Their friends, William Penderell and his wife,
whom Charles called my dame Joan, stationed themselves near, to give
warning of danger; he pretending to be employed in his duty as woodward,
and she in the labour of gathering sticks for fuel. But there arose no
cause of immediate alarm; the darkness of the night relieved them from
their tedious and irksome confinement; and Charles, having on his return to
the house examined the hiding-place, resolved to trust to it for his future
security.[1]
The next day, Sunday,[a] he spent within doors or in the garden. But his
thoughts brooded over his forlorn and desperate condition; and the gloom
on his countenance betrayed the uneasiness of his mind. Fortunately in the
afternoon he received by John Penderell a welcome message from Lord Wilmot,
to meet him that night at the house of Mr. Whitgrave, a recusant, at
Moseley. The king's feet were so swollen and blistered by his recent walk
to and from Madeley,
[Footnote 1: Careless found means to reach London, and cross the sea to
Holland, where he carried the first news of the king's escape to the
princess of Orange. Charles gave him for his coat of arms, by the name of
Carlos, an oak in a field, or, with a fesse, gules, charged with three
royal crowns, and for his crest a crown of oak leaves, with a sword and
sceptre, crossed saltierwise.
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