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Prince Charles and some friends stood on the tower of Worcester
Cathedral watching the course of the battle, and when they saw they had
lost the day they rushed down in great haste, and mounting their horses
rode away as fast as they could, almost blocking themselves in the
gateway in their hurry. When they reached the village of Ombersley,
about ten miles distant, they hastily refreshed themselves at the old
timber-built inn, which in honour of the event was afterwards named the
"King's Arms." The ceiling, over the spot where Charles stood, is still
ornamented with his coat of arms, including the fleur-de-lys of France,
and in the great chimney where the smoke disappears above the ingle-nook
is a hiding-place capable of holding four men on each side of the
chimney, and so carefully constructed that no one would ever dream that
a man could hide there without being smothered by the smoke. The smoke,
however, is drawn by the draught past the hiding-place, from which there
would doubtless be a secret passage to the chamber above, which extended
from one side of the inn to the other. In a glass case there was at the
time of our visit a cat and a rat--the rat standing on its hind legs and
facing the cat--but both animals dried up and withered like leather,
until they were almost flat, the ribs of the cat showing plainly on its
skin.
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