The  pitiful  needs  of  the  Eed  Eose,  and  the  fines  and  per-
secutions of  the  White  Eose,  had  only  for  a  time  incon-
venienced the  house  of  Digby.  Its  sons  had  stayed  at  home
and  economised,  and  its  daughters  had  lived  quietly  in  the
solemn  old  house  at  Helmsley,  or  else  married  with  the
gentry  of  the  neighbourhood ;  so  that  Sir  Eeginald,  when  he
claimed  his  spurs  from  youug  bluff  Harry  Tudor,  was  richer
than  any  Digby  that  had  come  before  him.  How  he  dissi-
pated his  riches  I  have  shown.
He  died  young,  leaving  an  impoverished  but  still  fair  estate
to  his  young  son  Harry ;  and  Harry  was  a  sober-minded
youth,  content  to  pass  his  days  in  the  country,  far  removed
from  the  turmoil  and  temptations  of  camp  and  court;  but
still  the  star  of  the  Digbys  waned ;  a  fate  seemed  upon  thoxjci^
for  they  could  not,  or  at  least  did  not,  ^xoE^ct  \  «xA  ^V^a.
tJie  last  of  the  Tudors  died  brokeii-\ieattfe^  >iX:^'5i  ««;^^x.^  cJL


234  OBEY   AND  GOLD.
