startled look upon her mother, as her eyes fell upon a blank, grassy space, where she knew the market Cross had always stood.
"Where has the old stone Cross gone?" she asked.
"It was removed some time ago by order of the Parliament," answered Lady Guildford in a stolid tone; she expressed no opinion as to it being a good or a bad thing that it had been taken away, but Cicely noticed that one old woman set down her basket near the centre, where the old Cross used to stand, and furtively take out her beads to count as she lifted her eyes, as she had done every market-day since she was a girl.
"Poor old creature! she misses the Cross," said Cicely, in a pitying tone, as her husband joined her, and looked towards the empty basket.
"Aye, we may be thankful that God has given us the right to read His Word without fear in these days, but the taking away the old symbols, which was all the people had to help them, will be a sore trial to many, I perceive," he said.