As for Ann, she had not hidden her feelings any more than Lady Fairfax had done; she worshipped the martyred king. Their mother was a Puritan, of an old Puritan family, and the defection of her children was a source of infinite trouble to her. She ruled her house with Puritanical strictness. Morning and evening the whole family assembled for the reading of the Bible and for prayers. She herself dressed in the plainest attire, without furbelows or jewels of any kind. Her maids and the men who served in the house were clothed after the same fashion. Ann at one time sought to array herself something after the mode of the French court, with laces and ribbons, and with her hair curled; but her mother would not have it, and more than once she was sent to her chamber to dress herself decently; and so wisely Ann yielded to her mother, and wore the plain muslins and sober colours which marked a Puritan girl.
With her son Mistress Newbolt never discussed matters, for she knew that he would not yield to her one inch. He had told her once and for all, when he was quite a lad, that he was a king's man, and that he would never draw his sword in any other cause. He was her own son, as steadfast as she was, in holding fast by what he considered to be right. At the present moment she was deeply grieved at her husband's action in furthering the accession of Charles II.
It was of no use for Colonel Newbolt to reason with his wife, to show her that the kingdom could not be governed by such men as Richard Cromwell, and who else was there to govern it? The nation at large called for their sovereign, for their old race of kings; and he, Colonel Newbolt, hoped and believed that the new king had learnt wisdom in exile, and would govern with equity and justice. He said as much to his wife, but Mistress Newbolt laughed scoffingly. "Did you ever know a Stuart govern wisely?" she asked. "That man, Charles Stuart, will surely bring his mother back again and lodge her in Somerset House with her French people and her priests, where so lately the Lord Protector hath lain in state. Ay, the tide has turned, and you with it; but as for me, I stand by the good cause, as befits the daughter of one who fell at Dunbar."
So there was a sharp division in the house. Mistress Newbolt spoke little, but they sometimes heard her singing slowly and fervently in her own room to the old tune sung before the victory at Dunbar:
"O Lord our God, arise and let
Thine en'mies scattered be;
And let all them that do Thee hate
Before Thy presence flee".
Hearing her one day as they stood together at the window in the picture gallery, Ann said to her brother:
"If only she does not persuade our father to change his mind again!"
"She will not do that; my father's mind is fixed for once," answered Reginald. "He said only the other day, 'The great Lord Protector is dead; there is none to take his place; we can but trust the future to God. It were foolish for me to set my face against the new order of things. I should neither make nor mend, and I should probably lose all I have gained--my lands and my money'."
Ann bent her head. "Yes, that holds him," she said. "He loves this place; he would not part with it on any consideration."
"But suppose the rightful heir should turn up?" said Reginald.