He was well aware that the ordinary rules of courtesy would have rendered it proper that he should withdraw entirely, or at least offer to do so; but he was not a man of ceremonious politeness, and he had a particular interest in the subjects on which the Countess's discourse was likely to turn, which induced him to dispense with ceremony.

The ladies seemed indeed scarce to notice his presence.

The Countess had now assumed a chair, and motioned to the Lady Peveril to sit upon a stool which was placed by her side.

"We will have old times once more, though there are here no roaring of rebel guns to drive you to take refuge at my side, and almost in my pocket." "I have a gun, madam," said little Julian, "and the park-keeper is to teach me how to fire it next year." "I will list you for my soldier, then," said the Countess.
"Ladies have no soldiers," said the boy, looking wistfully at her.
"He has the true masculine contempt of our frail sex, I see," said the Countess; "it is born with the insolent varlets of mankind, and shows itself so soon as they are out of their long clothes .-- Did Ellesmere never tell you of Latham House and Charlotte of Derby, my little master ?" "A thousand thousand times," said the boy, colouring; "and how the Queen of Man defended it six weeks against three thousand Roundheads, under Rogue Harrison the butcher." "It was your mother defended Latham House," said the Countess, "not I, my little soldier--Hadst thou been there, thou hadst been the best captain of the three." "Do not say so, madam," said the boy, "for mamma would not touch a gun for all the universe." "Not I, indeed, Julian," said his mother; "there I was for certain, but as useless a part of the garrison----" "You forget," said the Countess, "you nursed our hospital, and made lint for the soldiers' wounds." "But did not papa come to help you ?" said Julian.
"Papa came at last," said the Countess, "and so did Prince Rupert--but not, I think, till they were both heartily wished for .-- Do you remember that morning, Margaret, when the round-headed knaves, that kept us pent up so long, retreated without bag or baggage, at the first glance of the Prince's standards appearing on the hill--and how you took every high-crested captain you saw for Peveril of the Peak, that had been your partner three months before at the Queen's mask?
Nay, never blush for the thought of it--it was an honest affection--and though it was the music of trumpets that accompanied you both to the old chapel, which was almost entirely ruined by the enemy's bullets; and though Prince Rupert, when he gave you away at the altar, was clad in buff and bandoleer, with pistols in his belt, yet I trust these warlike signs were no type of future discord ?" "Heaven has been kind to me," said the Lady Peveril, "in blessing me with an affectionate husband." "And in preserving him to you," said the Countess, with a deep sigh; "while mine, alas! sealed with his blood his devotion to his king[*]--Oh, had he lived to see this day!" [*] The Earl of Derby and King in Man was beheaded at Bolton-on-the- Moors, after having been made prisoner in a previous skirmish in Wiggan Lane.
"Alas! alas! that he was not permitted!" answered Lady Peveril; "how had that brave and noble Earl rejoiced in the unhoped-for redemption of our captivity!" The Countess looked on Lady Peveril with an air of surprise.
"Thou hast not then heard, cousin, how it stands with our house ?--How indeed had my noble lord wondered, had he been told that the very monarch for whom he had laid down his noble life on the scaffold at Bolton-le-Moor, should make it his first act of restored monarchy to complete the destruction of our property, already well-nigh ruined in the royal cause, and to persecute me his widow!" "You astonish me, madam!" said the Lady Peveril.

"It cannot be, that you--that you, the wife of the gallant, the faithful, the murdered Earl--you, Countess of Derby, and Queen in Man--you, who took on you even the character of a soldier, and seemed a man when so many men proved women--that you should sustain evil from the event which has fulfilled--exceeded--the hopes of every faithful subject--it cannot be!" "Thou art as simple, I see, in this world's knowledge as ever, my fair cousin," answered the Countess.