"
CHAPTER XI
PRINCE RUPERT
The next day Cyril went down to breakfast in what he had often
called, laughingly, his Court suit. This suit he had had made for him
a short time before his father's death, to replace the one he had
when he came over, that being altogether outgrown. He had done so to
please Sir Aubrey, who had repeatedly expressed his anxiety that
Cyril should always be prepared to take advantage of any good fortune
that might befall him. This was the first time he had put it on.
"Well, truly you look a pretty fellow, Cyril," the Captain said, as
he entered. "Don't you think so, Nellie?"
The girl nodded.
"I don't know that I like him better than in his black suit, father.
But he looks very well."
"Hullo, lass! This is a change of opinion, truly! For myself I care
not one jot for the fashion of a man's clothes, but I had thought
that you always inclined to gay attire, and Cyril now would seem
rather to belong to the Court than to the City."
"If it had been any other morning, father, I might have thought more
of Cyril's appearance; but what you were telling us but now of the
continuance of the Plague is so sad, that mourning, rather than Court
attire, would seem to be the proper wear."
"Is the Plague spreading fast, then, Captain Dave?"
"No; but it is not decreasing, as we had hoped it would do. From the
beginning of December the deaths rose steadily until the end of
January. While our usual death-rate is under three hundred it went to
four hundred and seventy-four.
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