"What is the indispensable matter?" asked Charles.
"Your majesty must consent to part with your long locks," replied Dick.
"Oddsfish! I had not thought of that," exclaimed the king. "But I see the necessity. Better lose my locks than my head. Go fetch the clothes."
Trusty Dick made a humble reverence and departed.
Not long afterwards, William Penderel of Boscobel made his appearance. He was the most remarkable of this remarkable brotherhood. All were tall—not one of them being under six feet in height—but William towered above the others by a couple of inches.
Although gigantic in stature, he was well proportioned, and possessed prodigious strength. His features were cast in a massive mould, and though somewhat heavy, had the same honest expression that characterised the whole family.
On entering the house he found Lord Derby in the hall, and its appearance—filled as it was with Cavaliers, with the king's horse in the midst of them—satisfied him that some great disaster had occurred.
"Your lordship is welcome back," he said, bowing reverently; "though I own I would rather not have seen you again so soon. Rumours of a terrible defeat at Worcester have reached us, I know not how."
"Ill news, they say, travels quickly," replied the earl, surprised; "but this news must have travelled through the air, if it has reached you before us, for we have ridden here direct from Worcester, and almost without stoppage."