ABSTRACT
The first days were spent in drill, in exhortation, in feasting, and in singing. Grace Ingleby fitted new words to old tunes, and the men sang them marching across the Park. A detachment of keepers was placed at the gates to receive new recruits, and to keep out the women who crowded round them all day long – some laughing, some crying, some threatening. The women of the Castle, being offered their choice whether to remain in the service of the Earl or to go at once, divided themselves into two parties – the elder women deciding to go, and the younger to remain; “for,” as they said, “if the men ride all over the country, as Mrs Ingleby says they will, what can we women do to keep them down?” And then they blamed the unequal marriages, and irreligious things were said about the Duchess of Dunstanburgh. Those who stayed were employed in making rosettes and ribbons in scarlet silk, and in getting out of the old lumber-rooms all the finery which could be found to serve for the men’s uniforms.
