] one of his own brave officers, in
the branches of a great oak. Once he was hid in a mill; and another time he
was in the house of one Pendril, a woodman. The soldiers of the Parliament,
who were always prowling about, and popping in unawares wherever they
suspected the poor king to be hidden, were, at one time, in the very room
where he was standing beside the fire."
"Oh!" exclaimed Catharine, "that was frightful. And did they take him
prisoner?"
"No; for the wise woodman and his brothers, fearing lest the soldiers
should discover that he was a cavalier and a gentleman, by the long curls
that the king's men all wore in those days, and called _lovelocks_, begged
of his majesty to let his hair be cropped close to his head."
"That was very hard, to lose his nice curls."
"I dare say the voting king thought so too, but it was better to lose his
hair than his head. So, I suppose, the men told him, for he suffered them
to cut it all close to his head, laying down his head on a rough deal
table, or a chopping-block, while his faithful friends with a large knife
trimmed off the curls.
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