But there were present in the Castle, when
the besiegers arrived before it, the son's fair wife Lady Baxby, and
her servants, together with some friends and near relatives of her
husband; and the defence was so good and well-considered that they
anticipated no great danger.
The Parliamentary forces were also commanded by a noble lord--for
the nobility were by no means, at this stage of the war, all on the
King's side--and it had been observed during his approach in the
night-time, and in the morning when the reconnoitring took place,
that he appeared sad and much depressed. The truth was that, by a
strange freak of destiny, it had come to pass that the stronghold he
was set to reduce was the home of his own sister, whom he had
tenderly loved during her maidenhood, and whom he loved now, in
spite of the estrangement which had resulted from hostilities with
her husband's family. He believed, too, that, notwithstanding this
cruel division, she still was sincerely attached to him.
His hesitation to point his ordnance at the walls was inexplicable
to those who were strangers to his family history. He remained in
the field on the north side of the Castle (called by his name to
this day because of his encampment there) till it occurred to him to
send a messenger to his sister Anna with a letter, in which he
earnestly requested her, as she valued her life, to steal out of the
place by the little gate to the south, and make away in that
direction to the residence of some friends.
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