`` Do n't read the queer words , 'cause we do n't understand 'em . Tell it , '' commanded Roxy , from the cradle , where she was drowsily cuddled with Rhody . `` Well , a long time ago , when Charles the First was in prison , Lord Bassett was a true friend to him , '' began Eph , plunging into his story without delay . `` The lord had some papers that would have hung a lot of people if the king 's enemies got hold of 'em , so when he heard one day , all of a sudden , that soldiers were at the castle-gate to carry him off , he had just time to call his girl to him , and say : ' I may be going to my death , but I wo n't betray my master . There is no time to burn the papers , and I can not take them with me ; they are hidden in the old leathern chair where I sit . No one knows this but you , and you must guard them till I come or send you a safe messenger to take them away . Promise me to be brave and silent , and I can go without fear . ' You see , he was n't afraid to die , but he was to seem a traitor . Lady Matildy promised solemnly , and the words were hardly out of her mouth when the men came in , and her father was carried away a prisoner and sent off to the Tower . `` But she did n't cry ; she just called her brother , and sat down in that chair , with her head leaning back on those papers , like a queen , and waited while the soldiers hunted the house over for 'em : was n't that a smart girl ? '' cried Tilly , beaming with pride , for she was named for this ancestress , and knew the story by heart . `` I reckon she was scared , though , when the men came swearin ' in and asked her if she knew anything about it . The boy did his part then , for he did n't know , and fired up and stood before his sister ; and he says , says he , as bold as a lion : ` If my lord had told us where the papers be , we would die before we would betray him . But we are children and know nothing , and it is cowardly of you to try to fright us with oaths and drawn swords ! ' '' As Eph quoted from the book , Seth planted himself before Tilly , with the long poker in his hand , saying , as he flourished it valiantly : `` Why did n't the boy take his father 's sword and lay about him ? I would , if any one was ha ` sh to Tilly . '' `` You bantam ! He was only a bit of a boy , and could n't do anything . Sit down and hear the rest of it , '' commanded Tilly , with a pat on the yellow head , and a private resolve that Seth should have the largest piece of pie at dinner next day , as reward for his chivalry . `` Well , the men went off after turning the castle out of window , but they said they should come again ; so faithful Matildy was full of trouble , and hardly dared to leave the room where the chair stood .
All XXXXX she sat there , and at night her sleep was so full of fear about it , that she often got up and went to see that all was safe .
Bassett Eph First Matildy Rhody Tilly burn castle-gate day leathern