"What! a fugitive?"
"I escaped prison by the aid of friends and fled to Boston."
"And wherefore, pray, were you imprisoned?"
"On the charges of my mother's husband and a false friend in whom I trusted."
General Goffe shook his white locks and said:
"So young, and made to feel the grinding heel of the despot! Verily the suffering race of Adam will claim their rights some time."
They reached the home of Mathew Stevens, a large old-fashioned New England house, and were admitted at once.
Robert was conscious of being in the presence of several strange but kindly faces. There was an old man and woman with some young people of his own age. Then he noticed among them a beautiful, fairy-like little creature, some four years younger than himself, who, at sight of the white-haired man, rushed toward him and, placing her arms about his neck, cried:
"Father, father, father!"
"Ester, my child," the swordsman returned, "have you been happy?"