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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Red Tavern, by Charles Raymond Macauley
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Red Tavern
+
+
+Author: Charles Raymond Macauley
+
+
+
+Release Date: November 14, 2013  [eBook #44182]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RED TAVERN***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Greg Bergquist, Charlie Howard, and the Online
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+
+
+
+THE RED TAVERN
+
+
+[Illustration: "'Hast thou peace and provender for a wayfaring knight?'"
+
+    [Page 45]]
+
+
+THE RED TAVERN
+
+by
+
+C. R. MACAULEY
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+New York and London
+D. Appleton and Company
+1914
+
+Copyright, 1914, by
+D. Appleton and Company
+
+Printed in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+
+         PROLOGUE                                                      1
+
+      I. A WARRANT UPON DOUGLAS                                       18
+
+     II. ON THE WAY TO CASTLE YEWE                                    32
+
+    III. OF A NIGHT IN THE RED TAVERN                                 44
+
+     IV. THE INCIDENT OF THE WOLF-HOUND                               59
+
+      V. THE INCIDENT OF THE CUTTING OF SAFFRON VELVET                81
+
+     VI. THE PAVILION OF PURPLE AND BLACK                             94
+
+    VII. OF THE AWAKENING OF SIR RICHARD                             104
+
+   VIII. OF A QUARREL AND A CHALLENGE                                117
+
+     IX. OF AN AMBUSCADE, A DUEL, AND AN ESCAPE                      133
+
+      X. OF A NIGHT IN A SHEPHERD'S HUT, AND A SURPRISE IN THE
+             MORNING                                                 147
+
+     XI. OF HOW SIR RICHARD CAME TO CASTLE YEWE                      165
+
+    XII. OF THE DELIVERY OF THE KING'S WARRANT                       187
+
+   XIII. OF THE INCIDENT OF THE COBBLER'S FEAST                      205
+
+    XIV. OF A SERIES OF REMARKABLE DUELS, AND DE CLAVERLOK'S PERIL   217
+
+     XV. OF THE GALLERY OF THE GRIFFIN'S HEADS                       229
+
+    XVI. OF THE RETURN OF LORD DOUGLAS, AND THE COUNCIL OF JACKDAWS  250
+
+   XVII. OF A JOUST WITH BULL BENGOUGH, AND THE INCIDENT OF THE
+             KNIGHT IN BLACK                                         267
+
+  XVIII. OF SIR RICHARD'S MEETING WITH THE FOOT-BOYS, AND HIS
+             RETURN TO THE RED TAVERN                                285
+
+    XIX. OF THE RESCUE OF THE MAIDEN                                 300
+
+     XX. OF HOW SIR RICHARD CAME TO THE SHEPHERD'S HUT, AND THE
+             RETURN OF TYRRELL                                       320
+
+    XXI. OF HOW SIR RICHARD LISTENED TO A STORY IN THE FOREST        335
+
+   XXII. OF HOW ONCE MORE THE YOUNG KNIGHT JOURNEYED SOUTHWARD       343
+
+  XXIII. OF A VISION IN THE FOREST OF LAMMERMUIR                     358
+
+   XXIV. OF HOW SIR RICHARD PLAYED THE KING IN HIS LITTLE KINGDOM    369
+
+    XXV. OF THE END OF THE RED TAVERN AND ITS FITTING EPITAPH        382
+
+   XXVI. OF HOW A FLEDGLING DROPPED FROM THE CONSPIRATOR'S NEST      397
+
+
+
+
+THE RED TAVERN
+
+
+
+
+PROLOGUE
+
+
+"S-s-st, there, good gossip, wake up, I pray thee! Hearest thou not
+voices yonder in our lordship's tent? Methinks I can see between the
+trees the glimmer of his council-candle. Even now he doth plan the
+attack, whilst this cursed cross-bow is playing the very devil of a
+traitor! The stubborn latch balks at speeding the string. Come--come,
+wake thee, Jock! Spare me thy deft hand to its mending, or the first
+peep o' day will discover me impotent to fly a bolt against our
+crook-back enemy beyond the brook."
+
+"Crook-back cross-bow--i' th' s-s-string----" muttered the one
+addressed with drowsy incoherence.
+
+"I tell thee, Jock, wake up!" the first speaker persisted. "Listen, I
+say! Dost hear the hum of voices in brave Richmond's tent? Fix me this
+damned cross-bow! Eftsoons it will come daydawn, man!"
+
+"Daydawn, sayst thou?" returned the other, starting into broad
+wakefulness and arising to a sitting posture. "Why, Dickon, thou canst
+scarce glimpse thy five fingers before thine eyes; and the stars shine
+as merrily in the vault as ever they did yestereve. What's the noise i'
+the wood?" he added, sinking sleepily back upon his bent elbow.
+
+"'Tis the sound of the rolling wheels of the crakys of war. Mark how
+the blazing links of those who attend upon them weave fantastic shadows
+amidst the trees. There! the cross-bow hath repented of its waywardness
+and mended itself. 'Tis said of these shooting-cylinders in yon wood
+that they can hurl a leaden slug of two score times the weight of a
+caliver billet."
+
+"Marry, Dickon," the other said, "and that be not the least part of the
+weight of my nether stocks from lying knee-deep in this foul morass,
+thou mayst dub me a shove-groat sword and buckler man. Where thinkest
+thou," he added, "that King Richard hath gathered his forces?"
+
+"I'll lay thee a round wager, friend Belwiggar, that the morning light
+will find him across the brook," replied Dickon, disposing his huge
+body for further rest upon the top of his cross-bow.
+
+"I would it were not so," observed Belwiggar, yawning. "For here are we
+with our bonnetful of men at the very tail of the triangle. 'Twill be
+fight or die, comrade, and tyrant Richard deal with the hindermost."
+Whereupon the speaker clambered to a higher point of ground and
+prepared to resume his interrupted sleep.
+
+Scenes and dialogues similar to the one here presented were being
+enacted in every corner of the field. Especially did a spirit of
+disquiet and apprehensive concern pervade that part of it so aptly
+termed by Belwiggar "the tail of the triangle." All along the borders
+of the morass, the banks of the creek, and within the dense forest were
+to be heard anxious whisperings, mingled plentifully with muttered
+oaths and threats of dire vengeance against a bitterly hated monarch;
+and despite the earliness of the hour, within the leader's tent the
+activities of a day destined to be so heavily fraught with historical
+significance had already been inaugurated.
+
+The interior of this pavilion was of a considerable amplitude; and,
+in keeping with the manner of the period, was fitted out with every
+necessary, together with not a few of the luxuries, of the toilet of
+a prince of the royal house. Beside the couch with its silken covers
+and damask canopies, whereupon the Earl of Richmond was reclining, was
+a massive, carven table. Upon it stood a richly chased silver tankard
+bearing a profusion of crimson roses. Within their center, singularly
+enough, a pure white flower reared its beautiful head, the which served
+admirably to enhance the royal splendor of its compeers.
+
+Round about the plush-carpeted floor were seated John de Vere, Earl of
+Oxford, Henry's chief of archery; Sir James Blunt, sometime captain of
+the Castle of Hammes, in Picardy (the same who had connived at Oxford's
+escape from that fortress); Sir Walter Herbert, and Sir Richard Rohan,
+Richmond's boyhood companion, squire, and chief of horse. All were
+armed at proof and full accoutered for the coming battle.
+
+The last named, though but a youth of nineteen years, would without
+doubt have arrested attention above any in the distinguished party.
+The red crest of his helmet nodded quite two inches above that of
+his tallest compatriot; his features were uncommonly trim and perfect
+in the ensemble; and his every gesture abounded in that intuitive and
+careless grace appertaining to exuberant health and spirits and a well
+disciplined physical strength. As though to complete a picture already
+approaching perfection, from beneath the rim of his head-piece a lock
+of hair had escaped and shone golden in the mellow light of the wax
+tapers guttering in silver sconces above his plume.
+
+"Knowest thou not, Sir Richard," said Henry, bending above the roses
+and inhaling their refreshing fragrance, "who sped to us these graceful
+messengers?"
+
+"I beseech thee, your grace," warned Oxford, "to observe some measure
+of caution when breathing in their odors. 'Tis not impossible that a
+deadly poison is lurking within their fair petals. It sits plain upon
+my memory how poor Burgondy expired after the smelling of a nosegay."
+
+"For the matter of that," spoke up the fair young knight, "had they
+been laden with a secret poison I had not lived to bear them within my
+lord's pavilion; for I sniffed of them a score of times whilst riding
+hither."
+
+"Then, certes, we are double safe," laughed Henry, "for their sweet
+perfume, Sir Richard, hath filtered to our nostrils through thy good
+body. But what like, say you, was the messenger by whom they were
+bestowed?"
+
+"It ill beseems me to say that I know not," the young knight replied,
+"but such is the truth, my lord. I had but finished relieving the guard
+at the further side of the wood when I heard a sound as of galloping
+hoofs along the road from Market Bosworth way. Approaching, the rider
+halted his steed where no ray of light from our blazing links could
+reach to raise the veil of his identity. Then, calling my name, he laid
+the flowers within my arms. 'For Henry, our noble liege,' he quickly
+whispered, and rattled off down the highroad ere I could return word of
+thanks."
+
+"Saw you no cognizance upon his sleeve or upon the trappings of his
+horse?" queried Blunt.
+
+"Methought there was a rayed sun emblazoned on his arm," the young
+knight answered. "Though, in truth, my lord, 'twas all done so quickly
+I may not swear 'twas surely so."
+
+"A Yorkist gift, by the rood! Marry, and this be true, my friends, it
+is a good omen indeed," observed the Earl of Oxford, rising and going
+to the table. For quite a space he leaned above it, gazing fixedly
+upon the flowers, as though in the hope that they themselves might
+unravel the mystery their presence had aroused. "But this," he added
+presently, indicating the solitary white bloom, "doth sore defeat my
+understanding. Wherefore, prithee, mingle the white with the red?"
+
+"Methinks I have the solution of that enigma," spoke up Herbert, whose
+form was merged in shadow, and who, until then, had taken no part in
+the discourse. "I would crave his lordship's indulgence, however,
+before adventuring my lame conjecture."
+
+"Surely we would have thy answer to the riddle, Sir Walter," said
+Henry, yawning sleepily. "My mind doth refuse to probe its baffling
+depths."
+
+"An I mistake me not," Herbert resumed, "my lord of Oxford in the
+very profession of his perplexity hath reached a good half way to the
+answer. Methinks 'tis meant to typify the peaceful mingling of the
+white rose with the red."
+
+"Why--body o' God, I see it now!" Henry exclaimed. "But first, by force
+of arms, the red must overwhelm the white."
+
+"Nay--not so, and your lordship, please," interjected Blunt. "But
+rather, let us hope, a mingling through the milder expedient of
+marriage."
+
+"Ah! Princess Elizabeth!" cried Henry, assuming a sitting posture upon
+the edge of his couch. "Sir Walter, thou hast given us a fair answer
+and earned a guerdon for thy keen wit. But enough of soft speech, my
+noble knights. And now, sirs, to the sterner business of the day! My
+Lord of Oxford, where say'st thou camp Stanley's forces?"
+
+"At a point equally distant from thine, most gracious liege, and those
+of the infamous Richard. He desires thee to understand that his beloved
+son's head hangs upon his dissembling devotion for yet a few hours to
+the murderous hunchback's cause."
+
+"Aye--I know. We may depend upon him and his three thousand horse,
+think you?"
+
+"With absolute certainty, my lord."
+
+"'Tis well," observed Henry, laying aside his feathered cap and
+stooping to allow his young squire to adjust a steel helmet to his
+shoulder-guards. "Then do thou, my lord of Oxford," he resumed, "have
+thy archers well in hand and ready against the first show of dawn. The
+sun, standing in our enemy's eyes, should much confuse their aim. Bend
+thy every energy toward staying their advance with a cloud of well
+directed bolts. My good Captain Blunt, let our basilisks in the wood
+fling their leaden hail above the heads of our kneeling archers. Sir
+Walter Herbert, let thy mounted troop to the right and left be ready
+for the final charge. And you, Sir Richard, faithful friend, bear upon
+my right hand till the battle's done. Do thou each, noble gentlemen,
+take one of these roses and entwine it with thy helmet's crest. What,
+ho, guards! strip me this tent and bestow it with the camp litter
+behind the wood. Now, thy brave hands, noble sirs; and God smile upon
+our cause."
+
+Into the dense vapors arising from the morass, which, in the gray light
+of daybreak, were rapidly changing to a pearly mist, the leaders then
+dispersed upon their several missions.
+
+The droning of subdued conversation, the clanking of swords and steel
+gear, the twanging of bow-strings undergoing preliminary trial, and the
+tinkling of pewter flagons discharging their liquid cheer into parched
+throats could be heard over all the field. Each armed host was alert
+and ready, awaiting with tense drawn nerves the flaming signal in the
+eastern sky.
+
+From afar off a cock crowed a cheery welcome to approaching day.
+
+"I would the blessed light would discover me an eye-hole across the
+brook," one of the burly archers was saying. "I'd flick me a bolt into
+its yawning center for God and a better king."
+
+"Yea--truly. And any king, my friend, would be a better king," another
+answered. "I would I could but fasten my aim upon the elfish-marked
+monster himself. 'Twould be a mark worth finding, i' faith."
+
+"My lord of Oxford is a brave and clever captain, lad. Were it not
+for these leather guards our bow-strings would have been no whit more
+useful than frayed rope's ends with this cursed damp. As 'tis, they're
+fit to send a quiverful of white-hot billets into as many traitorous
+gizzards. I, too, would that one of them might make its home within
+the green midric of Richard himself."
+
+"Hast heard the latest from the hunchback's camp?" another whispered.
+
+"Nay. What is 't?"
+
+"'Tis said by the outposts along the slough that there were heard wild
+shriekings in King Richard's tent during the night."
+
+"Ah! the foul fiends bidding him to their black abode. Mark you, Jock,
+once he gets there he'll have the whole dismal brood hanged, drawn, and
+quartered before the year's end."
+
+"'Twould be his first gracious deed then, I give thee warrant."
+
+From an opposite point of the compass a second cock crowed; and then
+another and another. The day at last was dawning; the mist lifting,
+dispersing. Slowly it thinned away, as though one after another of a
+myriad of gauzy curtains was being raised from between the opposing
+armies.
+
+When eyes could penetrate from line to line hostilities began. A
+pallid, ghost-like form, grotesquely exaggerated, would emerge from
+the fog. Then would be heard a sharp cry, a groan, a horrible rattling
+in an expiring throat, a flinging aloft of a pair of arms, and a
+sinking of the spectral figure into the black mire above which it
+seemed to have been floating.
+
+These emerging shadows multiplied from one into a score; from a score
+into a hundred; from a hundred into a thousand. There was no crash
+of sudden onset and meeting. Rather there was that which resembled a
+gentle crescendo of death. A blending together of two armed forces with
+the melting of the fog. It was as though a peaceful entity had gently
+risen to yield place to a warlike one.
+
+By now, the din and crash were become incessant. Wading hip deep in the
+reddening waters of the brook and in the crimsoning black mire of the
+morass, the men of the opposed armies met and battled, hand to hand.
+
+From the wood belched flashes of fire. Heavy smoke clouds rolled away
+among the leaves. The thunder of primitive artillery reverberated
+across the meadow, mingling its sound of a new kind of warfare with
+that of the decadent.
+
+Wherever a crescendo occurs, a diminuendo is commonly indicated.
+The augmenting of Richmond's desperately battling forces by those of
+Stanley marked the climax of the crescendo. The downfall of Richard
+the Third before the sturdy lance of Richmond, the beginning of the
+diminuendo; the fitting finale to the whole.
+
+Wild of eye, disheveled, his charger struck away from beneath him, King
+Richard faced his mortal foe. Dauntless to the last gasping breath, he
+made one frenzied, vain effort to rally his scattering army.
+
+"A horse! a horse! My kingdom for a horse!" he shrieked aloud; and
+then, dying, pitched forward into the dust.
+
+The Battle of Bosworth Field was with the history of things past.
+
+"His kingdom for a horse, quotha!" shouted Stanley. "His kingdom?
+Bah! What is his kingdom now, honest gentles?" he added, leaping from
+his blood-slavered stallion and contemptuously spurning with his
+steel-booted foot the pitiful remains of the dead monarch. "What is
+his kingdom now?" Sir William repeated, looking inquiringly about him.
+"Why, somewhat above three cubits of unwashed dirt. A full cubit less,
+by the rood, than any man of us here shall inherit."
+
+"Body o' God! an he had him a barb now, my lord of Stanley, whither,
+thinkest thou, would he be riding?" shouted someone out of the circle
+of mailed warriors that was exultingly closing in around the limp,
+misshapen figure huddled upon the ground.
+
+"Whither else but to the foul fiend!" returned Stanley, smiling grimly
+up into the speaker's face. "'Tis an easy riddle thou hast set me,
+a'Beckitt. But he'll need him no barb to fleet him his black soul into
+the burning lake, I'm thinking."
+
+"An Crookback sink not a treacherous dagger within the back of old
+Charon before he's ferried him across the Styx, I am wide of my guess,"
+interrupted a third.
+
+"Or strike off and pole the three heads of Cerberus when he does get
+over," suggested another.
+
+"Look you yonder at the redoubtable Cheyney," again spoke Stanley,
+pointing toward a gigantic body, sprawled limply, face downward,
+over the top of a tangled clump of copsewood. "Him, good gentles, I
+saw totter and go down before this lump of bent clay like unto a
+lightning-riven oak. I' faith, much doth it marvel me at the furious
+strength that kept its abode within this crooked carcase."
+
+Upon an ebon-black stallion, and apart from the men hovering,
+vulturelike, above Richard's body, sat the Earl of Richmond, the
+fortunate young leader beneath whose lance the tyrant king had fallen.
+By reason of a natural eminence of heaped earth and stone he was raised
+well above the field, the whole of which he could command by a simple
+turning of his head to right and left. Behind him the deep shadows of
+Sutton Ambien Wood served picturesquely to emphasize the flash and
+glitter of the plated and richly inlaid armor that girded him from head
+to toe.
+
+It was then but a brief fortnight and a day since the ship in which
+he had embarked at Bretagne had brought him careening through Bristol
+Channel to a safe landing upon England's coast at Milford Haven. In
+that short time he had succeeded in setting a period to the devastating
+Wars of the Roses, and in exchanging his earl's coronet for that which
+fortune subsequently decided should be a crown.
+
+The lifeless body stretched before him in the hollow marked the pitiful
+end of nearly a century of deadly, internecine strife. Intently he
+watched them denuding the stiffening corpse of its costly armor and
+kingly vestments.
+
+During these moments that England was without a legal monarch, Henry
+Tudor, Earl of Richmond, remained motionless as a statue upon his black
+steed, solitary, unheralded, forgotten.
+
+"Body o' God, men! we'll give him a horse," he heard them wildly
+shouting; and then impassively regarded them while they lashed the
+bent, and now naked body upon the broad back of a lively hackney. It
+was the final and brutal expression of a righteous indignation.
+
+From every part of the field there rang in Henry's ears loud cries
+of exultation over the dead and vanquished Richard, which merged
+presently into a riotous pandemonium of inarticulate sound when the
+horse, bearing its gruesome burden, was paraded before the men in the
+direction of Market Bosworth Road.
+
+"_Le roi est mort,--vive le roi!_" the clear voice of Henry's squire
+made itself manifest above the din.
+
+Something the faintest of smiles broke upon the impassivity of the
+Earl's countenance as he turned his head in the direction whence this
+cry had come. Sir Richard, bearing a jeweled crown outstretched in his
+hands, was just leaping above the clump of copse-wood whereupon the
+body of Sir John Cheyney was lying.
+
+Lord Stanley, who, by this time, had resumed seat upon his horse,
+quickly stationed himself between the approaching young knight and the
+Earl of Richmond. Then, taking the crown that had encircled Richard's
+helmet throughout the battle, he set it solemnly upon that of Henry.
+
+Whereupon--"The King is dead, long live the King!" the cry rippled
+abroad over the sanguinary field of Bosworth; and the blazing August
+sun beat down upon a circle of upraised, flashing swords, unsheathed in
+promise of fealty to the new monarch.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A WARRANT UPON DOUGLAS
+
+
+Upon a massive chair of state within the private audience chamber,
+which adjoined the throne room in the venerable castle of Kenilworth,
+sat King Henry VII, gloomily brooding. An ermine trimmed robe of
+softest velvet fell from his shoulders, rippling over the steps of the
+raised dais to the floor below; a golden, jeweled crown sat awry upon
+his head.
+
+Five years as reigning monarch of a discontented and rebellious people
+had borne their weight more heavily upon him than had the whole of the
+twenty-nine preceding them. Though yet young, as time relatively to the
+man is commonly measured, his hair and carefully pointed beard were
+shot with premature gray. His countenance, deeply lined, was overspread
+with a sickly pallor. His hands, clutching upon the arms of the
+damask-covered chair into which he had thrown himself, and in which he
+was now half-sitting, half-reclining, trembled as though palsied with
+an enfeebled age.
+
+His royal marriage with Elizabeth of York, daughter of Henry VI, had
+marked the consummation of his loftiest ambition. The omen of the white
+rose mingling with the red had been pleasantly fulfilled. Outwardly his
+position seemed sufficiently secure. But beneath the surface there were
+incessant ebullitions of seditious sentiment threatening momentarily to
+seethe to the top and engulf him. Always, must dissembling be met with
+keen and smooth diplomacy; plot, with adroit and clever counter-plot.
+
+Because of his open aversion to war, his appreciation of the advantages
+of negotiation and arbitration, he was stigmatized by his secret
+enemies as being greedy and avaricious. Yet, on the other hand,
+had he amassed great armies and plunged them headlong into foreign
+conflict, thereby burdening his subjects with increased taxation, he
+would doubtless have been regarded by these same malcontents as being
+extravagant and needlessly cruel.
+
+During the space of the greater part of an hour the King remained
+seated in the precise attitude in which the opening of the present
+chapter discovered him. His chin lowered upon his breast; his gaze
+fixed straight before him; his fingers tapping ceaselessly upon the
+arms of his chair.
+
+Then, after the manner of a draped lay-figure imbued with sudden life,
+he sprang to his feet, threw aside the purple robes enveloping him and
+paced with nervous footfalls across the floor. Occasionally he would
+pause, incline his head, and pass his hand fretfully across his brow.
+Once he stopped, leaning heavily against a marble image of Kenelph,
+Saxon king of Mercia, from whom the castle had its name. The sun of
+a September afternoon shining brilliantly through one of the western
+windows bathed them, the marble effigy and the man, in squares of
+vari-colored light; affording thus a sharp contrast between the old
+and the new. In the chiseled head of stone the stamp of an iron will
+was predominant in every feature. Those of the living bespoke no less
+the possession of a will; but a will that would seek ever to achieve
+its purposes through the exercise of crafty cunning. The one had been
+grimly determined, brave, and openly cruel and tyrannical. The other
+was a secret coward, masking his cruelties beneath the guise of virtue.
+
+Suddenly, looking up into the stone face of the dead king, the living
+king smiled.
+
+"Yea," said he. "We will--rather we must--yea, we must command it to be
+done. And by doing it in that way, 'twill be transfixing two bullocks
+with a single dart."
+
+Thereupon, mounting the steps of the dais and reseating himself in his
+chair, he carefully donned his robes of state, composed his features,
+and gently pulled a golden tassel depending from a silken cord at his
+elbow.
+
+"Command my lord of Stanley instantly to attend me," was Henry's stern
+behest to the court attendant, who bowed himself within one of the
+curtained entrances.
+
+Very soon thereafter Stanley came in. Approaching the dais, he knelt
+upon the lower step, touching with his lips the indifferent and cold
+hand extended to him.
+
+"My lord of Stanley," said the King, "fetch yonder stool and dispose
+thyself beside our knee. We would have speech of thee--and council."
+Then, to the attendant waiting near the entrance, "Ralston," he ordered
+tersely, "we would have it known that we will brook no interruption
+till this conference be ended. But hold! do thou lay commands upon
+lords Oxford and de Vere, and Sir Richard Rohan, to be ready and
+waiting against our present summons. Thou mayst go, Ralston."
+
+Silently the attendant withdrew. Folding his arms and looking steadily
+into Lord Stanley's eyes, the King resumed.
+
+"Now, Stanley, to the business in hand. From what source hast thou
+drawn thy information that secret emissaries are at this moment on
+their way hither to acquaint Sir Richard of the facts concerning his
+noble lineage?"
+
+"Are they then facts, my liege?" queried Stanley, his arched eyebrows
+plainly evidencing his surprise. "Is it indeed true that this youthful,
+fair-haired upstart may lay a true and proper claim to the title of
+Earl of Warwick, and, through that title, a seat upon this very throne?"
+
+"Presume not upon our indulgence, Lord Stanley," warned the King in a
+menacing tone. "Thou hast met question with question. Now, my lord,
+the source of thy information."
+
+"I crave thy pardon, liege," Stanley hastened to return. "Full well
+thou knowest, august highness, that every foul rebellion doth breed its
+fouler traitors. From these coward turn-coats have I stumbled upon this
+knowledge. The information thus gained I have supplemented and verified
+with that gleaned by thine own honest and tireless servants. 'Tis, I
+fear me much, unimpeachable."
+
+"But under God's heaven, Stanley, how came these rag-tag rebels upon
+the facts as to Rohan's lineage? Marry, my lord, methought 'twas hidden
+as though sunken within the very entrails of the earth."
+
+"Through one Michael Lidcote, a captain of ship in Duke Francis's
+fleet. The same, I'll swear, who brought thee to England at Milford
+Haven," Lord Stanley explained. "'Twas done, I hear, out of a certain
+love for the young knight, and a desire to witness his elevation to
+his--true position."
+
+For a considerable space thereafter the King remained silent, his chin
+resting upon the fingers of his clasped hands, his pale blue eyes
+gazing straight ahead of him into space. In retrospect, his mind had
+turned to the contemplation of some happy days in sunny Brittany when
+he and Sir Richard were being reared and disciplined together beneath
+the eye of the stern but kind old Duke. The images materialized must
+have been pleasing to him, for the hard lines of his face softened into
+the semblance of a smile. Then, with a sudden, determined lowering of
+his head, a straightening of his thin lips beneath his sparse beard, he
+turned again toward Stanley.
+
+"Ah! how true it is," said he, "that desire for fame and power is but
+an insatiate parasite which gluts and fattens upon the care-free joys
+of youth. What is this glittering panoply, pray, but a mask? A shining
+veneer, shielding from view the process of decay within? And now, after
+yielding nearly all--my health, my strength, my happiness--you ask of
+me that I shall spill the blood of my dearest friend. The companion of
+my joyous youth. Him, say you, must I offer up on the gory altar of
+public expediency. That I must perforce still the one brave heart that
+beats with an unselfish devotion to my cause and person."
+
+"'Tis needless to tell thee, my liege," purred Stanley, who was ever
+careful to guard his precedence at the throne, "that the peace and
+integrity of a nation depend upon thy secure hold upon this very seat.
+Even that which but remotely menaces should be rendered impotent. These
+expressions of thy tender sentiment, your highness, are attuned in
+harmony with thy noble character as a man, but----"
+
+"Yea, Stanley," interrupted Henry, making a show of partial surrender
+to the flatterer's wiles, "but am I longer a man? There's the question,
+my lord. Dare I think as a man, and not as a fear-stricken, fettered
+monarch? Is it not true that the ruler hath swallowed up the mortal,
+leaving naught but an outward pageant? An effigy of cold and heartless
+clay upon which to drape a tawdry robe; to set a jeweled crown; to hang
+a golden scepter?"
+
+Stanley ventured no reply, and a somewhat prolonged interval of silence
+followed Henry's theatric outburst.
+
+"Think not that I am mad, my lord of Stanley," the King at length
+resumed, and in a tone so low, melancholy, and sad, that its false
+note was scarcely to be perceived. "It is indeed true that my first
+concern must ever be to safeguard my beloved people. Hath these rumors
+concerning the young knight been spread broadcast, my lord? It were an
+ill time to essay a cure of the malady, and it had festered over all
+England."
+
+"It hath not done so, your majesty," Lord Stanley assured him. "The
+aged seaman and all but two of the seditious leaders are now imprisoned
+within the tower. The pair who escaped the meshes of my net are now
+journeying hither from London in disguise. I have their names and know
+well what like they are."
+
+"'Tis well. Thy station be the forfeit, an they elude thee. Still all
+their busy tongues, my lord. We lay upon thee royal warrant of their
+death, and that speedily. Concerning the young knight's progenitors,
+Lord Stanley, it doth please us to make of thee our single confidant.
+This noble is in truth the son of the Duke of Clarence--the good Duke,
+who came to his untimely end at the gentle hands of our esteemed
+father-in-law. Thou dost remember well that he was attainted of high
+treason, and that we took measures accordingly to have his issue
+pronounced illegitimate. 'Twas done, as thou canst see, to guard
+against such a contingency as hath now arisen. But to my tale. Sir
+Richard, when but a suckling infant, was carried secretly to Brittany,
+and enjoyed there, with me, the powerful protection of Duke Francis.
+Why the die of England's sovereignty was cast in my favor, I know not.
+God wot, Stanley, I wish that it had not been! Now, my lord, attend our
+every word. The weak stripling, whom base Richard the Third believed
+to be the true Earl of Warwick hath, under our command, for long been
+immured within the tower. It is perhaps the better part of wisdom that
+we should lesson thee that an exchange of infants was many years ago
+covertly effected by one Dame Tyrrell, wife of Sir James Tyrrell, the
+same who was bribed by Richard to strangle his two nephews, the boy
+dukes remaining betwixt himself and the throne. Within a fortnight,
+Stanley, do thou undertake to have the news of the death of this
+changeling early published over all our kingdom. 'Twere the more
+seemly, mayhap, and it appeared to have transpired through natural
+causes. A return of the sweating sickness, or some like subterfuge."
+
+"And the young knight, Rohan; what of him, most mighty liege?"
+
+"Him, we would have thee to know," said Henry, "we love and trust above
+any man, saving thyself, in all the length and breadth of England.
+
+"Aye, marry, but----"
+
+"Hold! have patience, my lord, and attend me. We know well what thou
+wouldst say. Him, too, must we sacrifice for the sake of the peace and
+safety of a people who love us but little. Do thou this very hour issue
+warrant under the Great Seal and give it into Sir Richard's hands to be
+delivered by him upon Douglas, in Castle Yewe, in Scotland. Lay royal
+command upon Douglas that his courtiers shall engage the young knight
+in quarrel and honorable conflict to the end that he return not again
+into England."
+
+"By the rood, august highness! wouldst make him the bearer of his own
+warrant of death? 'Tis a parlous risky business."
+
+"Yea, my lord. But a risk that we are happy to assume out of a spirit
+of fair play, and as a mark of our highest confidence. And know,
+too, Stanley," Henry said, smiling shrewdly, "'twill rid us of many a
+Scottish enemy. The young man battles tremendously well. And, more in
+favor of this plan, 'twould be the death of Sir Richard's own choosing,
+mark you."
+
+"Aye, marry, doth he fight well. I can see many a Scot's midriff lying
+open to his couched lance or drawn sword. My liege, shall I deliver
+warrant here?"
+
+"Here, and now. Let Oxford and de Vere be witnesses of its delivery.
+Though, we charge thee solemnly, hint not to either of its purport. On
+yonder table thou wilt find parchment. Take point in hand and write.
+Send Ralston to me when thou hast done. The Queen doth await our
+presence within the Hall of Windows."
+
+For an hour or more after the King had gone, the eagle's quill within
+Lord Stanley's fingers moved slowly back and forth across the sheet
+of parchment. When he had finished with the body of the document and
+signed his name he lifted his head and looked keenly, furtively about
+the room. Arising, he moved swiftly from curtain to curtain. Lifting
+each, he peered hastily beneath its heavy folds. Whereupon, satisfied
+that he was alone, and resuming his seat at the table, he spread before
+him another sheet of parchment and proceeded to copy, word for word,
+that which he had written upon the first.
+
+So intently did he engage himself upon this task that he failed to
+notice the silent parting of a draped entrance, or the King's catlike
+tread upon the thick pile of the carpet as he moved stealthily across
+the floor. A long hand, very slender and very much be jeweled, moving
+across the table before him and taking up the original document, gave
+Stanley his first hint of his sovereign's presence.
+
+Without a moment's hesitation, and not the slightest quivering of an
+eyebrow, Lord Stanley arose and bowed low before Henry. He met the look
+of stern inquiry on the King's face with a quiet smile.
+
+"I crave thy pardon, liege, on the behalf of my sluggish fingers.
+Fitter are they to wield sword in thy cause than pen."
+
+"So it would seem. What meaneth this second transcript, my lord of
+Stanley?"
+
+"I bethought me that it would be well," replied Stanley upon the
+instant, "because of the grave importance of the document, to issue
+it in duplicate. The one to give the young knight safe conduct to his
+journey's end, the other to secrete within the lining of his cloak or
+doublet."
+
+"'Tis a most excellent thought, by my faith!" exclaimed the King, the
+black cloud passing from his brow. "Command Oxford, de Vere, and Sir
+Richard to our presence. We would have done with the business, and with
+all speed dispatch the young knight upon his travels."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ON THE WAY TO CASTLE YEWE
+
+
+The ceremony attending the departure of Sir Richard upon his singular
+errand was quickly over; and well within the limits of that day the
+massive pile of ivy-grown walls, crenelated towers and copper-tipped
+turrets of Kenilworth Castle had dipped beneath the undulating masses
+of autumn tinted foliage behind the young knight and John Belwiggar,
+whom the King had nominated to be Sir Richard's squire and attendant.
+
+Within Henry's mind the expedient of dispatching the young knight
+as bearer of his own death warrant had been conceived in a spirit
+of absurd bravado. So far as his calculating and selfish character
+permitted, he was fond of him. But if he suffered a regret, it was
+wholly personal, and because of circumstances that had compelled him to
+part from one in whose companionship he had derived a great deal of
+pleasure. In respect of any feeling of genuine sorrow, the entire scene
+enacted between himself and Stanley had been a complete farce. Though
+he had invested that doughty warrior with many and distinguished honors
+and great power, he had never entertained on the behalf of his chief
+official that feeling of confidence so essential to the complaisance of
+mind of any ruler. It was his intention to set before that individual
+an example of integrity and devotion that the King fancied would be
+well worthy of emulation. As an additional safeguard, however, he
+caused secret spies of his own selection to be dispatched in the
+train of Sir Richard. In adopting this course he believed himself
+to be keeping the situation well in hand; at once guarding against
+any interruption of the final delivery of the unusual warrant, and
+providing him with the means of testing Lord Stanley's devotion to his
+cause.
+
+Thus, had not Sir Richard taken it into his head to follow an itinerary
+entirely different from either the one suggested by Henry, or that
+secretly transmitted to him beside the portcullis by Lord Stanley,
+some state problems of vast magniture and importance might then have
+been solved. As it subsequently transpired, all along and between the
+roads that it was definitely supposed the young knight and his squire
+would make their pilgrimage, King's emissaries were constantly meeting
+and receiving entertainment of Stanley's lieutenants, as well as the
+other way about. Obviously, neither the one side nor the other dared
+to hint of its purpose of espionage or destination; nor yet dared to
+display any undue haste in parting to pursue its secret way. It also
+became necessary for them to observe every possible precaution in the
+matter of covering up their trails, one from another; and, in this way,
+the innocent cause of this rather amusing game of cross-purposes was
+permitted to go unmolested upon his way.
+
+The route that Sir Richard had chosen rendered it necessary for himself
+and squire to tread paths and by-ways used chiefly by peasant farmers
+and sheep-herders. At times, after a heavy fall of rain, such of these
+as wound through the low lying valleys would become wholly impassable,
+making it needful for our pilgrims to await the draining of the flood
+into the rivers, or to make long detours to come upon the other side.
+For this reason, it had reached well along into October before they had
+passed through the Liberties of Berwick and set foot upon Scottish soil.
+
+It was growing late in the afternoon of their second day in Scotland,
+and while they were skirting the edge of a rock-tarn lying in gloomy
+seclusion in the middle of a desolate moor, that Sir Richard was
+murderously deprived of the services of his squire and brave attendant.
+There had been no hint of the approach of the tragedy; no clue as to
+the identity or purpose of the cowardly perpetrators following its
+occurrence.
+
+Mounted upon his mettlesome charger, which, though uncommonly powerful,
+was somewhat fatigued because of the many miles put behind him that
+day, the young knight was riding slowly along some two hundred yards
+in advance of Belwiggar. The sky was heavy, gray, and lowering; and
+the boulder-strewn, monotonously level expanse of moor affording no
+pleasant aspect or interesting contrasts to the eye, Sir Richard's
+gaze remained fixed upon the nodding head of his stallion. So near the
+brink was the narrow path winding along the waters of the tarn, and so
+unruffled was its surface, that steed and armored rider were mirrored
+faithfully, point for point, beneath.
+
+Hearing a sharp rattling of steel-shod hoofs behind him, and vaguely
+marveling as to the cause of this unexpected and unusual burst of
+energy upon the part of his squire, the young knight turned, with a
+smile upon his face, to greet Belwiggar's approach. To his horrified
+surprise he was but just in time to see the honest fellow writhing in
+an agony of death, while the horse that he had so lately bestrode in
+the prime vigor of rugged health whisked blindly ahead of the young
+knight along the road, till, crashing against a huge boulder upreared
+within its path, it stumbled, seemed to hang for an instant in mid-air,
+and then, neighing with wild affright, disappeared with a tremendous
+splash beneath the surface of the tarn.
+
+Apprehending some immediate danger to himself, Sir Richard, upon the
+instant, drew his visor close. Just as he had accomplished this move
+a bolt struck fair upon the joint of his neck-guard; and, though it
+did him no harm beyond causing his head to ring with the force of the
+impact, it was the cunning of his armorer alone that had saved him from
+a death similar to that of Belwiggar.
+
+Having no means of knowing the exact direction from whence the arrows
+had been sped, and the nature of the ground precluding the possibility
+of sending his horse over it, the young knight made no attempt to seek
+out and punish his assailant. He shot a glance of the keenest scrutiny
+from boulder to boulder, but there was no sign of a living being upon
+the moor. Satisfied that Belwiggar's death must go unavenged for the
+time, he rode back to where he lay with a feathered shaft, still
+quivering, protruding from his broad breast.
+
+He dismounted beside the body, tethering his horse in the hollow
+between two rocky promontories through which the path swung. He stood
+looking around him for a space, uncertain what to do. So overwhelmingly
+appalling and strange were the circumstances attending the tragedy,
+and to that degree was Sir Richard oppressed by his melancholy
+surroundings, that he became filled with a feeling of unspeakable
+dread, an almost uncontrollable desire to throw himself upon the back
+of his steed and gallop swiftly away. Torn by such emotions, it was
+no light task to remain upon the scene for the purpose of making such
+disposition of poor Belwiggar's body as his limited means would permit.
+By employing the dead warrior's battle-ax in lieu of mattock, however,
+he contrived to hollow out a sufficient space to lay him decently
+away. Then, piling up a mound of loose stones above the shallow grave,
+Sir Richard remounted and pursued his solitary way northward toward
+Bannockburn and Castle Yewe.
+
+As he journeyed onward the young knight made many determined efforts to
+whistle and sing away a feeling of deep melancholy that persisted in
+setting somberly down upon him. In the manner of a gloomy procession
+passing in review before his mind's eye, he recalled all of the wild
+folklore with which his ears had been beguiled since his advent into
+Scotland.
+
+"Scour ye'r hoorse ower the Sauchieburn Pass," a toothless and horrible
+old hag had whispered into his unwilling ear upon the morning of that
+very day. "Dinna ye ken," she had croaked, "that the deil flees there
+at fall o' nicht?" and the bare thought that he would be obliged to
+pass the night there alone, with nothing between his head and the
+limitless heavens but a possible shelving rock, caused icy shivers of
+fear to creep along his back.
+
+There was one weird tale in particular that he had heard repeated with
+a stubborn insistence that gave to it some semblance of verity. It was
+that concerning a certain red tavern, which, according to the peasant's
+lively imaginations, appeared suddenly along lonely and unfrequented
+roadways, as though set there by the Evil One. After a time, then, it
+was reported to vanish as suddenly and mysteriously as it had appeared,
+taking along with it into the Unknown any luckless wayfarer that had
+chanced to seek shelter beneath its phantom roof.
+
+"Now, I am free to own," Sir Richard argued with himself, "that there
+are certain strange phenomena of which the human mind can give no
+proper accounting. But when it comes to tales of gibbering ghosts,
+shadowy, phantom shapes and flying taverns--why, by 'r Lady! I'll set a
+barrier of common sense against my credulity and refuse to believe."
+
+He was quite aware, moreover, that none of his countrymen had ever
+journeyed through Scotland without being bedeviled by somewhat of
+these same gruesome tales. While it was true that the wily Lord Bishop
+Kennedy had succeeded in effecting a truce of seven years' duration
+between England and Scotland, it was obviously beyond him to beguile
+the yeomanry into viewing an Englishman with anything approaching
+favor. Nor yet, by any possible chance or subterfuge, could he have set
+a truce to their wagging tongues. Legends and superstitions were a part
+of their daily existence, and in proportion as they were fearsome they
+enjoyed spreading them about.
+
+Revolving these matters within an uneasy mind, Sir Richard gave small
+heed to his surroundings. By now, he had laid the moor well behind
+him. Through a slight rift in the rolling cloud-pall peered the last
+segment of the setting sun; and away to the westward could be caught an
+occasional glinting of the sea as the waves billowed through its golden
+reflection.
+
+Just ahead of him the road dipped into a valley. Along its bowl-like
+bed lay a morass, which gave off continuously a heavy, bluish, and
+probably poisonous vapor. To the north of the morass the road ascended
+in easy gradients till it clipped the sky line at the distance of a
+league and a half, or thereabouts, from where he rode.
+
+At the precise point where the road showed bold and clear against the
+clouds he fancied that he saw the expiring rays of the sun gleaming
+against a point of vivid color. As he descended into the valley to
+where the road divided the morass, the point of color disappeared
+from view, and all of the landscape resumed its gray and monotonous
+appearance.
+
+Not wishing to inhale the miasmic vapor, in which, he feared, might
+lurk some dire fever, Sir Richard drank long and deep of untainted
+air. So much so indeed that the flesh of his back and breast impinged
+strong upon his steel harness. Then, setting spurs to his stallion, he
+galloped through the dank cloud without a breath of it reaching into
+his nostrils.
+
+As he drew near the northern reaches of the valley and rounded a
+gigantic boulder that stood sentinel to the upper plain, he came
+full upon a tavern that he at once surmised to be the same of which
+he had heard so much. Upon the instant that he did so, he reined in
+his steed to a dead stand. Aside from its brilliant though somewhat
+weather-beaten coat of scarlet, it differed in many respects from the
+taverns then commonly to be seen along the highways. Saving at the very
+apex of its steep gable, its front was unpierced by windows. Above its
+single, narrow door, which opened beneath the jut of the upper story,
+hung a signboard bearing upon its surface the device of a vulture
+feeding its young. Withal, however, it appeared to be material enough,
+and this made it impossible for Sir Richard to account for a feeling of
+unutterable dread that took complete possession of his mind.
+
+Once he had almost decided upon riding straight to its entrance to beat
+upon the rude panels of the door for admittance within. But before he
+could summon sufficient courage to carry out his half-formed design,
+a mortal terror returned strong upon him, and forthwith he sent his
+stallion past it at a furious gallop.
+
+It stood a full quarter of a league at his back before the ungovernable
+fear within him gave ground to shame. He pulled up sharp, then
+wheeled, and rode slowly back to its sinister door.
+
+As he knocked with the scabbard of his sword upon the heavy planks a
+drop of rain splashed against his helmet, trickled down over his closed
+visor, and dripped through one of its orifices upon his chin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+OF A NIGHT IN THE RED TAVERN
+
+
+As Sir Richard glanced above the jutting cornice he noted that the
+clouds had turned to a murky green. Ragged tentacles were trailing
+ominously earthward as the storm raged down upon the sea. Appreciating
+the need of immediate shelter, and having as yet heard no answering
+sounds from within, he sent another fusillade of blows against the door.
+
+Almost upon the instant there followed a loud clanking of iron chains
+and bolts. Then, as the door swung slowly inward, there stood revealed
+within the open space a singularly odd and striking figure of a man. So
+extraordinarily tall was he that he was obliged to stoop to make way
+for his head beneath the lintel as he set his foot upon the step. He
+vouchsafed no word of welcome or good cheer, but stood silent, waiting
+for the traveler to speak.
+
+With his sparse hair streaming in the augmenting wind, his keen eyes
+burning within the shadow of a thicket of brows; his veritable beak
+of a nose--vying with that of the crudely painted vulture above his
+head--and his thin, bloodless lips, he appealed to the young knight
+like anything but a picture of a hospitable inn-keeper. It being
+habitual to associate with these highway entertainers a certain
+rotundity of figure and jollity of demeanor. The one confronting Sir
+Richard was attenuated to the last degree, though in despite of this
+the breadth of his wrist, and the clutch of his bony fingers upon the
+latch, betrayed his possession of a more than usual measure of physical
+strength.
+
+"Hast thou peace and provender for a wayfaring knight and horse?" our
+astonished pilgrim made out to inquire.
+
+Even then the landlord did not trouble himself to speak. Bowing assent,
+however, he signed Sir Richard to dismount and enter. As he complied,
+another man, with features very much resembling the first, but whose
+figure was grossly misshapen, squat, hunchbacked, and long-armed,
+emerged from the obscurity of the room and led away his horse. This
+move was not accomplished without a considerable effort upon the
+hunchback's part, for the spirited animal pricked up its ears, champed
+its bit, and hung back on the bridle at sight of the apparition tugging
+at the other end.
+
+It was not without an inward sense of fear that the young knight moved
+toward the glowing blaze, after he had seen his horse safely led,
+though stubbornly contesting every inch of the way, around the corner
+of the building. As he approached the chimney-side, a huge wolfhound
+lying upon the hearth half rose upon its haunches.
+
+In the bright light of the fire Sir Richard could see the stiff, wiry
+gray hairs elevating along its spine, and the gleaming of white fangs
+as it curled its lips from off them and emitted a savage growl.
+
+"Crouch, Demon!" commanded the inn-keeper in a voice which, though low,
+seemed by far more menacing than the savage grumble of the beast.
+
+The hound instantly obeyed, resuming its recumbent attitude and
+regarding the intruder furtively the while out of the tail of its
+yellow eyes.
+
+By now the wind had risen to the strength of a hurricane; whining and
+shrieking dismally, it was dashing the rain with tremendous violence
+against the northern and eastern walls of the tavern. With an inward
+acknowledgment of his indebtedness to a kind providence for having set
+a haven of refuge of any description along the highway, the traveler
+took his place in a deep-seated bench beside the fire, unloosed the
+fastenings of his helm and removed his gauntlets. He made as if to
+unlock his greaves, but desisted upon a vivid recollection of the sharp
+fangs of the wolfhound.
+
+"By the rood, my good man, but how it doth blow," said he, rubbing his
+benumbed hands in front of the warm and cheery blaze. "A stoup of red
+wine or runlet of canary would scarce come amiss upon such a night, i'
+truth."
+
+With his foot touching the muzzle of the dog, the inn-keeper had taken
+his station before the fire; and, whilst the lower portion of his tall
+body was bathed in its ruddy glare, his head towered among the shadowy
+beams above. By the dim semi-light that barely laid itself against his
+pallid cheek, Sir Richard could see that his host was measuring him up
+point by point; and in a manner so insolently intent that he became
+possessed of a mad itching to attempt a chastisement of his tormentor.
+But two words, and these spoken to the hound, had the landlord uttered
+since the young knight had dismounted before the door.
+
+"Well!" exclaimed our pilgrim, rapping impatiently upon the table
+before him, "an thou hast finished with thy inventorying, man; bring on
+a stoup of wine. And be good enough to see to it, sir, that the drink
+be advance guard to a bit of supper."
+
+Thereupon the inn-keeper bent the incensed Sir Richard a bow that Lord
+Cardinal Bourchier himself might properly have envied.
+
+"Saidst thou not something, sir knight," he returned in the smoothest
+of tones, "of a runlet of canary?"
+
+His manner was faultlessly deferential, but the modulations of
+his voice conveyed a world of ironical badinage that was wellnigh
+intolerable. The young knight was tired, lonely, and, if the truth
+be said, half fearful; and for these reasons proved no match at all
+for the extraordinary tavern-keeper at that soft game. Losing for the
+moment all control of his temper, he sprang petulantly to his feet and
+rapped angrily upon the wooden bench with the scabbard of his sword.
+
+"Devil fly away with the canary, sirrah!" he retorted, threateningly.
+"I tell thee now, it were the better suited to thy health that thou
+shouldst do my bidding, man."
+
+"This tavern, good my knight," said the inn-keeper, apparently not in
+the least ruffled, and wholly ignoring his guest's display of anger,
+"boasts but a meager fare. Plain venison, I fear me much, must needs
+pass muster with thy dainty palate in lieu of larks and pigeons."
+
+A nature prone to sudden disarrangement of poise is usually amenable
+to swift reasoning and control. By this time, Sir Richard, repenting
+of his burst of passion and appreciating the imbecility of a resort
+to violence, had determined in his mind to do his utmost to meet the
+inn-keeper upon his own ground. He arose, thereupon, and swept toward
+mine host his most profound curtesy.
+
+"Venison from thy cupboard," said he, smiling in a good humor that was
+not altogether assumed, "would stand substitute for even Karum-pie."
+
+With a grim chuckle the inn-keeper then took himself off. The hunchback
+returned presently bearing upon a broad platter a warmed over venison
+pasty and a stoup of wine; which, upon tasting, Sir Richard found to
+be of a most excellent vintage. He was disappointed in one particular,
+however; for, from the moment of the landlord's exit from the room,
+the young knight had entertained the hope that his supper might be
+served through the offices of a comely maid. In that event, as was the
+habit of the times, he would have enjoyed her companionship through the
+hour of eating. He could accordingly scarcely conceal his vexation and
+chagrin upon beholding the lugubrious hunchback.
+
+"The Fates defend us!" he exclaimed beneath his breath. "Merely to look
+at the fellow doth steal away mine hunger."
+
+Well within the zone of pleasing warmth of the fire, and with the not
+untuneful beating of the wind and sleet against the hollow clapboards
+singing in his ears, Sir Richard, after he had partaken of his supper,
+remained beside the table, his elbows resting upon its top, his head
+reclining against his hand. A delightful drowsiness was stealing over
+him, causing his head to nod lower and lower. Then, with a relaxation
+of every muscle of his body, he fell forward into a deep sleep.
+
+The air of absolute confidence with which the inn-keeper presently
+entered the room; the deliberate manner in which he went about
+unfastening and intruding his hand within the traveler's wallet seemed
+adequately to indicate that the entire circumstance had grown out of
+a well meditated plan of action. As he withdrew King Henry's warrant
+and clapped his eyes upon the great red seal his eyebrows went up in
+token of astonishment. With extreme deliberation he broke the seal and
+proceeded to acquaint himself with its purport.
+
+"'Tis a passing strange and untoward business, this," he muttered,
+after having read and read again the contents of the singular document.
+"Aye, a passing strange business. Is it but an idle frolic of a king?
+some cruel wager, conceived in wanton jest? Certes, and this youth
+were an enemy to the throne, his fair head, ere this, had fallen beside
+the tower block. I would that we could attach men as stanch, devoted
+and incorruptible to our great cause. But now, since the young prince
+is dead, what cause have we?" Folding carefully the parchment, he
+vented a deep sigh. "The labor of these seven years is gone for naught.
+Aye, for naught. And the great army that is bivouaced here to-night in
+Scotland is like unto an avenging Juggernaut with none to guide its
+course. A beast of prey bereft of a head wherewith to devour its enemy."
+
+Concluding his meditations, the inn-keeper, moving toward the fire,
+took up a blazing splinter and addressed himself to the task of mending
+the broken seal. Having accomplished this to his apparent satisfaction,
+he returned the parchment whence it had been taken, seated himself
+beside the table opposite to the sleeping young knight and resumed the
+thread of his gloomy thoughts.
+
+"'Tis passing strange that I--I, James Tyrrell--wearing the stigma of a
+murderer, expatriate and outlawed from my country, should feel toward
+this comely youth a sentiment akin to pity. Even would I make attempt
+to save him, and I could. But, I fear me, 'tis impossible. The very
+nature of his errand furnishes such proof of his stubborn integrity
+that 'twere but folly to make trial of dissuading him from going on.
+An I had awakened him to display the violated parchment, he would have
+had at me with his sword for an arrant traitor. Even as he bent me that
+pretty bow, I could see the fighting-man in his gray eye. An I caused
+him to be trussed up as he sleeps to hold it before his conscious eyes,
+he would dub me liar and base imitator of King Henry's signature to my
+very teeth. Reluctant though I am thus to do, I must perforce allow him
+to fare away upon his pilgrimage to death."
+
+With that Tyrrell arose, leaning, for a brief instant, upon the table
+above the sleeping knight. Upon the instant that he did so his manner
+underwent a marked transformation from passive contemplation to that
+of intent and earnest scrutiny. Bending his eyes upon the point where
+the young man's neck escaped from his steel shoulder-guards, he stood
+for some time regarding two small and blood-red moles, which were
+curiously joined together by a slender filament of raised flesh. In
+any other but the recumbent position that the sleeping man's head had
+naturally assumed, the birth-mark would have been hidden from view
+beneath the masses of golden-brown hair growing in a profusion of
+ringlets behind his delicately modeled ears.
+
+Then: "'Tis a glorious dispensation of Divine Providence," declared
+Tyrrell solemnly, straightening to his full height and upraising his
+right hand, whilst his left remained upon the unconscious knight's
+shoulder. "And we thank thee, merciful God, for thy kindness in thus
+sending another to take the place of one whom thou didst see fit to
+take away."
+
+Thereupon, with many a halt, and many a backward glance, he stole
+quietly from the room.
+
+His advent into another, wherein four armed men were amusing themselves
+over a game of cards and conversing together in guarded undertones, was
+dramatic in the extreme.
+
+He took his stand in the center of the floor, the flare of a single
+torch speeding waves of light and shadow along his tall figure.
+
+"Noble gentles," said he, "fellow conspirators: Know ye all that a
+just God hath this night deigned to smile upon our cause. That even
+now, in the room without, steeped in sweet slumber 'neath the influence
+of one of Friar Diomed's harmless potions, there is a fit and proper
+candidate for a throne in which now sits a base usurper."
+
+"Ay--marry, is this true, eh? Well, he is a good enough looking young
+fellow. But, 'tis no more than fair that the traveler should well
+requite us for thus depriving us of the comforts of a cheery room--eh!"
+muttered a bearded warrior, who, because of a conspicuous absence of
+stools or chairs, was obliged to take what ease he could upon the
+floor. "I would that friend Zenas might fetch bench or stool," he
+added, "so that I might listen to thy tale in seemly comfort--eh!"
+
+"Have done with thy grumblings, de Claverlok," spoke up another member
+of the quartet. "Pray, Sir James, keep not longer from us the identity
+of this God-given substitute. We are all ears to hear."
+
+"Ay, so must we be," de Claverlok interrupted. "But one great ear, for
+'tis from a great height we must listen--eh!"
+
+"First," resumed Tyrrell, unheedful of the interruption, "I would hear
+thy separate oaths registered that no hint shall escape thee of that
+which I am about to tell. This oath of secrecy, noble gentlemen, doth
+most of all include the solitary traveler now asleep in the outer
+room. Until such time as I shall give thee warrant, him must we keep
+in ignorance of our purpose. It is my firm resolve to bring him within
+view of our great armed force, before laying bare our plans. Zenas, my
+good brother," Sir James pursued, turning to the dwarf, "do thou, for
+a time, stand sentinel above our honorable guest. I charge thee, guard
+him zealously from harm till I am ready to join thee."
+
+After Zenas had closed the door behind his retreating figure, the
+inn-keeper, turning toward the three men remaining, divulged to them at
+great length and with fine regard to details our traveler's true name
+and titles, as well as the nature of his errand to Douglas.
+
+"My good wife, gentles," he said, concluding the explanation of the
+source of his knowledge, "was nurse and godmother to the suckling
+infant. Full oft did we, in secret, discuss the significance of these
+marks that I have but this moment again looked upon. And, now, Friar
+Diomed," he said, addressing himself to the churchman, "art thou
+skilled enough in the assembling of herb and root to prepare me a
+sleeping potion that for three days or more will not lose its hold upon
+the senses?"
+
+"Aye--that can I," replied the monk cheerfully. "An you but set it
+to the nostrils thrice in the day 'twill sleep a man safely the week
+through."
+
+"Then do thou have it ready betwixt this hour and midnight. De
+Claverlok, do thou, with all dispatch, ride to our nearest encampment.
+Bring back with thee a dozen mounted men and a covered litter. Whilst
+awaiting Sir Lionel's speedy return, we will give our time to the
+further discussion of plans and expedients."
+
+By now the storm had abated. The wind, no longer a shrieking tornado,
+had died away to a plaintive sighing about the eaves. The rain had
+entirely ceased, and in the dead solitude of the night the hoofbeats
+of de Claverlok's charger, as he galloped away upon his errand, were
+plainly audible to those within the tavern; to all saving Sir Richard,
+who, still sleeping beside the fire, was all unconscious of an eye,
+a patient, gleaming, malevolent eye, which remained fixed upon the
+interior through a narrow window set high in the eastern wall of the
+room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE INCIDENT OF THE WOLF-HOUND
+
+
+The eye at the window was the hunchback's, who was perched upon the
+top of a boulder, which he had rolled to the side of the building
+for the purpose of enabling him to see within. His attitude was as
+that of a spider awaiting its victim, and betrayed his anticipation
+of a pleasurable event to come. If Sir James could have witnessed
+his brother's unaccountable demeanor, he would doubtless have been
+convinced of the truth of a rumor that was commonly traded among his
+men to the effect that Zenas was of unsound mind, and a menace to his
+ambitious plans.
+
+The tottering of Zenas's reason was directly due to the circumstance
+of his having been Sir James's intimate confederate in one of the most
+brilliant and daring conspiracies in a time when conspiracies were
+among the chief products of England's soil. The plot in question
+had been conceived in Tyrrell's brain at the time when he had been
+commissioned by Richard III to make away with his two nephews in the
+room in which they were then imprisoned in the Tower; and involved
+the secret transportation of the young princes to a place of safety
+till such time as a sufficiently armed force could be gathered to set
+the older of the two upon the throne. That one of the boy dukes was
+actually murdered and only one so transported, Sir James attributed to
+the egregious blunder or willful defection of one Dighton, his groom,
+who was bribed handsomely by Tyrrell to assist him in his gigantic
+enterprise. Dighton had suffered a summary death as the penalty of
+his fault. Zenas, garbed in the habit of a Sister of the Faith, had
+received into his charge in one of the by-ways of London a fair-haired
+young girl, who was the escaped prince in disguise. Together they
+had traveled from hamlet to hamlet till they had come to the haven
+of refuge prepared for them in Scotland. From whence he had been so
+indiscreet as to return to England and hint, while in his cups, of the
+incubation of a vast uprising in the North, in consequence of which
+he had been seized, thrown into the torture chamber, and released
+only after he had been blinded in one eye and reduced to a repulsive
+caricature of his former self. While he had incurred Sir James's stern
+displeasure because of his indiscretion, he had also won his highest
+regard and confidence because of his stubborn refusal to divulge a
+single secret through the whole of his agonized sufferings.
+
+Now, as Zenas patiently maintained his post upon the top of the
+boulder, he kept up an almost incessant mumbling. "I'll keep guard
+over him," he was saying. "Aye--I'll see that no harm comes to our
+_honorable_ guest!" whereupon he would smile craftily and press his
+face more closely to the window. "They know not--ha, ha! not one of
+them hath divined that it was I--I, Zenas, the detestable hunchback,
+who put the quietus to the young prince. Slow poison--that's the thing.
+_Slow poison!_ I'll teach them to steal from me the affections of my
+beloved and noble brother. Zenas, the crookback, will teach them! Slow
+poison put an end to the last, and now 'twill be Demon's turn to finish
+this one. At him, good Demon! _At him, sir!_" he concluded, with a
+sibilant hiss that penetrated every corner of the interior of the room.
+
+It was just at this moment that Sir Richard awakened with a sudden and
+violent start. During the interval of several seconds he remained in
+a sort of drowsy stupor, with his gaze fixed upon the curling flames.
+Doubtless from that instinct that gives warning of impending peril, he
+set his first sentient glance upon the forbidding beast lying before
+him upon the hearth. The hound's red eyeballs were glaring straight
+into his own. In the dim firelight he could see that its hair was
+bristling over its entire savage body, and that slowly and with deadly
+menace the brute was gathering its huge paws beneath it and assuming
+a crouching posture. Feeling certain that the slightest perceptible
+movement upon his part would precipitate the threatened spring, the
+young knight's fingers, under cover of the table, crept warily toward
+his sword-hilt. Distinctly he could hear the tap--tap--tapping of the
+raindrops as they splashed upon the ground from off the eaves. What,
+with the deathlike quiet, the red eyeballs and gleaming fangs of the
+hound, and the uncanniness of it all, it is a matter of wonderment
+that Sir Richard maintained his faculties to the degree that he did.
+
+Inch by inch his hand neared the familiar point where his sword-hilt
+should have been. Groping beyond, however, it encountered but an empty
+scabbard. His blade was gone!
+
+A crooked mouth beneath the malevolent eye at the window smiled
+exultingly.
+
+As the young knight started in a maze of utter bewilderment upon
+discovering his loss, the hound, straight and true as an arrow sped
+from a cross-bow, sprang full at his unprotected throat. With a light
+bound Sir Richard gained the top of the bench, and the powerful jaws
+of the bloodthirsty brute closed upon his greaves at the precise point
+where his unprotected throat had been but the instant before. It had
+been a right lucky stroke for him when he had bestowed a second thought
+to the matter of unlocking his stout leg-pieces.
+
+Discovering that it could inflict no hurt upon its enemy at that point,
+and not fancying, in all likelihood, the grating of the tough steel
+against its teeth, the hound released its hold, gave back, and now,
+with jaws afoam, and giving tongue the while to deep, fierce growls,
+it crouched low upon the hearth and gathered its body for another
+spring. By this time Sir Richard was aware of the circumstance that
+he was without a weapon of any description, as his dagger had been
+removed with his baldric, which had evidently been unbuckled from
+off his shoulder during his sleep. Quick as a flash the young knight
+swept up one of his heavy metal gauntlets from off the top of the
+table. Again good fortune was with him, for it turned out to fit upon
+his right hand. It was but the work of a moment to adjust it, and he
+met the brute's second leap with a blow set fair between its eyes and
+delivered with every ounce of weight and strength at his command. After
+the manner of a doe pierced through by a shaft in mid-leap the hound
+crashed lifeless to the floor, with a great spout of blood issuing from
+its mouth and nostrils.
+
+The burning eye at the window withdrew its gaze. The crooked lips, so
+lately smiling, were now muttering curse upon curse to the sighing
+winds.
+
+"Hoa! Well, by my soul, sir knight! I am, indeed, happily come to
+witness a blow so true and mightily delivered."
+
+The voice was that of the inn-keeper, and sounded out of the darkness
+beyond the semi-circle of wavering light shed by the now expiring fire.
+
+As Sir Richard leapt from off the bench to the floor, Tyrrell strode
+into the zone of illumination and, stooping, hung above the still
+quivering body of the dying hound. For quite a space he remained thus,
+as though graven in stone, with the gentle raindrops tap-tapping
+outside for an accompaniment.
+
+"Knowest thou, sir knight," he observed at length, "that thou art the
+very first successfully to withstand the onslaught of this savage
+brute?" Tyrrell straightened up, folded his arms, and touched the dead
+hound lightly with the point of his foot. "Methought," said he, "that
+Demon was the nearest thing to me upon earth, and, mayhap, the dearest.
+Like me, sir, he was savage, cruel, and unrelenting; and, like me,
+expatriated by his kind."
+
+The deep cadence of the inn-keeper's voice, the knitting of his brows,
+and a slight, mournful drooping of his shoulders betrayed to the young
+knight that his host was touched with a genuine sorrow. Filled ever
+with a generous-spirited goodwill, he felt himself entertaining a sense
+of regret for the deed that he had been compelled to do.
+
+"In very truth it grieves me," said he, "that necessity bade me to set
+a period to a life that you held so precious. I can, good sir, but make
+offering of reparation in the way of gold."
+
+Tyrrell turned toward the young knight and smiled sadly.
+
+"Gold?" he softly answered. "It doubts me much whether all the gold
+in Christian England could salve the wound made by the death of this
+hound. An outcast, sir knight, he came to me, an outcast. I took him
+in and suffered him to tarry here till he grew kindred to my every
+wish, and the very manner of my likes and dislikes. As I am, noble
+sir, he was a bitter misanthrope, and would permit none, besides me,
+to approach him but Zenas, my unfortunate brother." He paused in his
+speech, regarding Sir Richard intently. As was habitual with this
+inimitable conspirator, he was but playing a part. If he had it
+in mind thereby to win his way to Sir Richard's sympathies, he was
+succeeding admirably.
+
+"Whilst thou wert sleeping," he resumed at the proper moment, "I caused
+thy sword and baldric to be removed, so that thy rest might forsooth
+give thee a greater measure of comfort. I likewise laid command upon
+Zenas to stand guard over thy slumbers. Much sorrow doth it give me
+that he should have left thee without the protection of his presence
+whilst I was absent. But, marry, noble knight, the deed can now no more
+be recalled than can the sped shaft be returned from mid-flight to the
+string."
+
+From top to toe Tyrrell was habited in somber black; and, as he talked,
+his lank body loomed anon through the half-circle of flickering
+light, and then would be blotted out in the deep shadows beyond, as
+he continued to pace slowly back and forth before the chimney. To the
+imaginative Sir Richard's mind it recalled a play that he had once
+witnessed with Henry and his court in London. In it there had been
+an actor who had affected to play the part of the devil; and who had
+appeared suddenly, and then as suddenly vanished, in a manner designed
+to appear miraculous.
+
+"Though, in very truth," decided the young knight, "he did not resemble
+that grisly character one half so much as my mysterious landlord."
+
+The scene in which Sir Richard was playing an involuntary part brought
+back to him the many evil tales that had been dinned into his ears
+since coming to Scotland of this same Red Tavern, together with a
+vivid recollection of the reported fate of the unwary, who, through
+any misadventure, chanced to seek the hospitality of its shelter. A
+dozen times it had been upon the tip of his tongue to make mention of
+these rumors, but the words persisted in halting upon the threshold
+of utterance. In the light of the reality and substance of his
+surroundings they appeared as nothing more than weirdly fantastic
+creations, or ridiculous superstitions, and as such he did his utmost
+to dismiss them from his mind.
+
+He was just meditating some appropriate subject of conversation by
+which the prolonged and somewhat uncomfortable silence might be
+interrupted, when the hunchback came into the room, bearing upon his
+back a billet of wood that was vastly greater in length and girth than
+he.
+
+"Dost know, Zenas," said Tyrrell sternly, "that thou hast committed a
+most grievous fault in not remaining to stand watch over our honored
+guest? Where hast thou been?"
+
+"I did but go without to fetch this log. The night hath grown cold, and
+I was but bethinking me of the sir knight's comfort," Zenas explained.
+
+"'Tis an ill excuse, I tell thee, Zenas. Prithee bestow the log upon
+the fire. Then bring in a torch, and a mattock and spade. We will bury
+at once the body of yonder hound."
+
+Arching his brows the dwarf looked toward his brother, toward Richard,
+and then upon the body of the hound.
+
+"But he does but sleep, good brother," he said, depositing the log
+amidst a shower of sparks within the fireplace.
+
+"Aye, 'tis true he sleeps," replied Tyrrell. "And a sleep, Zenas,
+from which none shall again awaken him. Our good knight yonder of the
+wondrous thews, dealt him a buffet that would have felled the stoutest
+ox in broad Scotland. Methinks it might e'en have staggered a Papist
+Bull, with such a hearty goodwill was it delivered."
+
+Going to the side of the hound, the hunchback bent above it, fondled
+the massive head and shook the fast stiffening paws. Then, with a
+furtive look toward his brother, who happened to be unobservant of
+his actions, he shot a black look of malignant hate in Sir Richard's
+direction.
+
+"And wilt thou suffer this----"
+
+With a finger upon his lips Tyrrell warned Zenas to instant silence.
+Then, leading him toward the outer door, he talked earnestly with him
+for several minutes. During a pause in their animated conversation the
+hunchback stooped and peered at the young knight in something of an odd
+manner. Then, with a shrug of his shoulders, he took his way without
+further ado through the door.
+
+In a little while he returned, carrying a gnarl of pine wood, which
+he set to blazing at the fire. Thus did Tyrrell, in a most respectful
+manner, beg Sir Richard to carry, whilst he and Zenas, he said, would
+drag out the carcass of the hound and make ready its grave.
+
+"'Twould be better that thy brother should bear the light," said Sir
+Richard. "I'll lend thee a hand to the carrying of the hound, and then
+wield either the mattock or the spade."
+
+"Tut, tut! Of the two, dost think thou art the stronger?" queried the
+hunchback sharply, addressing himself to Sir Richard for the first
+time. "Then," he added, "let me show thee."
+
+Unceremoniously thrusting the torch within the young knight's hand he
+lifted a heavy iron bar standing against the chimney. With but little
+more effort, apparently, than one would have bestowed upon the breaking
+of a twig he thereupon bent it fair double across his knee. Tossing
+aside the twisted rod he looked into Sir Richard's eyes and smiled.
+Rather, it was a mirthless leer, cunning, cruel, menacing. The young
+knight easily gathered that between Zenas and himself there remained
+yet an unsettled score.
+
+"Have done with this childish vaunting of thy strength," said Tyrrell.
+"An thou wilt but expend thy energies to the task in hand, 'twill soon
+be done."
+
+"But, can our honored guest be of a mind to exchange me a buffet, good
+my brother, I should be remiss in the matter of common courtesy did I
+not stand ready to favor him," returned Zenas.
+
+"Come, come!" impatiently exclaimed Tyrrell, allowing Sir Richard no
+opportunity of answering the implied challenge. "Let us have done at
+once with the burial of poor Demon."
+
+He and his brother then led the way outside, carrying between them the
+body of the hound. Sir Richard followed them to where they laid it down
+at the foot of the jagged rock that, in the daylight, could be seen at
+a great distance along the roadway. By this hour the night had turned
+keen, as nights are wont to do along the Highlands, and as he stood
+idly by watching the inn-keeper and the hunchback busily plying spade
+and mattock, he grew uncomfortably sensible of the increasing cold,
+which seemed to set its chill touch upon his very bones.
+
+At rare intervals the pale disc of the moon could be vaguely
+distinguished when one of the thinner clouds scudded across its face.
+But when the heavier clouds rolled beneath it, the land was blotted out
+in deepest darkness, which the splotch of light shed by the wavering
+torch served well to accentuate.
+
+Fantastic shadows wove themselves about the grave-diggers' feet.
+These, as they rippled away, grew to tremendous proportions as they
+merged with the circle of gloom that hemmed them in after the manner
+of an ebon wall. It was during this dismal half-hour, more than ever
+after, that Sir Richard missed the jovial companionship of poor
+Belwiggar. The thought came to him that he was a being apart, who had
+been set down there alone in a mystic environment, and, willy-nilly,
+his mind again became tenanted with calamitous forebodings. He fair
+ached again to stretch his legs before the fire, and hailed with
+unmingled delight the moment when the inn-keeper and his brother
+clambered from out the grave and lowered the hound within.
+
+It was as they were heaving back the loosened earth that he heard
+a faint, clear sound steal out upon the silence of the night. It
+seemed to him as the sound of a maiden's voice released in song. He
+was straining eagerly to catch the next sweet, quivering note when
+Tyrrell's deep voice broke suddenly into an English war song, and with
+a tuneful lilt that came far from appealing unpleasantly to the ear.
+Moreover, with such a hearty goodwill did he sing it that the echoes
+of the resonant notes were flung reverberating far across the plain.
+
+So unexpected was this occurrence, and so foreign did it seem to
+the inn-keeper's melancholy character, that Sir Richard was no less
+startled than surprised. When the young knight turned toward his host
+he discovered that grim individual engaged in shoveling great clods of
+earth into the grave, and unconcernedly timing each movement of his
+body in a rhythmical beat with his song.
+
+Not until the last bit of clay had been firmly tamped above the hound,
+and they had started for the tavern door, did he for a moment relax his
+stentorian singing.
+
+"Didst thou not hear that sound as of a woman's voice?" Sir Richard
+made bold to inquire as they were passing indoors.
+
+"Not I," Tyrrell brusquely replied. "For long, sir knight, my ears hath
+grown accustomed to the plaint of bird and beast, and the shrieking of
+the wraiths of shipwrecked mariners along the coast. An I had heard a
+sound, I should, belike, have attributed it to one of these. Zenas,"
+he pursued, thus dismissing the subject of the young knight's inquiry,
+"look well to our guest's steed for the night. After thou hast done,
+return and conduct the good knight to his bed."
+
+Turning toward Sir Richard as the hunchback took himself from the room,
+Tyrrell, linking within the young knight's arm his own, led him toward
+the comfortable warmth of the fire.
+
+"Thou hast marked, I know, the shattered form of my brother," he said
+sadly, as they seated themselves together beside the table. "'Tis
+what remains of the cursed rack and wheel. 'Tis near beyond belief
+that Zenas was once as supple and straight as either thou or I. And
+this good body, too, Sir Richard" (the young knight started at the
+utterance of his name), "they would have drawn, twisted and maimed
+like unto his had I not defeated their evil purposes by fleeing the
+borders of my beloved country. God's direst curse rest upon them--dead
+and living--one and all!" He paused for some moments, looking gloomily
+into the fire. "Most humbly do I crave thy pardon for this unseemly
+display of emotion, sir knight," he added, "and permit me to requite
+thy forgiveness by setting before thee another stoup of wine. 'Twill
+certes not come amiss after thy prolonged stay in the crisp air."
+
+He arose from the table accordingly, opened a cupboard upon the farther
+side of the chimney and took from a shelf the wine, which he set before
+his guest. As he was making fast the door, Sir Richard noted within
+the cupboard's shadowy depths the bright points of reflection against
+pieces of steel harness--swords, battle-axes, and shields.
+
+"No doubt thou art deliberating now within thy mind," Tyrrell resumed,
+again seating himself, "as to the manner, Sir Richard, in which I came
+upon thy name?"
+
+Abruptly pausing, he gazed reflectively for quite a space upon the
+young knight's puzzled countenance.
+
+"Know then," said he, "that as thou wert sleeping, thy helmet rested
+there upon the table. The light of yon blaze shone full upon thy name
+and thy armorial bearings, which thou seest fit to carry within that
+safe receptacle."
+
+Sir Richard flushed to his temples. He tried his best, despite his
+embarrassment, to answer in an indifferent manner.
+
+"Gramercy for thy caution, good my landlord," he returned, with a
+careless smile; "and hereafter I shall keep that receptacle upon my
+foolish noddle, where, i' faith, 'twill be safe from prying eyes."
+
+"From me, sir knight, thou hast no cause to fear," Tyrrell hastened to
+assure his guest. "It may even transpire that the momentary relaxation
+of thy caution hath earned for thee a friend. Mayhap, a friend in
+need--who knows?"
+
+"In need of nothing at present above a restful pillow, a roof, and a
+bite to eat before I fare away in the morning," replied Sir Richard.
+
+"Ah--yea, yea! Art thou so fortunate, sir knight, as to be making
+thy lonely pilgrimage upon matters of state? or art merely seeking
+lightsome pleasures, as is the manner of many a young court buck?"
+
+"As for making my pilgrimage alone, sir, 'tis the fault of an evil
+accident that befell but this very day. Till he was foully murdered
+not many leagues from here, I had, for attendant, a squire as faithful
+and brave as any in England, mauger the fact that he was a trifle weak
+at sword-play. Give him in hand a battle-axe, though, and he would
+have cleaved through the stoutest wrought bonnet in all Scotland. Poor
+Belwiggar! God rest his bones, say I. Concerning thy inquiry as to my
+mission, sir, I am not free to answer," concluded Sir Richard.
+
+"Then, an it be not a further dire impertinence, good sir knight,"
+persisted Tyrrell, "lesson me from whom thou hast thy cognizance?
+Marry, I, who bethought me acquainted with every scroll in England,
+know thine not at all."
+
+"From whom else but my good sovereign," Sir Richard replied. "By his
+royal command did the College of Heralds issue it. Thus much do I
+please to tell thee. Of my parentage I can lesson thee naught. My
+progenitors I have never seen, never known. That I am alive, well, and
+the free subject of a generous and noble king is sufficient for me,
+sir; and, by my good sword, must be sufficient for all to whom I am
+known."
+
+"'Tis well and bravely said," the inn-keeper replied. "But more upon
+this subject at a later time, my dear Sir Richard. The night doth grow
+apace, and here cometh Zenas, who is now ready to conduct thee to thy
+couch." Upon which he arose and bade the young knight a kindly and
+respectful good-night.
+
+Bearing a rush-light, the hunchback led Sir Richard up a narrow
+stairway to a room immediately above the one he had just quitted.
+Bidding his sour visaged guide to set the basin, in which burned the
+rush-light, in the center of the floor, he bespoke for him a peaceful
+rest and dismissed him from his chamber. Zenas, answering never a word,
+backed toward the door. Then, from its threshold, he dropped a curtsey
+that would have made a fitting obeisance to a monarch, after which he
+silently took himself off.
+
+The room in which the young knight now found himself was of an ample
+size, but exceedingly raw and cold, as no fire burned within the
+deep-throated chimney. The four walls were roughly coated with mortar.
+The rafters overhead were bare. In the gloom of the space between the
+steep gabled roof and the skeleton beams he could hear the occasional
+whirring of a bat's wings, as it darted hither and thither across the
+room. He lost precious little time in speculating upon his surroundings
+and, quickly removing his steel gear, sought the comforts of the bed,
+which he discovered, with much inward gratification, to be of a good
+and easeful kind.
+
+A few vagrant thoughts, some of them being of the wild tales he had
+heard of the tavern wherein he was now tarrying, flitted vaguely across
+his mind. Then, very soon after laying his head against the pillow, he
+sank into the blissful unconsciousness of sleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE INCIDENT OF THE CUTTING OF SAFFRON VELVET
+
+
+The walls of the room adjoining that in which Sir Richard was now
+sleeping framed a scene that provided a singular and pleasing contrast
+to the bleak and uninviting rooms within the tavern with which the
+reader is already somewhat familiar. So beautifully, and in such
+exquisite taste were its rich trappings disposed, that a princess might
+have found comfort and contentment within its cosy precincts. Indeed,
+not anything seemed to be missing that could have been demanded in the
+surroundings of the most refined and fastidious of royal personages.
+
+Upon one of the pillowed couches two young maidens were reclining
+gracefully at their ease. One was lying at full length and resting upon
+her elbows, with her chin pressed against her interlocked fingers; the
+other was engaged with needles and some bright colored silk in weaving
+a design upon a piece of linen cloth. Without risking hyperbole it may
+be said of them that the jewels they wore were scarce an adornment to
+their distinguished setting, for it would have offered a difficult task
+to have set out to discover two lovelier types of young womanhood. It
+was unusual in that between them there existed no conflict of beauty;
+rather did the bewitching charms of the one serve the complimentary
+purpose of enhancing the pure and almost ethereal comeliness of the
+other.
+
+"It would surely be a famous prank, Rocelia," said the one who was
+lounging upon her elbows. "I cannot understand why you should oppose
+me. Are we not come to an age, my over-discreet cousin, where a
+champion should be ours by right?"
+
+"By right of what, pray, madcap Isabel?" queried Rocelia, laying aside
+her needlework upon a table that stood near the couch.
+
+"Why--by right of conquest, little dunce," returned Isabel with a
+gay laugh. "Here does my stern guardian--and by the same token your
+implacable father--see fit to keep us mewed within this dismal,
+fly-by-night prison, deprived of every pleasure and innocent pastime
+that other maids, similarly stationed, are permitted to enjoy. I tell
+you, sweet Rocelia, 'tis nothing less than downright cruel."
+
+"Say not so, ungracious maid," observed Rocelia in mild disapproval.
+"Are we not surrounded with everything, my dear, that heart of maid
+could wish?"
+
+"Everything, say you? Why--far, far from everything," demurred Isabel,
+tossing back a strand of raven black hair that persisted in straying
+over her shoulder. "A champion! Give to me a champion!" she cried with
+a mock seriousness, raising on high her right arm, from which her
+loose robe fell, displaying a dazzling array of captivating curves and
+dimples.
+
+Rocelia smiled in a gentle toleration of the other's extravagance of
+manner.
+
+"Your wondrous beauty, my dear cousin," she said, "will win for you a
+champion all in good time."
+
+"Time?" retorted Isabel, gathering her lips in a pretty pout and
+arching her brows. "Time, say you? And what, I pray you, have _we_ to
+do with time? Does not time fade and wither that beauty by which, but
+a moment ago, you have recommended to me a champion? Is not time our
+mortal and deadly foe?"
+
+"Too much of it, mayhap, would be," admitted Rocelia; "but a little
+of it should serve well in rounding out our minds, and in providing
+us with that sane discretion which, as you remember, Lord Bishop
+Kennedy, our kind tutor, has taught us is the most precious of earthly
+perquisites."
+
+"Bah! a murrain upon Bishop Kennedy and his dry pedantries. An I had
+that old prate-apace inside an oven, right well would I warm his
+icy blood for him. Look not upon me, sweet coz, with such wideopen
+eyes of ravished virtue! I declare to you, Rocelia, I'll have me a
+champion--and before this very night is over. You could never divine,
+I'm sure, why I begged you awhile ago to sing without yon open window.
+Of a truth, you knew not, or your voice would never have left your
+throat. It was vicariously to beguile my brave champion's ears that you
+were singing so sweetly, dear. He was then outside with your father and
+Zenas burying the hound. Ah! you should have seen him fell the savage
+brute, Rocelia. A single mighty blow of his mailed fist and 'twas all
+over."
+
+"Were you not afraid? 'Twould have fared ill with you, an Father had
+seen you standing at the tap-room door."
+
+"Nay--I was not afraid. Your father was in another room with the men.
+Zenas had gone outside. I heard him go muttering through the door as
+I crept softly down the steps. I peeped through the split panel--my
+champion was there ... sleeping. But, already have I told you the
+story. Ah! how brave was he. Not once did he flinch the battle, or look
+about him, or call for help. And he is handsome; marry, sweet coz, but
+he is handsome! All girded up in shining, inlaid armor. His brown-gold
+hair flowing almost to his shoulders. His health-bronzed cheeks smooth
+and shapely. And his mouth! Um-m-m! Well----"
+
+"Why, cousin! some wicked witch has cast a spell above you, I fear."
+
+"Nay--'tis not witchery, sweetest Rocelia," said Isabel, seating
+herself beside her fair-haired cousin and lovingly entwining her arms
+about her slender form. "I am but filled to overflowing with the joy
+of living. A something of excitement is both sup and drink to me. Now
+listen. Bear with your madcap cousin whilst she discourses with you in
+deepest earnest. A champion I must and will have. But he need not know
+me, or even look upon my face."
+
+"I cannot understand. You are speaking in riddles, Isabel."
+
+"Nay, give ear till I've finished and you shall see it plain enough.
+My knight of the brown-gold curls, an I mistake me not, is even at
+this moment slumbering within the next chamber. With a bodkin a cleft
+in the wall can be used as a slight avenue of secret communication.
+Then a missive, and a bit of cloth clipped from my--no yours, 'tis of
+a more enticing color--your saffron gown, I'll say, dear cousin; and
+thus I have my champion and no soul but you and I the wiser. Do not say
+me nay, good, generous Rocelia. It will be a right merry and harmless
+frolic, think you not?"
+
+"'Twould be a sorry one for you, I fear, an my father found you out,"
+replied Rocelia, half in jest, half earnestly.
+
+"Enough. Let the hazard be mine, sweet. And now to business. Whilst
+I am at work with the bodkin, do you shear me a strip from off your
+saffron velvet kirtle."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sir Richard, sleeping soundly, was all unconscious of the widely
+varying activities of which he was now become the center. Beneath the
+room in which Isabel, now singing, now laughing, was engaged upon
+the wall, Friar Diomed had finished brewing and mixing the herbs and
+chemicals of his narcotic.
+
+"My oath on 't, Friar Diomed," Tyrrell was saying from his seat beside
+the fire, "your cloth shall not save your shaven pate, an this potion
+bring one jot of harm to the young noble."
+
+"An it be administered with your usual skill and caution, Sir James,"
+returned the monk, elevating a phial filled with the liquid between
+his squinting eyes and the light of the fire, "'twill bring no more
+harm than so much _aqua pura_. But, by my church! 'tis beside my
+understanding why you must observe all of these dark ceremonies. Let
+the young knight but read the King's warrant in his slop pouch, an he
+were a long-eared ass not to embrace our cause."
+
+"Have I not already said, my stupid friend, that he would at once
+charge us with substitution and false writing? Think you not that the
+young noble hath heard a many an evil tale of this tavern along the
+way? Marry, an he had not, all our trouble and precaution to shield
+the young prince from discovery and harm would have been but of
+slight avail. But only once again, good friar, need this phantom inn
+disappear, and then 'twill serve as a blazing torch to light the start
+of our movement southward."
+
+"Pity 'tis that the young prince died," observed the monk, giving the
+phial into Tyrrell's hand and standing with his broad back to the
+blaze. "And just at the point, too, when you had gathered a sufficient
+power to hurl effectively against Henry. So fire shall consume our
+refuge, you say? Well, Sir James, _ab igne ignem_, say I."
+
+"Yea, and I. But regarding the young prince, regret not that which
+is beyond mending. In truth, Friar Diomed, I like this young Earl
+of Warwick mightily. He's a right goodly youth to look upon, and
+brave--aye, as fearless as a lion cub. Nay--let us not regret, but
+rather return thanks to a generous God for having thus dropped down
+upon us a proper and legal substitute."
+
+"An you'll be good enough to bid Zenas to bring out the flagons, Sir
+James, I'll e'en now down a measure or twain to the health of the
+new. Which is more to my liking, by my Faith, than the uplifting of
+mere dry thanks. _Ad majorem Dei gloriam!_ 'Twill be a good hour ere
+de Claverlok and his band return, and I am grievously athirst and,
+ah-ha-ha, ho-e-e, sleepy."
+
+"Then why not call your drink night-cup and betake yourself to your
+couch? 'Tis not necessary that you should remain abroad to await their
+coming. Zenas, the flagon of wine," Tyrrell then called. "Drink, and to
+your rest, my good friar. Yea--the blessed pair of you."
+
+Whereupon, with a loud smacking of his lips, the rotund friar
+introduced his red and bulbous nose within his tipped cup and made for
+his couch. Zenas followed him, leaving Tyrrell to keep solitary vigil
+by the side of the crackling fire, and all unaware of the little comedy
+which, at that very moment, was being enacted above his head.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For the second time that night Sir Richard awakened with a violent
+start. Upon doing so he raised his head from off his pillow. Hearing no
+sound, however, he attributed this second awakening to a fanciful dream
+of a ponderous battle-ax striking upon his helm, and had just composed
+himself for the purpose of resuming his interrupted rest when he became
+aware of a distinct rapping upon the headboard of his bed. As he threw
+aside the covering and sat erect the strange tapping ceased. With every
+sense upon the alert he listened for a repetition of the sound. It came
+soon again, distinct, deliberate, unmistakable. He passed his hand
+carefully over the smooth headboard, but went altogether unrewarded for
+his pains. Concluding, therefore, that the sounds emanated from between
+the wall and the bed, he sprang to the floor and pulled aside the heavy
+piece of furniture.
+
+The inexplicable rapping was then followed by a dry, scraping noise,
+which seemed almost impossible to locate. The room being cast in utter
+darkness, his sense of touch was required to answer for his useless
+sense of sight. In the passing of his hand along the wall it met with
+a slight protuberance. This he instantly grasped, and a part of it
+came away within his clutched fingers. He discovered it to be a wisp
+of paper, neatly rolled, and surmised it to be a written message. By
+the side of the basin upon the floor he found tinder, flint, and steel.
+Contriving speedily to have a light, he thereupon read the following
+message:
+
+  "Whoever or whatever thou art, an semblance of heart of man beats
+  within thy brave bosom, rescue a maiden from a living death."
+
+This was the message from Isabel. She had been careful to sign no name,
+and Sir Richard had no means of knowing by whom it had been inscribed.
+But, even so, he was entirely equal to the occasion, and felt his heart
+leaping in deepest sympathy with the unknown maiden in distress. So,
+then and there, upon the cross of his sword, he made a sacred vow to
+adventure her rescue, repeating in a solemn manner the usual form of
+oath: "So may God and St. George prosper me at my need, as I will do
+my devoir as thy champion, fair maid, knightly, truly, and manfully."
+
+This ceremony concluded, he hurried again to the wall. Protruding from
+a narrow aperture in the mortar he noted a thin piece of steel, such
+as he fancied was used by women in the shaping of their apparel. Upon
+withdrawing it, he discovered it to be of about a length with his
+forearm.
+
+Then, placing his lips to the opening thus disclosed, "Courage, fair
+maiden," he whispered. "An wilt thou grant the boon of sending a most
+willing champion thy colors?"
+
+"Yea, gladly," came back the answer, sweet and low; "and a kiss, too,
+my brave knight."
+
+"Ye gods of Love!" exclaimed Sir Richard beneath his breath. "The very
+yearnings of Tantalus are at this moment put to the blush! Was ever a
+champion avowed under like romantic circumstances? Was ever a maiden
+wooed through a two-foot, key-cold wall?"
+
+He then sent the pliant steel back through the wall, which he
+erroneously supposed to be constructed out of solid stone. In another
+moment there came to his impatiently waiting hand a very small cutting
+of saffron velvet, the which he touched reverently to his lips, as was
+becoming in a loyal champion, and then placed devoutly next his heart.
+
+He whispered again, and again he whispered, but no answer came.
+Observing the precaution of scraping away a bit of mortar from another
+wall, he carefully concealed the opening. Upon which he replaced the
+bed in its former position, secured the note within the fillet of his
+helmet and once more sought his pillow, where he fell asleep presently
+in the midst of meditating as to the means through which he might, in
+safety to her, effect the deliverance of the fair unknown.
+
+Yet not half so fair, nor yet half so lovely, was the vision that he
+materialized from the scrap of saffron velvet as was its beautiful
+owner, whom an unkind Fate decreed he should not set eyes upon till
+many days crowded with many misadventures had passed away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE PAVILION OF PURPLE AND BLACK
+
+
+It was a trifle past midnight when de Claverlok and the men he had
+commissioned to bring with him halted in the highroad before the door
+of the Red Tavern. Coincident with their arrival the hitherto deserted
+and lonely appearing hostelry was magically metamorphosed into a
+hive of buzzing industry. The near vicinity of the building became
+brilliantly illuminated with the flare of many links, the iron pikes of
+which had been struck into the earth from the roadway to the entrance
+of the inn. That the scene was one of martial activities could in no
+wise be mistaken, for the yellow light of the torches was reflected
+and repeated against a goodly number of steel cuirasses and polished
+bucklers.
+
+Beside Tyrrell, near the doorway, stood a thin and rather under-sized
+man, wearing an intricately plaited coat of light chain mail, over
+which was drawn a white linen tunic, with a crimson Maltese cross
+emblazoned upon the breast, after the fashion of the ancient Crusaders.
+This individual, conspicuous alone because of the simplicity of his
+dress when contrasted with those about him, was the famed diplomatist,
+warrior, statesman, shrewd conspirator, and eminent churchman, Lord
+Bishop Kennedy, to whom Tyrrell looked ever for council and advice,
+and who, in reality, had been the brains and backbone of the movement
+that had been designed to set the youthful Duke of York upon the throne
+of England. Here was a man possessing that strength of character
+that permitted him to remain always in the background. From whence
+he was wont to view the vast schemes in which he became involved as
+a whole, much as the successful general might select a high eminence
+from which to overlook and direct the maneuvres of his army. While
+indolence was at times attributed to him, on account of a certain
+reserve and unobtrusiveness of manner, to those who knew him well he
+was known to be indefatigably energetic. It was said of him, indeed,
+that he never slept, saving with an open eye to his tent-flap, or
+doorway. In Sir James Tyrrell, Bishop Kennedy had achieved a notably
+brilliant confederate--a man of ideas, a born inventor, but visionary
+to a perilous degree. Tyrrell was not suffered to be awakened out of
+his dream that he was the real leader; though, in point of truth, he
+was but nominally such. If, however, the block were to claim its tithe
+of vengeance, Tyrrell's head, and not Lord Kennedy's, would have been
+among those selected. Kennedy regarded politics as he did a game of
+chess, and was marvelously proficient in playing both. "A knight, or
+even a despised pawn," he was known to have said, "may say 'check' to
+a king, but it is a wise precaution to have a bishop stationed on the
+long diagonal."
+
+"Thou art certain beyond all peradventure," he was saying to Tyrrell,
+"that thou canst not be mistaken as to the identity of thy find?"
+
+"Aye--marry, am I, my lord," Tyrrell confidently replied. "I could
+scarce be amiss in my recognition of the unusual birthmark. Besides,
+good bishop, did not the youth make confession of his lack of knowledge
+of his progenitors?"
+
+"Yea. But 'tis a common ignorance--that, friend Tyrrell. Of a truth,
+the stroke seemeth too timely and well-favored to be genuine," said
+Kennedy, who was never ready to accept the semblance of a fact for
+the fact itself. "Here hath the earth had scarce time to grow cold
+above the young duke, when up crops another candidate every whit
+as legitimate and proper. 'Twould appear, my friend, as though an
+incipient monarch were being reared in every wayside hovel. Yet--as
+thou hast said--thou couldst scarce have been mistaken in the
+birthmark. If proven true, 'tis indeed a most providential stroke. But
+this very day have I learned that Lord Douglas is meditating a move
+like unto thine. Already have I laid plans to gather more intimate
+particulars--for thy express benefit, understand me. But I can lesson
+thee now that some hint of the young prince's existence and death
+hath flown into his yawning ear. Keep a firm hold upon thy wits and
+tongue, for there is surely a traitor abroad, Sir James. More; I have
+it that Douglas doth lay open claim to the possession of the living
+person of the genuine heir, and that there is now a gathering of the
+clans for the purpose of raising the counterfeit claimant to the
+throne. Emissaries from Castle Yewe will come here to treat with thee
+for the combining of thy forces with Douglas's. An this youth of thine
+be indeed the Earl of Warwick, son of George, Duke of Clarence, thou
+canst laugh in Douglas's teeth. An it were not so, friend Tyrrell, thou
+couldst do naught wiser than amalgamate issues. For thy life would be
+worth no more than a leaden farthing from the fury of thine own troop,
+an they were to be disbanded without chance of giving battle to Henry."
+
+At this juncture four men drew beside the speakers, through the door,
+carrying Sir Richard, who had been rendered unconscious through the
+medium of Friar Diomed's narcotic. As gently as their rough hands could
+accomplish it, the young knight was placed in the covered litter, which
+had been standing along the highway awaiting his reception.
+
+"I beg of thee, Sir James," said Lord Kennedy then, "procure for
+me from this young knight's wallet the warrant of which thou wert
+speaking. I would I might know well its contents." The keen politician
+might easily have taken it himself, as it was his intention to travel
+northward with the horsemen and litter-bearers, but he desired to
+assure himself that the document would not remain behind in Tyrrell's
+keeping. The time was likely to come when this piece of parchment would
+be an invaluable political perquisite.
+
+When the warrant had been secured and surrendered into his hands,
+Bishop Kennedy made quick work of breaking the seal that Tyrrell had
+so deftly mended. By the light of one of the links he read it slowly
+through, nodding his head the while.
+
+"'Tis well," he said when he had finished; "and I doff my bonnet to
+thee, Sir James, for a most fortunate and successful general."
+
+Whereupon he folded up the parchment and thrust it carelessly within
+his bosom. Then, grasping Tyrrell's hand, he bade him adieu, swung
+himself upon his horse and started in the train of the cavalcade, which
+had already begun its march from the inn.
+
+In the light of the single torch remaining, Tyrrell stood beside the
+door till the noise of the moving company had dwindled to silence
+in the distance, after which he extinguished the blazing link and
+disappeared within the lonely tavern.
+
+It was nearing daybreak when the cavalcade, led by de Claverlok and
+Lord Bishop Kennedy, filed past the sentinel outposts within the area
+of the encampment. The bivouac had been set along the shore, within
+sight and sound of the sea, and not above a dozen miles from the Red
+Tavern; but, because of the litter-bearers, the men had been put to
+the necessity of moving in a slow and deliberate manner, which fact
+accounted for their tardy progress in effecting the distance.
+
+As Sir Lionel de Claverlok is destined to play a most important part in
+this narrative of tangled conspiracies, it would doubtless be well now
+to introduce him to the reader.
+
+To begin with, he was a man who was loved and admired by his enemies,
+which, though it may appear anomalous, was nevertheless true. He was as
+refreshing as a shower in spring; as open in his manner as a wind-swept
+plain. Saving in the arts of warfare, however, of all of which he had
+proven himself to be a surpassing master, he was uneducated. Every
+rugged feature displayed between the shaggy thatch of his wiry,
+silver-shot hair, and the thick tangle of his disordered, curly beard
+bespoke at once the good fellow and indomitable warrior. Whilst,
+intuitively, one would take him for a person of gentle extraction,
+there was about him little, if anything, of the polished courtier.
+He had been too industriously engaged upon the business of his life,
+which was to conquer a complete understanding of war-craft, to yield
+thought or time to the cultivation of the softer attainments of the
+court gallant. As to his physical attributes, he was stockily set up,
+not above the average in height, and in the noontide of a vigorous and
+healthful manhood.
+
+"Men," said Bishop Kennedy as he drew up before his tent, "raise me the
+silken pavilion of purple and black upon yonder hill. When thou hast
+done, set up the bed thou didst bring with thee, and dispose the young
+knight, now asleep in the litter, within. Bid the Renegade Duke to set
+a close guard above his slumbers. Haste thee, go!" Then, turning to de
+Claverlok, "attend me within my tent, Sir Lionel," he added, "I would
+have a moment's speech of thee."
+
+Whereupon they dismounted, gave their horses into the charge of
+waiting equerries and went inside.
+
+"This fanciful plan of our dreamy friend of the flying inn," he
+pursued when they had seated themselves, "to keep the Earl of Warwick
+in the grip of Friar Diomed's decoction is both impracticable and
+dangerous. 'Twould be a good three days ere he could be brought to our
+main stronghold in the mountains." So saying, he took from his wallet
+the phial that Tyrrell had entrusted to his keeping and emptied its
+sparkling contents upon the ground.
+
+"I would, my lord," said de Claverlok soberly, "that I could pour a
+phial of it within my tent--eh! Mayhap 'twould put the blessed ants to
+sleep, and keep them from crawling beneath my gorget ... eh!"
+
+Bishop Kennedy acknowledged the grizzled knight's sally with a mere
+suspicion of a smile.
+
+"Lay our commands upon the Renegade Duke," he pursued, "that he shall
+permit the prisoner, for as such we must for the present regard him,
+to rest till such time as he may naturally awaken from his stupor. I
+desire, de Claverlok, that thou shalt say but little to the duke of
+the haps of this night. By all means, keep from his knowledge the
+identity of the young earl. My reasons for this are most urgent, I
+would have thee to know. Meanwhile, keep a close eye to the prisoner
+thyself. We may deem it expedient later to give him wholly into thy
+charge. And now, good sir, to thy cot--and may pleasing visions await
+thee there."
+
+When de Claverlok issued from Lord Kennedy's tent he glanced upward
+toward the knoll whereupon the folds of the purple and black pavilion
+were billowing gracefully in the crisp morning air. Betaking himself up
+the slope, he waited there till the unconscious Sir Richard had been
+comfortably disposed beneath its silken roof, the same, by the way,
+which had been intended as a covering for the dead prince.
+
+Then, when he had done with appointing and setting the guard, the
+grizzled warrior made in the direction of the renegade duke's tent for
+the purpose of imparting to him Lord Kennedy's instructions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+OF THE AWAKENING OF SIR RICHARD
+
+
+The sun was hanging high above the sea ere the young knight in the
+pavilion upon the hill began to arouse himself from his profound
+stupor. Being of a healthful body it was his usual habit to start into
+broad wakefulness, with every faculty alive, equally upon the alert,
+and ready upon the instant for the work or pleasure that chanced to
+be forward for the day. So, in this instance, he was wholly unable to
+account for an extreme heaviness of the eyelids, combined with a sense
+of oppression that weighed painfully upon his chest. He grew conscious
+of a foreign odor in his nostrils that seemed to him to be wafted from
+an incalculably vast distance; and from the same distance was borne
+to his ears the confused murmuring of many voices. It appeared to Sir
+Richard that he had been years upon years lying upon his back exerting
+a vain though ceaseless endeavor to summon together his scattered
+faculties. He would be aware, in a vague sort of way, that his truant
+mind was slowly settling upon some solid point of fact. But when it
+was just about arriving at the spot where memory awaited it, nothing
+remained but baffling space, and he would discover himself to be again
+hanging in the awful abyss of Nothingness.
+
+For quite a space Sir Richard struggled thus mightily to recover his
+wits from the enthralling opiate. Slowly, now, the events of the
+immediate past were coming back to him. The first being that returned
+to tenant his recreant memory was the gaunt, tall figure of the
+inn-keeper. Then crept in, stealthily, mysteriously, the misshapen
+hunchback, Zenas. The fog lifted from off the episode of the hound.
+"The voice," he whispered. "Ah! the voice! The note--yea, the note! And
+the precious strip of saffron velvet!"
+
+Feebly he thrust his hand within the breast of his doublet and found
+it there, whereupon he contrived to open his eyes and struggle to his
+elbow.
+
+An expression of indescribable amazement sat upon the young knight's
+countenance when his eyes encountered, above his head, the waving
+folds of the purple and black pavilion in the place of the uncovered
+beams of the room in the Red Tavern in which he had fallen asleep.
+He looked at the bed, and noted that it was the same, or one exactly
+similar in pattern. Upon a chair alongside his steel gear had been
+neatly disposed. De Claverlok had seen to it that it was scrupulously
+burnished in every part. Sir Richard's headpiece confronted him
+jauntily from its position upon one of the lower bed-posts. He saw, as
+he took it up, that its scarlet plume had been daintily curled. Turning
+it over, he raised the fillet. The message from Isabel was not there.
+
+Round about the pavilion he could hear men talking and laughing. From
+the volume of sound, he estimated it to be a considerable company. They
+were conversing together for the most part, however, in the Spanish
+tongue, and he could gather nothing above a fragmentary word here and
+there. The perplexity was growing upon him as to which was the dream,
+the singular circumstance of the night before, or that in which he
+then discovered himself. But the cutting of saffron velvet, which he
+thereupon withdrew from its hiding place, proved to his apparent
+satisfaction that his charming adventure with the imprisoned maid had
+been a sweet reality. Examining it minutely, he pressed it once more to
+his lips, and then restored it to its place next his heart.
+
+Against one side of the pavilion, which was closely curtained at every
+point, stood a bench upon which rested a basin of clear water. He arose
+from bed and laved his aching head within its grateful coldness. It had
+the effect of clearing it wonderfully. Before buckling on his armor,
+it occurred to him to ascertain whether the King's warrant were yet
+secure. He discovered, much to his chagrin, that it was missing. He
+congratulated himself, however, upon Lord Stanley's foresight in having
+provided him with a duplicate copy, which he had taken the precaution
+to have sewn within the lining of the skirt of his doublet, and was
+overjoyed to find that this had been overlooked. He then finished
+buckling on his steel gear, fastened on the casque, drew the visor
+close, and in this manner, armed in proof, he walked straight to the
+entrance and thrust aside the damask hangings.
+
+The pair of stalwart guards outside tumbled awkwardly together in their
+haste to arise, muttering confused sentences in Spanish as they did so
+and touching their fingers to their bonnets in a respectful salute.
+This rather humorous happening drew the attention of a score or more
+of armed men seated about a roaring fire, which burned at the foot
+of the steep incline that fell away from the pavilion on every hand.
+Upon catching sight of Sir Richard they arose in a body to their feet,
+standing at soldierly attention. Several of them bowed. One from among
+them started quickly up the hill to where the young knight stood.
+
+He was a man of admirable proportions, and the ease and grace with
+which he swung up the sharp slope, all encumbered as he was in a suit
+of heavy, inlaid armor, bespoke for him great strength and activity of
+limb and body. The guards, obedient to his terse commands, withdrew
+themselves beyond earshot. He then approached Sir Richard, removed his
+feathered cap that he was wearing in temporary lieu of helmet, and
+saluted him with an elaborate bow.
+
+"Good-morrow, sir knight," he gave him greeting. "Thy slumber, I
+trust, hath proved as restful as it was prolonged and deep?"
+
+"By'r lady!" the young knight curtly rejoined, affronted by that which
+he considered but mock ceremony. "And what meaneth this thing, pray?
+Why am I entented here and surrounded by guards and warriors ...
+free-lances, outlaws ... i' truth, I know not which? Torment me not
+with suspense, sir, but tell me ... where is the Red Tavern wherein I
+went to sleep? And, by all the gods, sirrah, who art thou?"
+
+"The last shall be first, good my knight, and the first last," the
+other answered flippantly. "As for myself, I am known here in Scotland
+as the Knight of the Double Rook. In England I am styled the Renegade
+Duke, and the bloody block in the Tower, sir, doth this moment itch for
+my head. To bring the history of my variegated and not uninteresting
+career down to the present time, I have the distinguished honor to have
+been nominated as thy squire and secretary. And as such, sir knight, I
+respectfully await thy commands."
+
+"Then," answered Sir Richard upon the instant, "show me now the road to
+the Red Tavern. And be good enough to explain the mystery of how I am
+come to be here without either my knowledge or consent. Who may it be,
+sir, that is at bottom of this damnable piece of device and practice?"
+
+"By St. Peter, sir knight," replied the Renegade Duke, "I miss my shot,
+an the Red Tavern be now even three cock-crows removed from here. For
+that, good sir, hath been the duration of thy sleep. As to its cause,
+... well, Friar Diomed, the secret chymist, could doubtless better
+acquit himself of that answer than I."
+
+"But thou canst tell me why I am here," Sir Richard insisted, "and who
+is responsible for this stealthy abduction."
+
+"Why thou art here, sir knight, I may not say," declared the Renegade
+Duke, "for I have pledged my knightly word to maintain secrecy upon
+that point. As to the responsibility," he added boastingly, "I would
+fain accept my share of that along with the forty other knights and
+nobles who conspired to bring thee here."
+
+"Pray," Sir Richard went on, "of what advantage is a truce, an a loyal
+subject of the King may not travel abroad without adventuring the
+perils of captivity, detention, or such other discourtesies as thy
+august body of forty may have under consideration? Have done with this
+errant nonsense, my good Duke ... an, indeed, thou be such ... and
+tell me where I shall find my horse, so that I may fare away upon my
+journey?"
+
+"Thy steed, sir knight," said the Renegade Duke, apparently not heeding
+Sir Richard's unveiled insult, "is now being groomed by an equerry.
+After thou hast broken thy fast it shall be led around to thee, wearing
+as fine a coat of glossy satin as ever graced my lady's shoulders. Thou
+shalt then be at liberty ... or in a manner at liberty, I should have
+said, ... to resume thy journey, as henceforth thou shalt travel under
+the protection of our estimable body of men here."
+
+There are ways without number of accepting an involuntary and
+compulsory situation. Sir Richard chose to embrace it after a lightsome
+and cheery fashion, believing thus that the open eye for an opportunity
+of effecting his escape would be thus more effectually disguised and
+concealed.
+
+"Well, ... so must it be," said he, laughing. "And since, mayhap, we
+are to travel in the same direction, I shall be all the gainer by thy
+famous company."
+
+After they had breakfasted, the Renegade Duke signified his desire to
+escort Sir Richard about the grounds of the encampment.
+
+He found it to be composed of some threescore of tents set in a wide
+circle around the purple and black pavilion. These, his loquacious
+guide informed him, but served to give shelter to the leaders, the
+men-at-arms and archers, of which there were near a thousand, had
+thatched, rude coverings beneath the trees and shelving rocks. It was
+a perfect morning, the sun blazing upon the sea out of a cloudless
+sky. The site of the encampment was matchless in the beauty of its
+surroundings. To the north an apparently limitless forest started out
+of a purple haze on the line of the horizon, far above; and, slipping
+down in terrace beneath terrace of parti-colored foliage, halted
+abruptly, as though the red moor had forbidden the trees to trespass
+within its boundaries. Southward, one overlooked the gorse-grown plain,
+the level monotony of which was broken, at wide intervals, by the
+sudden uprearing of an isolated brae.
+
+When Sir Richard and the Duke returned from their circuit of the place
+of the encampment, the purple and black pavilion had been struck, and
+a cavalcade of fifty horsemen, superbly armed and caparisoned, awaited
+but the command to move. An equerry led forward the young knight's
+horse, which neighed with joy upon beholding its master. As to the
+perfection of its condition, the Renegade Duke had not exaggerated,
+for, between its burnished trappings, its ebon coat shone with the soft
+and velvety sheen of the finest satin. As he leapt into the saddle a
+bugler winded a silvery blast and the company at once set into motion.
+The horsemen were equally disposed forward of the noble prisoner and to
+the rear. Upon his right hand rode the Renegade Duke, who had mounted
+himself upon a gigantic white stallion. To his left rode Lord Bishop
+Kennedy, to whom the Duke introduced Sir Richard as they began their
+march.
+
+The Renegade Duke's range of subjects of conversation was limited to
+the discussion of his wonderful prowess in armed encounters upon the
+field of battle and within the lists, and of his innumerable conquests
+in that other and fairer field of the heart's affections. Sir Richard
+had disliked the fellow from the first, and his feelings toward him
+were rapidly undergoing a change into something more robust than mere
+dislike. But to have sought a quarrel with him then would have defeated
+the purpose that was even then assuming a definite shape within the
+young knight's mind. Sir Richard despised the Duke not alone because
+of his manner of speaking, but also for the way he had of twisting his
+fierce mustachios till they pointed heavenward from each of his round
+cheeks.
+
+When he could no longer tolerate listening to his idle boasting, Sir
+Richard turned and addressed himself to Lord Bishop Kennedy, who had
+spoken no word to the young knight since their first brief interchange
+of courtesies at the start of their journey.
+
+"Surely," thought Sir Richard, "if Verbosity attends me upon my right
+hand, Taciturnity doth ride gloomily along at my left," for the worthy
+Bishop did not even condescend to raise his sharp chin from out of
+his white tunic whilst delivering himself of a curt negative or
+affirmative in response to the young knight's conversational advances.
+
+Ahead of where they were riding, a jagged spur of the forest, composed
+of stunted pines and dense underbrush, swept defiantly down upon the
+moor. They were forced to describe a wide detour to the southward in
+order to avoid it and come upon the other side. As they were passing
+its nethermost point, Sir Richard glanced back to the place of his
+strange awakening beneath the sumptuous pavilion. He saw a great ship,
+with snowy sails bellying in the wind, making straight for that point
+of the coast, and the men, whom they had left behind, were swarming
+after the manner of an army of busy ants to the sandy beach.
+
+Passing the spur of stunted pines, they skirted the forest in a
+northwesterly direction till they had arrived upon a well defined
+road that plunged directly into the dense wood. Up this rocky way the
+cavalcade slowly defiled. Far above their heads the maze of branches
+met and intertwined, making it seem as though the company had been
+swallowed up within the cool mouth of a tremendously lofty green
+cavern. The sound of the hoof-beats of their horses was smothered in
+the thick carpet of pine needles underfoot, and the rich, sweet scent
+of them filled all the air.
+
+Since Sir Richard had displayed a disinclination to give ear to his
+cant, the Renegade Duke had drawn ahead to join the leading horsemen,
+and for an interval of more than two hours Bishop Kennedy and his
+prisoner rode onward side by side without exchanging a single word.
+
+"What road may this be, good Bishop?" he ventured finally to inquire.
+
+"'Tis the continuation of the Sauchieburn Pass," Lord Kennedy briefly
+replied.
+
+Sir Richard was more than contented, for he knew then that the way led
+to Castle Yewe and Lord Douglas, into whose hands he intended soon to
+deliver the duplicate of the parchment that had been pilfered from out
+of his wallet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+OF A QUARREL AND A CHALLENGE
+
+
+The road through the forest wound steadily upward, and when they had
+left behind them the red moors and braes, the heaving, shimmering sea,
+they gained no view of the open, and but scant glimpses of the sky,
+so thickly interwoven were the leafy branches above their heads, till
+they had emerged upon a furzed and brambled down that commanded an
+uninterrupted prospect for many miles around.
+
+The scene then spread before them was one of superb grandeur, and well
+repaid them for their march of five hours up the long and tedious
+slope, of which the point where they were now come marked the extreme
+summit. The sea had disappeared out of the range of their vision, and
+in every direction the land dipped away in a myriad of mounds and
+hills, with splotches of golden gorse dotting their tops and sides,
+till the last of them was lost in a purple haze that hung above the
+indefinite, circular rim of the horizon; a fleecy wrack of clouds
+tossed before the light wind across the deep blue dome of the sky.
+These, speeding between sun and earth, sent patches of light and shadow
+in a swift pursuit of each other up and down over the breast of the
+sweet landscape as though they were playing at some pretty game.
+
+Here, word passed among the men that they might dismount to bait
+themselves and their horses and enjoy a brief period of rest before
+resuming the march. Amidst resounding talk and laughter they clambered
+out of their saddles, tethered their steeds where the grass grew most
+abundantly, and proceeded to make themselves comfortable, after the
+campaigner's fashion, by sprawling at full length upon the velvety
+turf in the agreeable warmth of the sun. Meanwhile, serving-men were
+addressing themselves to the work of gathering armfuls of dried hemlock
+twigs, building fires over which to warm the pastys, and broaching
+casks of stum.
+
+A bright-faced youth, who had evidently been appointed equerry to Sir
+Richard, approached and signified his readiness to take charge of
+the young knight's horse. Sir Richard dismounted, gave the reins into
+the youth's hands, and joined Lord Kennedy, who was leaning against a
+curiously stunted cedar that grew from the brink of a steep declivity
+near at hand. Within his mind, Sir Richard had applied the nickname
+of "Taciturnitus" to his silent companion of the morning, and he
+was surprised to observe the grim warrior-churchman drinking in the
+glorious scene with a keen zest of which he had deemed him altogether
+incapable. For quite a space they stood side by side, silently
+contemplating the diversified beauties of the landscape that unrolled
+before them from the sky-line to the base of the cliff.
+
+Here and there, filmy pennants of white smoke, indicating the location
+of shepherds' cottages, would fling from behind the masses of foliage
+upon the farther hillsides. There was but one structure visible,
+however; a rambling pile of gray stone, shot with a trinity of
+embattled towers, which was nestled along the slope of a down, some
+three leagues distant from where they were standing.
+
+"What is that building yonder, my lord?" queried Sir Richard,
+indicating its location with outstretched hand and finger.
+
+"That," replied Bishop Kennedy, "is the Black Friar's Monastery. Our
+way, sir knight, leads directly beneath its sealed portcullis, which is
+opened but once in the year, and then only for the purpose of admitting
+its annual quota of novices. The final glance of the probationer's eye
+upon a free earth and heaven embraces this bit bonnie scene. When he is
+quit of the damp cell and noisome cloister, the crypt, lying within the
+belly of the hill, becomes the final repository of his lime-bleached
+bones."
+
+While Bishop Kennedy was talking Sir Richard's attention had been
+directed toward a solitary traveler, who was drawing near along the
+road that wound around the foot of the cliff and swept over the hill
+upon which his captors were bivouacing. The pilgrim was mounted upon a
+round-bodied, slow moving and remarkably long-eared donkey, which was
+exactly of a color with the rider's voluminous, cowled robe. As he came
+within easy view it could be seen that he was diligently poring over
+some sheets of manuscript. It appeared not to annoy the reader in the
+least when the donkey stopped, which it did every little while, to
+scratch its underside with its hind hoof.
+
+"Well, by my Faith!" exclaimed Bishop Kennedy, with a display of
+genuine enthusiasm upon catching sight of the pilgrim.
+
+"You know him, my lord?"
+
+"Yea--that I do, Sir Richard. Upon the round back of yonder ass rides
+a scholar, sir knight, whose fame will one day be proclaimed over all
+the land. Aye--and whose name shall live when thine and mine have
+been erased along with the epitaphs upon our tombs. Let me crave thy
+indulgence, and call another to keep thee company, whilst I go forward
+to embrace my friend Erasmus."
+
+"De Claverlok, attend us," he then called to the grizzled knight, who
+was sitting beside one of the roaring fires and skilfully balancing a
+pasty above it upon the blade of his halberd.
+
+De Claverlok quickly gulped down the remainder of the contents of the
+flagon beside him and came toward the two men wearing a good-natured
+smile, smacking his lips aloud and wiping his beard with the back of
+his broad hand.
+
+"The wine is to thy liking, I perceive," remarked Bishop Kennedy dryly.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the grizzled veteran heartily, "there's nothing, my
+men, that can equal it. Give me drink with the must in 't every blessed
+day of the year, ... eh!"
+
+"Thou art ever filled with ardor, de Claverlok, when the meat and drink
+are in question," observed Kennedy with a faint trace of a smile. "But
+canst forget thy loves long enough to keep companionship with our guest
+whilst I go forward to meet my friend riding below?"
+
+"Certes will I bear the sir knight company," the grizzled knight
+instantly agreed. "And I need not desert my loves in doing so, ... eh,
+... my boy?"
+
+Whereupon he led Sir Richard to a seat beside a hastily constructed
+table, made of two broad planks set lengthwise above a pair of empty
+casks. Over it, fluttering and crackling in the crisp, invigorating
+breeze that blew across the mountain, was stretched an awning of purple
+and black, which the young knight took to be a part of the pavilion
+beneath which he had been so mysteriously transported, and beneath
+which that morning he had so strangely awakened. The Renegade Duke,
+with a partially empty tankard at his hand, was already seated before
+a steaming pasty. From the violent red of his nose and cheeks it could
+easily be seen that he had been making rather too free with the stum.
+Besides painting his round face, it had provided him with the fool's
+courage to unmask his hatred of Sir Richard, at whom he glared across
+the improvised table with an open defiance. At first he was careful to
+preserve a sulky silence, but by the time he had emptied a few more
+flagons he grew noisily vociferant, and would likely have opened the
+quarrel then and there, had it not been for a now and again lustily
+delivered nudge of de Claverlok's mailed elbow.
+
+He was sufficiently himself, however, to relapse into silence when
+the Bishop joined them with his youthful friend, whom he addressed
+intimately as Gerard, but introduced to the three men as Erasmus.
+
+The scholar's loose robe did not wholly conceal the angularity of
+his figure. His cheeks, though almost painfully hollow, were touched
+with the olive bronze of winds and weathers. His nose was unusually
+prominent, but cut fine at bridge and nostril. His brow, classically
+moulded, was deep and broad at its base. Altogether, his physiognomy
+was remarkable for its combination of severe austerity and innate
+generosity and kindliness.
+
+"It would seem," said he, seating himself beside the table between
+Bishop Kennedy and Sir Richard, "that the flower of knighthood is
+gathered here to look upon the flower of Scotland's scenery. I wonder,
+sir knights, that the restful peace of yonder view does not communicate
+itself to your martial breasts and render you brothers-in-love of all
+the world."
+
+"Thy business it is to think, dream, and observe, Gerard," said Lord
+Kennedy, "and ours to act. The world is yet too imperfect to receive
+thy teachings, my friend."
+
+"Yea--that it is," agreed de Claverlok between bites. "With us it's
+eat, drink, rest betimes, and then away. I'll wager, though, our gear
+sits lighter on our shoulders than your robe, ... eh?"
+
+"Right readily do I grant you that, sir knight," returned Erasmus
+smilingly. "This robe, in truth, is one of the heaviest of my burdens.
+There would be many a naked back, my lord," he added gravely, turning
+toward Bishop Kennedy, "an the robe were to be stripped from every
+bigoted hypocrite. It grieves me to admit my belief that steel girded
+breasts are uniformly more steadfast to their principles than those
+enveloped within the robe and cowl."
+
+Thus, during the hour of eating, Erasmus held Lord Kennedy and Sir
+Richard enthralled with the charm and compelling influence of his
+colloquy, in the course of which he explained to them that he was then
+journeying from a monastery at Stein to enter the services of the
+Archbishop of Cambray, and that later it was a part of his plan to go
+on to Paris, where he intended pursuing his studies under the continued
+patronage of his amiable and generous master.
+
+Had the scholar touched at all upon the subject of battles, or of
+deeds of martial gallantry, it is possible that he might again have
+enticed de Claverlok to give ear. But as it was, that bluff warrior
+yielded himself in his most heartywise to the business of devastating
+the remainder of the pasty before him, and maintaining a constant
+void within the pewter flagon beside his plate. As for the Renegade
+Duke, Sir Richard noted that his vapid smile had resolved itself into
+something approaching a drunken leer, and that beneath his vain twaddle
+there ran a distinct undercurrent of thinly veiled sarcasm. It grew
+apparent that he was striving desperately to mask his quarrel with
+the young knight from the understanding of Lord Kennedy. In this Sir
+Richard was assisting him to his uttermost. Some time before he had
+conceived the idea that a quarrel and subsequent duel, which he hoped
+that his blatant guard might secretly arrange, would provide a likely
+means of escape.
+
+That their combined efforts were unfruitful of misleading the shrewd
+Bishop was soon made apparent; for, before leaving from beneath the
+awning with Erasmus, he took the grizzled knight aside, talking
+earnestly with him for several minutes.
+
+"I am but going to make Erasmus acquainted with some of our famous
+fellows," he was explaining to de Claverlok, "and shall soon return.
+Above all things, Sir Lionel," he warned in a whisper, "keep a close
+eye on the Knight of the Double Rook. Before we came to yonder table
+I had disquieting news from the scholar from Bannockburn way. Douglas
+is arming to oppose us, and planning to invade England for a purpose
+similar with ours. I fear me that he is familiar with every happening
+within our camp, and doubts have arisen within me as to the Renegade
+Duke's integrity to our cause. An I am not mistaken, there is a plan
+afoot to defeat our purpose of delivering the young noble within our
+northern stronghold. There's something mightily wrong, de Claverlok.
+Not a breath have I heard from our captive regarding the King's warrant
+taken from his pouch by Sir James; and yet is he as eager as an
+unhooded falcon to escape and fare away upon his journey. How it would
+boot him to go on, I cannot make out. Remember, sir knight," Bishop
+Kennedy concluded sternly, "that henceforth thou art held responsible
+for the youth's safe detention; ... by thy knightly oath do we hold
+thee."
+
+"Aye, my lord," was the extent of de Claverlok's reply, though his tone
+and manner indicated his determination to be faithful to the trust
+imposed upon him.
+
+While the three men were seated beneath the awning awaiting Lord
+Kennedy's return they espied along the road, which wound like a tawny
+worm beneath the portcullis of the Black Friar's Monastery, a single
+horseman careering swiftly in the direction of the hill upon which
+they were stationed. As the rider drew nearer, they could see the
+glint of the sun's rays upon the burnished trappings of man and horse.
+Without exchanging a speculative word, their glances followed him till
+he disappeared at a point where the ochre road was swallowed up in a
+patch of brilliantly colored gorse. He had likewise been sighted from
+elsewhere upon the mountain top, for a band of horsemen sallied down
+from the place of the bivouac and met him precisely at the spot where
+he again issued into view from behind the bushes. Then, wheeling, they
+bore him company up the declivitous road. Coincident with their meeting
+with the men awaiting them above there was a loud shouting of "Douglas!
+False Douglas, the traitor!" Whereupon Lord Kennedy could be seen
+striding among them, a trumpeter winded a blast "To horse," and then,
+amidst a frenzied waving of pennoned lances, the hitherto quiet scene
+became alive with the scurrying of mailed feet, the noise of creaking
+saddle girths, the hoarse cries of men, and the loud neighing of horses.
+
+Sir Richard, unable to interpret the meaning of this sudden warlike
+demonstration, and wondering much at the use of the name of Douglas,
+regarded it in the light of a most opportune happening. For one thing,
+it had rid him temporarily of the presence of de Claverlok, who was
+swinging furiously down the slope bellowing aloud for the Duke's horse,
+for Sir Richard's, and his own. The young knight at once availed
+himself of the opportunity of resuming his quarrel with the Renegade
+Duke; and, as he regarded him scornfully across the board, that
+individual arose and bowed low before him. In despite of Sir Richard's
+aversion toward the man, he was obliged to pay tribute within his mind
+to his singular grace and perfect assurance.
+
+"Why all this mock courtesy," said the young knight quietly, arising
+also to his feet, "when your blade, my brave Duke, dangles so near to
+your hand?"
+
+The Renegade Duke stole a glance behind him down the hill, and smiled
+insolently, coolly, delaying thus his answer for a considerable space.
+
+"The battle-ax, or mace, sir knight," he said then, "would better suit
+our deadly purposes." He was not above looking to the advantages of his
+superior weight in offering this suggestion. Moreover, horsemanship
+played an important part in this kind of warfare, and the Duke was said
+to be a master horseman. "Yet----" he added the word and then paused
+reflectively.
+
+"Yet what?" returned Sir Richard. "Out with it ere de Claverlok return
+to thwart the perfecting of our arrangements."
+
+"Yet--" repeated the Duke slowly, again looking behind him down the
+hill, his lips still raised from off his teeth in a maddening smile, "I
+dislike me much to remove the single champion of a maiden in distress.
+Would you not consent to grant to me the legacy of effecting the fair
+one's release?"
+
+The violence of Sir Richard's anger, scattering every vestige of
+prudence to the winds, might easily have resulted in defeating his well
+laid plan to escape. For, no sooner had the Duke finished, than the
+young knight found himself standing with his emptied tankard in his
+hand, while his enemy, with a diaphanous lace kerchief, was daintily
+wiping the dregs from it off his face. The fact that he missed a
+drop of the wine, which remained hanging from one of the ridiculous
+points of his upturned mustachios, sent Sir Richard into a paroxysm of
+laughter.
+
+"An it comes to the question of a legacy, Renegade Duke," he stifled
+his merriment sufficiently to answer, "I shall do my mightiest to have
+it from you to me. An I make no mistake, my fine fellow, I shall gain
+the missive you have pilfered before the day is done."
+
+While Sir Richard was speaking, de Claverlok was seen to be approaching
+at a swift gallop with their horses.
+
+"Till we meet," returned the Duke quickly, "it shall again be yours.
+When your bonnet was being burnished this morning it rolled from out
+the fillet to the pavilion floor." Whereupon, having explained his
+possession of the note, he tossed the bit of paper before Sir Richard
+upon the table. Then, as de Claverlok drew rein and called aloud for
+them to mount--"Which shall it be," he whispered, "mace, battle-ax, or
+sword?"
+
+"Battle-axes, at cock-shut time," Sir Richard hastily answered, moving
+in the direction of his waiting horse.
+
+"Battle-axes at cock-shut time," repeated the Duke. Then, with a
+sweeping bow, he held the young knight's stirrup for him to mount.
+"Battle-axes at cock-shut time," he said again. "Thou hast laid a
+command upon me, ... Liege!" he added, with the last word hissed low in
+Sir Richard's ear as he vaulted lightly past him into his saddle.
+
+"Liege?" thought the young knight to himself as he rode onward down
+the road beside de Claverlok. "Why all these ceremonious bows? This
+calling of me a _noble_ knight? This strange captivity? Why should
+I--I, Richard Rohan, knight, and lowly messenger of the King be thus
+curtseyed to and addressed? And what mean these subdued mutterings
+among the men of 'A traitor in camp,' 'Douglas playing false and
+arming,' 'Tyrrell outmaneuvered'? Fates defend me. I had liefer set my
+lance against the Dragon of Wantley than make an attempt to unravel the
+deep mysteries by which I am this moment surrounded."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+OF AN AMBUSCADE, A DUEL, AND AN ESCAPE
+
+
+The Renegade Duke, whose challenge Sir Richard had so openly invited,
+and who, through the mishap described, had secured a temporary
+possession of the playful note written to the young knight by Isabel,
+had quickly surmised by whom it had been inscribed. He was aware of the
+maid's dissatisfaction with her surroundings, and that she had chosen
+Sir Richard to be her deliverer at once sent the Duke into a ferment of
+passionate jealousy.
+
+The Renegade Duke's accidental meeting with Isabel when he had first
+come to Scotland to join Tyrrell's projected expedition, had marked the
+beginning of a mad desire to arouse within her breast a return of the
+sentiment that he entertained toward her. In so far as his superficial
+character permitted, his affection for her was genuine. But in the rare
+instances in which he had contrived to meet and talk with her alone,
+she had rejected his suit with an indignant scorn that would have left
+an ordinary man without the shadow of a hope of future success. The
+Duke, however, was all egotism and vanity, and remained firm in his
+belief that his charms would ultimately prevail. By fair means or foul,
+he had determined upon having her within his power; and, as the initial
+step toward such an end, he had played the traitor by laying bare
+before Douglas the whole of Sir James's plan.
+
+Douglas, himself a conspirator of no mean abilities, had immediately
+set about to concoct a scheme whereby to take advantage of Tyrrell's
+grave dilemma, caused by the unhappy death of the young prince.
+Douglas had already instituted measures to have a substitute candidate
+proclaimed in the place of the one dead, being well aware that Sir
+James would scarcely dare to incur the ire of his men--from whom he had
+kept the circumstance of the prince's death a dark secret--by exposing
+the falsity of the Douglas claimant. Rather, did Douglas figure it,
+would Tyrrell be under the necessity of joining issues. This would
+result in a powerful movement, with the Douglas finger very much in
+the juicy pasty that was designed to be served up to Henry VII and
+his followers. Had the Renegade Duke been acquainted with the genuine
+character of the captive Sir Richard's ancestry he would doubtless
+have been in haste to communicate his knowledge thereof to his new
+master, with the result that the plot, then taking shape, would have
+been infinitely less complex, and probably less interesting than it
+subsequently turned out to be. In his selection of Sir Richard to
+assume the leadership of his gathered forces, the Duke fell into the
+error of supposing that Tyrrell had happened by chance to duplicate
+Lord Douglas's clever expedient.
+
+In the early morning of that day the Duke had contrived to get word to
+one of Douglas's lieutenants of the captivity of the young knight, and
+of Tyrrell's intention to carry him to his stronghold before making
+known his plans with regard to him. The Duke anticipated a counter
+move upon the part of Douglas along the way; but he calculated that
+if he could make himself the instrument of the captive's removal, it
+would place him high in the esteem of Lord Douglas; while, at the same
+time, he believed that such a move would leave Tyrrell without a prop
+wherewith to buttress his tottering conspiracy.
+
+As Sir Richard, around whom simmered this salmagundi of politics, rode
+onward with the company, he tried many times, by piecing together odds
+and ends of the talk that drifted to his ears, to gather some inkling
+of the purpose upon which the company, of which he was a most unwilling
+member, was engaged. With recurring frequency he heard the word
+"treason," and its kindred, "traitor," "spy," "base informer" traded
+from tongue to tongue among the men around him. The march was now being
+urged rapidly forward, and a something portending evil seemed to be
+hanging in the air about them.
+
+The end they were seeking to attain, and the part his person was
+playing in their machinations grew more enigmatical in proportion with
+the thought that Sir Richard gave to the matter of burrowing to the
+reason for them. He ceased trying, finally, and suffered himself to be
+carried along whithersoever chance, or good or bad fortune, listed.
+
+His companion of the morning, now no longer taciturn, was riding well
+to the front with Erasmus, whom he had evidently persuaded to remain
+with the company. In sullen silence at his left rode the Renegade Duke.
+Faithful de Claverlok kept within touch of Sir Richard's hand to his
+right.
+
+When he was not engaging the bluff old warrior in conversation, the
+young knight would yield himself to the ineffable delights of conjuring
+up radiant visions of the maiden of the piece of saffron velvet, whilst
+all of the time he was building every manner of chimerical plan for
+effecting her delivery from the hands of the keeper of the Red Tavern.
+Full often his fingers would seek and caress the soft nap of the
+cutting of cloth. He had need of constant assurance that the entire
+mysterious happening had not been of the ephemeral fabric of an unusual
+dream.
+
+Thinking thus of the unknown maiden to whom he had pledged his knightly
+sword, led him naturally to the contemplation of his own freedom,
+and the stratagem through which he was hopeful of achieving it. That
+his avowed enemy, the Duke, was, at the proper moment, ready to lend
+himself to his device, Sir Richard was almost certain. His scheme
+involved the arrangement of a secret duel, in which he trusted in his
+strength of arm to vanquish his enemy and thereafter make his escape.
+But a most substantial and incorruptible barrier offered in the bulky
+person of the grizzled knight. As many as a score of times had de
+Claverlok been loudly hailed from the vanguard of the line. But without
+exception he had laughingly rejoined that he was engaged in keeping
+companionship with the honored guest of the company, remaining deaf to
+the young knight's fervent assurances that he must consider himself
+quite free to ride ahead, if he so desired.
+
+"Aye," he would invariably reply, "I know well that thou art growing
+tired of my prattle, ... eh? I wish that it were not so, sir knight,
+for I must do my devoir by thy side till the trumpet sounds a halt for
+the night."
+
+Once Sir Richard put to him point blank the question of why and how
+long he was to be thus forcibly detained.
+
+"Before the sun drops beneath the hills in the evening of to-morrow,"
+de Claverlok replied, "thou shalt know all. Would that I were free to
+tell thee the story now, Sir Richard," he added with an honest candor,
+"but my lips are sealed with an oath most sacred, ... eh! Thou wouldst
+not expect me to break my knightly vow, I know," upon which he looked
+significantly across at the Renegade Duke, but that immaculate dandy
+was busily engaged in polishing his nails against the flowing skirts of
+his scarlet _sclaveyn_, and remained wholly unconscious of the implied
+warning.
+
+One thing, at least, had drifted clear of the haze within Sir Richard's
+topsy-turvy brain. Lord Kennedy was the leader, and had appointed
+de Claverlok as his especial consort. He wished heartily that some
+accident might befall to win or send the rugged warrior from his close
+attendance upon his stirrup, as this was the only means through which
+he could hope to achieve the end he had in mind.
+
+The sun, by now, was tinting the western sky a rose glow, with all
+across the face of it a sweeping of thin and luminously pink clouds.
+The hour had almost come when Sir Richard had promised himself the
+felicity of trying conclusions with his braggart enemy at his left; yet
+here was de Claverlok riding unyielding alongside, the embodiment of
+everything firm and loyal.
+
+Though he was chafing sore under the restraint, Sir Richard could not
+but suffer himself to be entertained by the flow of good humored talk
+of his companion, which went something after the following fashion:
+
+He had been told that Sir Richard had passed the greater part of his
+life in Brittany? The young knight answered affirmatively. He, too, the
+grizzled warrior averred, had hunted, fought, and tilted there. There
+were maidens in Brittany, ... shy, big-eyed, captivating, ... who had
+once regarded him not unfavorably, ... eh! Their daughters, mayhap, had
+done the same for Sir Richard? "Thy looks doth certes deny thy age,"
+the young knight had politely assured him. Ah! aye--but he was old,
+though, ... quite old enough to be the sir knight's father. Why! once
+he had split a lance or two with the old Duke Francis himself. And at
+the time when Henry, Earl of Richmond, now England's sovereign ruler,
+had been but a romping, long-haired boy, ... eh! Yea, ... and the
+sturdy Duke had come nearer to unhorsing him than any man across the
+Channel. He had been informed that the young sir knight had once been
+Henry's playmate; ... was this true, ... eh?
+
+He had indeed been the companion of Henry, Sir Richard told his
+friendly guard, and with him had shared the guardianship of Duke
+Francis and the bountiful hospitality of his court.
+
+Then it may have been, the grizzled knight went on, that Sir Richard
+had witnessed that self-same tournament upon the field of Anjou, at
+Vannes? It had been extravagantly rich in prizes, ... that tournament.
+He himself had been so fortunate as to win two barbs and three coats
+of Tuscan mail, ... fluted, ... sumptuous, ... exquisitely damascened.
+But they had long since found their way into the rapacious talons of
+the Jews. Everything that he had ever possessed ... of any value, ...
+saving that which he was then wearing, ... and his knightly honor,
+... had followed at the tail of them into the same far-reaching, ever
+greedy claws. Yet he courted no hatred of them, ... eh! Why should one?
+Were they not as necessary to a gold-lean knight, these gleaners of
+worldly wealth, as were his very bread and wine, ... eh? What excuse
+was there for despising one of the prime essentials of life, he wanted
+to know?
+
+In something after this manner the warrior rambled on. Touching, with a
+ponderous grace, upon any subject that chanced to fall, haphazard, into
+his mind, not pausing for a moment to listen to answering comment, or
+seeming to expect it: Sir Richard was growing convinced that the crafty
+fellow was witness to the passing of the insult between the Renegade
+Duke and himself, and that he was merely talking to defeat their avowed
+purpose of renewing hostilities till the hour when they should halt for
+the night.
+
+There would be no duel that day, and no escape, of this he was by now
+almost certain. Disappointed, chagrined, impatient of his strange
+thralldom, and desiring above all things else to deliver Henry's
+message to Douglas, he rode gloomily along, lending something less than
+half an ear to the empty words that his stanch, unwavering guard was
+volleying into it.
+
+For a considerable while the road had been threading between a pleasing
+succession of furze and thistle-grown downs. It was from a copse
+abutting upon the highway, when they were riding between the steeper
+of these, that a frightened hare scurried in front of them across
+the road. Upon the instant de Claverlok drew rein and swept each of
+the hillsides with a swift and keen scrutiny. The trifling incident
+of the flying hare was as the first eddy of wind that heralds the
+coming tornado; for, in almost the next moment, there followed the
+sharp spattering of bolts against bonnet and breast-plate and shield.
+One struck fair upon Sir Richard's gorget, causing him to reel in
+his saddle and his temples to throb and ache with the shock of the
+impact. Among those riding ahead the young knight saw three pitch
+heavily off their horses. Clear eyed and iron nerved indeed were these
+Scot archers; men who could pick you out with unerring nicety the
+crevice between gorget and helm, or the joint between pauldron and
+breast-plate. Often, with the beaver drawn, they were known to flick an
+arrow through the eye-slit without touching either side of the orifice.
+
+After the first shower of bolts the slopes upon each side of the
+company of horsemen became alive with warriors, slipping down the hill
+upon them like brown and living torrents. There was a ruddy glare
+ahead, where the ardent rays of the sun, now setting, were beating
+against the breastplates of an advancing foe. Uprose, then, loud cries
+of "Douglas, and the Duke of York!" "Long live the White Rose!" which
+was met with shouts of "Death to the traitors!" "Long live Tyrrell and
+the Duke of Warwick!"
+
+Sir Richard was just upon the point of yielding to the instinctive call
+that would have placed him in the singular position of giving battle
+against the enemies of his supposed own foes, when the Renegade Duke's
+hand fell heavily upon the bridle of his prancing stallion.
+
+"Cock-shut time is come!" he was shouting in the young knight's ear. "I
+am ready to obey thy command of this morning. Ride with me to the left!"
+
+Quick as a flash Sir Richard wheeled, and together they drove upward
+along a narrow roadway that debouched from the one over which they had
+been traveling, unlimbering their battle-axes as they sped along.
+
+When the wooded summit of the down intervened between them and the
+scene of the conflict, they drew rein and went at it. Whatsoever else
+the Renegade Duke may have been, Sir Richard was quick to discover that
+as a foeman he was not in the least to be despised. Blow after blow
+he was parrying, and that with a neatness and cleverness that set the
+impetuous young knight somewhat by the ears. Indeed, growing out of the
+very frenzy of his eagerness, he realized that his attacks were losing
+an alarming measure of their force and accuracy.
+
+There was now need of immediate action, as, upon the further side of
+the down, the crash of arms seemed to be subsiding. It was just as he
+was charging his antagonist afresh that Sir Richard heard the thunder
+of hoof-beats along the narrow road upon which the Duke and he were
+fighting for their very lives. Summoning every vestige of energy
+and strength at his command, he aimed a blow full at his foeman's
+head-piece. When it appeared to be upon the point of striking, the
+Renegade Duke executed a swift demivolte. The heavy ax, glancing along
+his helm, clove off its jaunty white plume, and crashed fair upon the
+chamfron of his mount. There followed then a momentary reeling and
+staggering, like a maimed ship in a sudden gale, whereupon horse and
+rider fell, furiously plunging and kicking, into a thornhedge beside
+the road.
+
+By now the echoes of the approaching hoofbeats were reverberating
+clear and crepitant from against the steep side of the opposite hill.
+The Renegade Duke had not done sinking into the crackling brush when
+Sir Richard wheeled, and, touching rowels lightly to his stallion's
+foam-flecked side, made off with all the speed there was left in him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+OF A NIGHT IN A SHEPHERD'S HUT, AND A SURPRISE IN THE MORNING
+
+
+So far as qualities of speed and endurance were concerned, Sir
+Richard would have willingly matched his powerful stallion against
+any in Scotland. Having no fear, therefore, of the possibility of
+his recapture, he settled himself with some comfort in his saddle,
+enjoying a great measure of satisfaction in the belief that he would
+soon outdistance his pursuers. That he was indeed being followed he was
+left in no manner of doubt, as not for a single instant did the ring of
+hoof-beats pause at the spot where his late adversary had sprawled so
+ignominiously into the brambles.
+
+Being wholly unaware as to the number of miles that might stretch away
+between himself and Castle Yewe, he deemed it unwise to urge his mount
+to top speed. Besides, the road along which he was forced to travel
+was not over-free from scattered boulders and rather steep of descent.
+He accordingly contented himself with making haste slowly, as the
+saying goes, maintaining a long, easy, sweeping stride, and observing
+every possible precaution against the accidental stumbling or laming of
+his horse. Moreover, in the thin, clear air of the uplands the rattling
+of steel hoofs against the flinty earth would assuredly carry for the
+greater part of a league. For this reason he entertained but slight
+hope of throwing his pursuers off his trail till the character of the
+soil became changed.
+
+Twice within the distance of the flight of an arrow the road swerved
+sharply to the left, which rendered it quite impossible, on account of
+the tangle of bushes that shot high above his crest on either hand, to
+ascertain how closely they were following at his heels, or how many
+were engaged in the chase. At times he could have sworn that there was
+but one. Then, when he would be just upon the point of drawing rein,
+purposing to try conclusions with that which he supposed to be his
+single foeman, the surrounding foothills would carry to his ears the
+echoes of a battalion of flying horsemen, whereupon he would touch
+spurs to his stallion's side and scurry hot-footed up and down dale
+until the sounds had dwindled again to a mere faint pattering in the
+twilight distance.
+
+Two full hours of hard riding did not suffice materially to alter the
+positions of pursuer and pursued. By then the moon had shot clear of
+the hills, adding her pallid luster to the clear, star-powdered vault,
+and still Sir Richard could catch the faint pounding of persistent
+hoofs at his back. Arriving presently at a point where a wider roadway
+forked to the left, he decided to take his way along that. He was
+gratified to find that it yielded soft to the hoof, muffling to a
+considerable extent the hitherto loud noise of his flight.
+
+Sprinting madly for the distance of something near an eighth of a
+league, he dismounted and led his tired horse within the shadows of a
+thick wood, fringing the highway to the northward. Tethering him to a
+tree at a safe distance from the road, he then retraced his way rapidly
+but cautiously toward the juncture of the two highroads. Purposing
+through this simple stratagem, should chance favor him, to have a look
+at his pursuing enemies.
+
+The young knight enjoyed a quiet laugh at his own expense when he
+discovered that his flying battalion of horsemen had narrowed down
+to one, and that one, de Claverlok. His rugged profile was set fair
+against the enormous face of the moon, as he drew to a stand not above
+a dozen feet from where Sir Richard lay concealed. Distinctly the young
+knight could see his grizzled head, a silhouette of black against a
+yellow circle, showing as clear and clean cut as a finely chiseled
+statue.
+
+It was easy to gather that de Claverlok was in two minds whether to go
+straight ahead, or to turn to his left into the forking roadway. Now
+he was inclining his head in a listening attitude. From away in the
+distance, and ever so faintly, came the clatter of the galloping hoofs
+of a single horseman. This sound set an instant period to the grizzled
+knight's perplexity. Forthwith he turned his charger's head straight to
+the northward, and in a flash was spurring furiously from the vicinity
+of the bushes where Sir Richard lay hidden.
+
+Keeping well in the brush, the young knight waited till the noise of
+de Claverlok's flight had merged within the solemn quiet of the night;
+then, returning to where he had tethered his horse, he led him to the
+highway, mounted, and, after somewhat of a less impetuous fashion than
+before again resumed his lonely journey.
+
+He had ample leisure thereafter to indulge himself in meditation.
+Indeed the young knight was enjoying his first quiet interval since
+his entrance into the Red Tavern and his meeting with Tyrrell, whom he
+still regarded as nothing more than a most extraordinary inn-keeper.
+Again his mind reverted to the maiden; he recalled with a thrill of
+pleasure her soft whisper, and the kiss through the wall. He thought
+of the bit of cloth and the note, and immediately grew less lonely
+than before. They yielded him a sweet companionship that he was quite
+willing to accept without attempting to define. Through his ardent
+maze of speculation, however, Nature obtruded with her realities, and
+he became conscious of the keen, frost-laden air, and of his fatigue
+and hunger. He was ready to admit that the twinkling lights of an inn
+would have afforded him a most welcome and agreeable sight.
+
+Sir Richard was destined to be denied this pleasing spectacle, as he
+had now ridden as far as discretion allowed without glimpsing a sign of
+a habitable shelter. But as he drew clear of the forest he caught sight
+of a hut that stood not far from the road within an open meadow. He
+rode up to it, discovering it to be an abandoned shepherd's dwelling,
+bleak, uninviting, and dreary. Between this and the cosy corner of an
+inn abounding in appetizing odors was something of a far cry to be
+sure. But it was the best that seemed likely to offer for the night;
+and, desolate, lonely, and utterly cheerless as it was, he nevertheless
+gave thanks for the mere rude thatch that would at least protect him
+from the tingling air. A rough lean-to had been constructed against the
+side of the hut beneath which he secured his horse, a great armful of
+half-dried grass serving for the animal's feed. Once inside the hovel,
+by tearing out a plank or two from the rotting floor and disposing them
+within the rude fireplace he soon contrived to kindle a blaze that
+warmed him pleasantly to sleep.
+
+So fatigued was he that, in despite of his hunger and thirst, his
+slumber was of the soundest. Perhaps the assurance that he would likely
+awaken in the same spot where he had closed his eyes contributed
+its mite to his comfort of mind and body. At all events he remained
+undisturbed till well along in the morning. When he aroused himself and
+opened his eyes the slanting rays of the sun were falling fair upon
+them through the sashless window that opened upon a fairylike view of
+hill and forest. He was stretching and yawning himself more fully awake
+when he was startled suddenly into that condition by a huge shadow
+moving across the devastated floor. He looked once; then, rubbing his
+thoroughly surprised eyes, looked again.
+
+Upon the sagged doorsill sat the ubiquitous de Claverlok. He seemed
+quite unaware of the young knight's awakening, being busily intent upon
+the burnishing of his helmet, and cocking his grizzled head drolly
+from one shoulder to the other the while he held his gleaming bonnet
+at arm's length the better to view and admire the result of his lusty
+rubbing. The glittering top-piece, catching a ray of the sun, shunted
+it straight into Sir Richard's dazzled eyes. For a second or two
+thereafter he could see nothing above a brilliant splotch of red, with
+the massive outline of de Claverlok looming gigantic in its center.
+
+When he was recovered of his transitory blindness, he made a hasty
+examination of the wall against which he had constructed his bed of
+leaves and boughs. Saving for a narrow vent-hole set high above the
+floor, and in the corner of the room farthest from where he was lying,
+it was unpierced by door or window. Sir Richard could not restrain a
+smile of quiet amusement as he thought of the famous prank he might
+have played upon the unconquerable old warrior had there been a
+sufficient opening near at hand to give exit to his body.
+
+As it was, ... "_Well!_" he shouted at de Claverlok upon a sudden, and
+at the very limit of his lungs.
+
+Deliberately, and with the most impassive unconcern, the grizzled
+knight set his helmet upon his head.
+
+"Give thee a right good-morrow, Sir Richard," said he, smiling broad
+and friendlywise over his shoulder. "Judging from the quality of
+thy slumber, I should say that thy conscience is mightily clear and
+babelike, ... eh?"
+
+"Clearer it should be than thine, ... leech!" Sir Richard retorted.
+"Much am I perplexed over thy presence within this hut this morning.
+Methought that yester eve I had bade thee adieu for all."
+
+"Aye, ... and good quittance, well riddance, thou didst think, ...
+eh? But thou wert remiss, my son, in not bethinking thee to yield me
+a parting handclasp. I am come to remind thee of thy discourteous
+oversight, and, what's better, to offer thee wherewith to break thy
+fast."
+
+"Thou dost but mock mine hunger, de Claverlok, which is most ill
+beseeming from an unbidden guest within my door."
+
+"Pooh, pooh! guest within thy door, indeed. 'Tis thou who art jesting
+now, ... eh! But, i' truth, I am not mocking thee, sir knight,"
+protested de Claverlok. "Why, thinkest thou that these bonnie plains
+and downs are barren of grain and fowl, ... eh? Or that my hand and
+tongue have lost their cunning? But, tell me, my good Sir Richard, art
+indeed bereft of thy nostrils?"
+
+When the young knight raised himself upon his elbow he became aware of
+the appetizing odor of a roasting fowl, which had not quite dropped to
+the level of his reclining head. In the fireplace behind him he saw
+that it had all along been sizzling upon an improvised spit, and that
+beside it there was an iron pot that was sending its cloud of steam
+merrily up the deep black throat of the chimney.
+
+"I observe," said Sir Richard, rising and going to the door, "that thou
+art ever thoughtful of the inner man. But, withal, de Claverlok, I like
+thee right well, and were it not that thou hast designed to constitute
+thyself my guardian and captor, full gladly would I call thee friend."
+
+"Your hand, Sir Dick, and let us say 'tis so. Your good friend and
+true have I been since first I clapt my eyes upon your fresh and open
+countenance, ... eh! By Saint Dunstan, but I wish that I dared tell
+you a thing or twain as to the reason for my guardianship," he added
+fervently. "That I am such is the fault of an untoward circumstance of
+which for the present you must perforce remain ignorant. That I am
+your captor, ... well," he laughed, "and whose fault is 't, ... eh? You
+were a free man but yester night, my boy."
+
+"Aye," returned Sir Richard; "and ill did I conduct the business
+of eluding you. But, marry, man! Here's my hand of friendship, for
+as friend I insist upon regarding you--and not captor--my good de
+Claverlok."
+
+Smiling broadly, the grizzled knight grasped and heartily shook the
+young knight's proffered hand.
+
+"From this old tongue," said he, "you shall hear no denial of your
+claim. But a truce to soft sayings, ... eh? The fowl doth cry aloud
+from yon spit. The ale is mulled to that degree of perfection where it
+would tickle the palate of Epicurus himself. The air is growing heavy
+with the fragrance of toasting cheese. Let us, I pray you, break our
+fasts and be off. Our journey doth stretch long before us, and the day
+grows apace."
+
+They thereupon sat down together upon the doorsill, the hollow of
+de Claverlok's broad and scrupulously burnished shield serving as
+salver for the meat, bread and cheese. They took turns at the ale out
+of the mouth of the earthen jug beside them. When they had finished
+breakfasting, they went to the lean-to and made ready their horses.
+
+"Do our ways diverge at yonder road?" carelessly asked Sir Richard, as
+he swung himself into his saddle. "Or shall I be so fortunate as to
+have you for my companion during a part of my journey?"
+
+"Well, ... by the sun that warms us! Marry, but you are a refreshing
+youth!" exclaimed de Claverlok, adjusting his breast-plate and
+gathering his buckler over his left arm. "An I wot my name, Sir
+Richard, you are to journey wherever I lead, ... eh!"
+
+"Be in a hurry then, my friend," suggested the young knight pleasantly,
+but firmly, "to become again acquainted with yourself. I go my own way,
+sir, e'en an my sword or lance must reckon with the hindrance."
+
+By this time the grizzled warrior was seated in his saddle, and had
+gathered his reins in his hand for the start.
+
+"Which direction is it your wish to travel, my son, ... eh?" he
+inquired, making as if to submit to Sir Richard's desire.
+
+Withdrawing a chart out of the wallet dangling from his baldric, and
+making note of the position of the sun and the length of the shadows,
+the young knight indicated, without speaking, a point midway between
+north and northwest upon the glowing line of the sky and hill.
+
+"By 'r Lady!" exclaimed de Claverlok, causing his armor to jingle with
+the heartiness of his laughter, "but I am fair sorry that you are not
+ignorant of every trick of travel-lore and wood-craft, else might I
+have conducted you to a place not so imminently dangerous to your
+handsome----" He ended the sentence by touching his head and sweeping
+his hand in a circular motion around the base of his corded neck.
+
+"Methinks 'tis an easy hazard," returned Sir Richard lightly; "and I
+have made choice of accepting it. The choice was made for me before I
+started, I should have said. An our ways lie together, though, friend
+de Claverlok, mayhap you would spare the time to show me how to pick
+up a trail by moonlight. 'Tis a right pretty trick--and after flying
+after a false scent, too. A right pretty trick."
+
+"Yea--and the very devil's own time had I to compass it. What with
+the going astray, and the getting down on my knees in the dust, I had
+scarce an hour's rest between the welcome sight of you asleep within
+the hut and sunrise, ... eh! I wot you were watching me beside the
+road near the fork, for I saw your marks along the thornhedge. A right
+nice prank that was to play on an old campaigner, ... eh? And am I a
+night-capped grand-dam, think you, to lose that which has cost me so
+much to gain? I'll be damned, Sir Dick, an you are not this moment my
+captive, ... eh!"
+
+"Right glad am I to claim you friend, de Claverlok," maintained Sir
+Richard, guiding his horse toward the highway; "but I must deny you the
+right to call yourself my captor. My first escape was an honorable one,
+effected through force of arms. An I must escape again, let it be in
+the same manner. Though much do I regret that our friendship should end
+thus. I leave to thee, sir knight, the choice of weapons."
+
+"Fiends and furies fly away with every kind of weapon!" roared de
+Claverlok; "an they are to be wielded between you and me. Would I be
+keeping my knightly vow by spitting you upon my lance's head, ... eh?
+By the Rood! You would tempt me to set myself in a class with that
+foul toad, the Renegade Duke, ... eh? Ah! but how I did laugh to see
+him kicking and cursing amidst the thorns. I would you had put an end
+to him, Sir Dick. Yesterday, an I wot myself, began a tale of black
+treachery, my young friend, to which the false head of that court dandy
+shall furnish an appropriate and bloody period."
+
+By this time they had come to the road where, as though by common
+consent, they reined to a halt for further parley.
+
+"An you refuse to give me battle, de Claverlok," said Sir Richard a
+trifle impatiently, "you must permit me to take my own way, as I am
+determined not to go yours, unless indeed it be in a helpless and
+disabled condition, and trussed fast to the back of your barb. How say
+you, sir knight?"
+
+"How say I, ... eh?" muttered the grizzled warrior within his curly
+beard. "What can I say, would be more to the point, it would appear.
+The hungry vultures, I'll swear, would be the only gainers from a tilt
+at arms between us. And beshrew me, Sir Dick, an I am of a mind to
+strew the sward with your precious body. As for mine--well--I am not so
+partial to vultures as to wish to feast them upon my carcase. But tell
+me," he added, looking keenly into the young knight's eyes, "why are
+you so stubbornly determined upon making your way into Castle Yewe; can
+it be that Douglas is your friend, ... eh? You know full well that you
+have not the King's paper."
+
+"And a right sorry moment it was for me when I permitted it to be
+stolen," returned Sir Richard with an angry frown. "Aye--it is true
+that I cannot now deliver the original, but I have a copy, my shrewd
+friend--a copy, hear you? And I mean to place it within Lord Douglas's
+hand as swiftly as my steed can bear me within the sallyport of Yewe.
+Was your hand, de Claverlok, concerned in the purloining of the
+original?" he finished sharply.
+
+"Nay--not mine. A copy say you, ... eh? God! what a mess of pottage is
+this! You could not be prevailed upon to rip this parchment open and
+read its contents, ...?"
+
+"Well, by my soul! What says the man!" exclaimed Sir Richard
+indignantly. "Friend or no friend, de Claverlok, another word from you
+upon that score and there'll be an end of peace between us"; whereupon,
+urging his horse into a swinging canter, he set off in the general
+direction of Castle Yewe.
+
+"So, ... lead on, Sir Dick!" shouted the grizzled warrior, setting
+spurs to his mount's side and quickly galloping beside Sir Richard. "I
+am at once your captor and your slave. Your follower and your guide.
+Saint Dunstan grant me the strength to keep your foolish head from
+harm. And when you're done with thrusting yourself into hornet's nests,
+... eh! then shall I be waiting to lead you to a place of temporary
+peace and safety."
+
+"Temporary safety?" queried Sir Richard. "What mean you by that, de
+Claverlok?"
+
+"'Twill be but temporary," the young knight's companion asserted
+warningly. "There are many things that this moment must seem full
+strange to you, ... eh? Yea--but, an I can keep your head upon your
+shoulders through this wild adventure, it will be but to yield you into
+another hornet's nest awaiting you in the end," he finished somberly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+OF HOW SIR RICHARD CAME TO CASTLE YEWE
+
+
+The grizzled knight's prophecy of an evil time yet to come provided
+the young knight with much material for thought, without, however,
+worrying him in the least. He was unable to surmise even remotely
+what dire happening it was meant to foretell. Sir Richard was without
+vaulting ambitions to achieve distinction or power; had never been
+entangled in any political movement; or concerned in any conspiracies;
+or acquainted, so far as he was aware, with the instigators of them.
+He had always held carefully aloof from matters pertaining to the more
+serious business of Henry's court. Seeking only to gather the full
+measure of enjoyment out of life, it had always been his wish, withal,
+to be regarded as an efficient soldier and faithful and obedient
+servant of his king. In his earnest desire to shine among the chivalric
+lights of his time, he brought up at the point of being dreamily
+visionary. Why he was thus suddenly become the center of a dizzying
+maelstrom of mysterious occurrences was quite beyond him to fathom;
+but he was none the less keen in his enjoyment of the situation, its
+inscrutability appealing forcibly to his imagination.
+
+As he rode onward beside his captor-companion, he gave frequent verbal
+expression to the questions perplexing him, but without exception
+de Claverlok's replies were the embodiment of remoteness. He was
+open, however, in his references to the perils that surely awaited
+Sir Richard inside the walls of Yewe. His warnings were poured into
+unheeding ears, as the thought uppermost in Sir Richard's mind was
+to reach there as quickly as his horse could accomplish the journey.
+The veteran warrior had been revolving in his mind the subject of his
+oath of secrecy made to Tyrrell, and whether it involved the keeping
+of the contents of Henry's warrant from its bearer. He concluded
+finally to make use of every other means that came to hand to keep
+his young friend, for whom he was already entertaining a sentiment of
+real affection, from delivering the parchment to Douglas. Failing of
+success, he would, as a last resort, expose the duplicity of the King
+by laying bare the purport of the document.
+
+"I have your word, de Claverlok," Sir Richard interrupted the warrior's
+thoughts, "that you are well acquainted with the country hereabouts?"
+
+"Yea--that I am, Sir Dick."
+
+"Tell me then," the young knight inquired, "how many leagues is it from
+here to Yewe?"
+
+"Marry, and is it true you do not know, ... eh?" returned the grizzled
+knight, shooting a shrewd interrogative glance in the direction of his
+companion.
+
+"Not I. An I had, my friend, I had not besought your information," said
+Sir Richard.
+
+"Aye--eh! Most truly said. Well," de Claverlok replied, hesitating
+while he made a count upon his fingers, "not above two days' journey, I
+should say," he glibly misled his companion.
+
+"So far as that? Well, by my faith! I wish you had said not above two
+hours," remarked Sir Richard regretfully. "But how see you, my friend,"
+he thereupon added, pointing his finger directly ahead of them down the
+road; "an I mistake me not, in yonder valley beside the fork of the
+road doth set an inn?"
+
+"Aye--that it is. The good Stag and Hounds; right well do I know its
+jovial keeper. There, Sir Dick, may we dine, drink our fill, and while
+away a pleasant hour in reading out of your Tales of--of----"
+
+"Canterbury, do you mean?" suggested Sir Richard.
+
+"Canterbury--aye, of a truth, that's it, my young friend. Beshrew me
+an I have not the devil's own time with remembering names, ... eh! You
+have this Canterbury business within your saddle-pouch, I heard you
+say. I would hear you read somewhat out of it, ... eh!"
+
+"This fondness of yours for written tales is certes something of a
+recent acquirement," laughed Sir Richard. "Only this morning, an I
+remember me aright, did you scoff at my keeping it beside me; yea--and
+did heap scathing ridicule upon the head of the scholar, Erasmus, when
+I spoke of my admiration for him."
+
+"I did but say," protested the grizzled knight in all seriousness,
+"that the scholar's nose was an uncommon long member, ... eh! And that
+his bookish business made him to be devilishly thin and pallid. I have
+a strong liking for tales, let me tell you that, Sir Dick. You'll read
+me out of them, ... eh?"
+
+"Sorry I am to deny you, my good friend," the young knight replied,
+"but I dare not steal the time from the doing of my errand. I shall but
+tarry in the Stag and Hounds to feed and rest my barb. But here's a
+challenge for you, de Claverlok," he added, gathering his loose reins
+well within his grasp. "The last man to dismount before the steps of
+the tavern shall foot up score for horse and man. What say you? Come,
+my hearty warrior, show me the vaunted mettle of your steed!"
+
+"I have you, Sir Dick!" instantly agreed the grizzled knight; whereupon
+they started off together, with dust and pebbles flying thick in their
+train from the swiftness of their flight.
+
+De Claverlok's animal was exceptionally deep-breasted and powerful,
+and a near match for Sir Richard's in speed. For quite a distance they
+clipped it neck and neck along the road. About midway between them
+and the goal against which they were flinging there rode a solitary
+horseman. He was garbed in the habit of a monk, with the cowl drawn
+well down over his head. The mad volleying of hoofs caused the rider
+to uncover, as the racers drew near, and shoot a glance of wonderment
+in their direction. Even with the fleeting view thus afforded him, Sir
+Richard remarked that the rugged, lean, and livid-scarred countenance
+appeared singularly incongruous within the brown frame of a monk's
+hood. It was like anything but that of a peace-loving ascetic. So
+intent was the young knight upon winning his race, however, that he
+failed to notice the unusually sharp angles where the robe fell away
+from the horseman's knees and elbows. Neither was he sufficiently acute
+to observe that his rapidly forging to the fore of de Claverlok was
+coincident with the swift uplifting of the traveler's cowl.
+
+He swept on down to the door of the Stag and Hounds, and reining his
+stallion to its haunches beneath the creaking sign that hung above
+it, he flung himself from off his saddle in time to see the monk look
+rather hastily back toward the tavern, mark the stations of the cross
+in the air with exaggerated gestures above de Claverlok's bowed head,
+and disappear at a round gallop over the hill.
+
+The grizzled knight then rode leisurely down to where Sir Richard stood
+waiting for him, his rugged face beaming with smiles.
+
+"Your barb's hoofs spurned the earth too swiftly for us to bear him
+company," said he, dismounting beside the young knight, "so I yielded
+to you the palm of speed, and added to the total of my score by tossing
+yon pious churchman a noble. Mayhap I may be the gainer through
+achieving absolution from divers of my recent sins, ... eh? What, ho
+there, MacWhuddy!" he shouted at the inn-keeper, who was smiling,
+rubbing his pudgy hands together, and bowing within the door. "Send
+thy groom, MacWhuddy, and have me these barbs fed and curried whilst
+we have somewhat of your best to eat and drink. By my soul, MacWhuddy,
+but thou'rt growing of a size," he went on in a robustious way after
+the groom had come forward to relieve them of their horses. "Bigger and
+fatter than ever, ... eh? 'Tis a right healthful business, this keeping
+of an inn, ... eh? Nothing but eat and drink, and drink and eat from
+day's end to day's end, and trade jokes from the benchside with the
+toiling traveler that gorges thy till. When I get me done with this
+fighting, I'll have me a tavern with a warm corner, a soft seat, and a
+full flagon ever at hand, ... eh! Sir Dick?"
+
+"I could never picture you, my pugnacious friend, without your ready
+sword and buckler," laughed the young knight. "But make haste,
+MacWhuddy," he added, turning toward the inn-keeper. "We would quickly
+bait ourselves and be away upon our travels. Hold! one moment, my good
+fellow. Cannot you tell me whether this road leads to Castle Yewe? and
+how many leagues----"
+
+"Pooh--pooh!" interrupted de Claverlok loudly. "And what doth MacWhuddy
+know, pray, ... eh? Why, by my faith, scarce his own name, Sir Dick!
+Saint Dunstan hear me, an he keeps him not his scores upon a notched
+stick, I'll eat him for a flitch of bacon. Get you gone, MacWhuddy," he
+roared, when the puzzled inn-keeper made as if to protest. "Bring in
+the meat, MacWhuddy, and not a word out of your blessed pate, or I'll
+roll you like one of your own wine butts through yon door, MacWhuddy,
+... eh!"
+
+"I wish that you would have expended your wasted energies in bidding
+the fellow make haste," said Sir Richard, who was much mystified by his
+companion's sudden display of irritability.
+
+"Haste? He'll make haste, will MacWhuddy--he's built for 't, ... eh?"
+observed de Claverlok with a dry laugh. "But where's the blessed groom,
+... eh? I would have him to--ah! here he comes now. Hey, you, fellow;"
+he called to the hostler, who was just about to set his foot inside
+the door, "bring us a book you'll find in the left saddle pouch upon
+the back of the black horse. Why stand you there twirling your cap and
+mouthing like a drunken tarry-Jack, ... eh? Fetch us the book, I say!"
+
+"I canna un'erstan' thee, worshipful marster," mumbled the thoroughly
+frightened menial. "What are a bo-o-ke, good sir? Be it some'at to eat,
+or some'at to drink--or some'at f'r th' hoorses, mayhap?"
+
+"Well, by Saint Dunstan! Know you not what a book is, ... eh?" roared
+the grizzled knight, springing up from his seat beside a table and
+starting for the dumfounded groom. "I'll have the flat of my sword at
+your hinder quarters for a doddering void-pate!" whereupon, with a
+great show of anger, he made through the door in a furious pursuit of
+the innocent offender. "A book, I tell you--" Sir Richard could hear de
+Claverlok having it out with the groom in the yard; "a handful of paper
+with a board stuck fast upon each end--do you hear me, ... eh?"
+
+The noise died away presently. Sir Richard supposed that his mercurial
+companion was engaged in rummaging for the book; but the grizzled
+knight had beckoned the inn-keeper to his side and was threatening him
+with every description of chastisement if he but dared to intimate to
+his young friend within the location or distance of Castle Yewe.
+
+"An the sir knight asks me again, what shall I tell him?" queried the
+landlord.
+
+"Oh, anything, MacWhuddy, and be damned to you! Anything but the truth."
+
+When de Claverlok came into the tap-room he was puffing and blowing at
+a tremendous rate and carrying the vellum-bound volume under his arm.
+
+"Come now, Sir Dick," he started off in a wheedling tone, "read me one
+of these tales of--oh--how say you that name again, ... eh?"
+
+"De Claverlok," observed Sir Richard dryly, "your love of literature
+has grown to be of an intensity indeed. But your laggard memory halts
+and stumbles and plays traitor by refusing to keep pace with it. I have
+said before, my zealous friend, that it would ill beseem me to tarry
+here in idle reading. Nay--another time, good scholar. Another time!
+Another time! Here comes our host's pretty daughter with the meat and
+drink. Let us refresh ourselves quickly and be away."
+
+"Then," said de Claverlok, "I'll return the book to its place within
+your----"
+
+As he spoke he arose from his stool, and just at the moment when the
+serving-maid was about to set the platter upon the table. They collided
+violently, scattering the food and wine over the sanded floor.
+
+De Claverlok wheeled, straightened, set his hands upon his hips, and
+with a look as though all the world was conspiring to do him injury,
+regarded the cowering, half-tearful maid.
+
+"Well--what fiend's in this blessed place, ... eh?" he bellowed.
+"Look you at this mess upon the floor, you awkward body! And here the
+sir knight yonder is fair aching to be upon his way. An you wore not
+kirtles, I'd have the flat of my hand at your ears for a blundering
+dunce, ... eh!"
+
+The serving-maid turned an appealing glance in Sir Richard's direction.
+
+"I'll fetch thee more, sir knight," she said. "In truth, I meant not to
+spill the things, noble sir."
+
+"Fret not yourself, good maid," said Sir Richard kindly. "Nay--I wot
+well it was not your fault. I fear me my friend has been struck with
+some fearsome sickness. He was not always thus. You may go, maid. But
+bring not the food--I dare not wait. Indeed, I was not over keen to
+eat. A slice of bread from your hand before I get me in the saddle is
+all I crave."
+
+"That shalt thou have," said the maid with returning spirit, starting
+for the kitchen door, "and a bit of toasted cheese to keep it company."
+
+"Upon my soul, de Claverlok," remonstrated Sir Richard, "your temper is
+growing to be something unbearable. 'Twas not the wench's fault that
+the food was overturned. You backed your great body square against the
+platter, leaving her no room for escape on either side. You've had your
+quarrel with our host, who seems, in sooth, a right peaceable and merry
+fellow; you berated the groom, and glowered upon the kitchen-maid--with
+whom will you brawl next, my friend?"
+
+"Why, with you, an you stay not here to eat and drink," retorted de
+Claverlok.
+
+"Then let the fun begin," said the young knight, starting for the rear
+door that gave to the court and stables. "Not another moment do I tarry
+here. An you are coming with me--come."
+
+De Claverlok could do nothing but follow, the which he did with obvious
+reluctance. Once outside, they ran plump into the inn-keeper, who
+was all at sea whether to smile and pass the usual joke, or to keep
+his eyes fastened discreetly upon his broad expanse of doublet. Sir
+Richard, however, allowed him no choice of alternatives. He stopped
+him, setting his hand firmly upon the landlord's round shoulder.
+
+"When my friend interrupted," said the young knight, "you were about to
+tell me the distance and direction of Castle Yewe--is it not so?"
+
+MacWhuddy cast a sheepish look in the direction of de Claverlok, who
+was scowling fiercely and shaking his fist behind Sir Richard's back.
+
+"'Tis in some'at of that way," he replied, "ower there," waving his
+trembling hands to the eastward; "some, ... oh! near--I say near, mind
+thee, worshipful knight, ... near twenty--thirty leagues."
+
+According to that, Sir Richard would have been required to travel some
+distance out upon the open sea.
+
+De Claverlok strode toward the stable, muttering savage oaths against
+the stupidity of innkeepers in general, and poor MacWhuddy in
+particular. Meanwhile, the serving-maid, bread and cheese in hand, was
+beckoning the young knight from the kitchen window.
+
+"Here is thy bit food, sir knight," she said, as Sir Richard took his
+station beneath the casement upon which she was leaning. "Castle
+Yewe," she added in a whisper, "doth lie straight along this road in
+the way thou wert traveling, and not above six leagues. Turn to thy
+right where the road forks in front of the inn. Often, on a clear day,
+from yonder hill, have I seen its lofty turrets. Good fortune attend
+thee, sir noble knight," she concluded, laying her hand, which was just
+out of a pan of flour, upon his shoulder, "and beware of the brute with
+the beard on thy way--he means harm to thee, I fear."
+
+When Sir Richard came, whistling a merry tune, into the stable, de
+Claverlok was making a great show of rage, cursing and boxing the poor
+stable-boy's ears.
+
+"What now, my friend?" asked the young knight as he went on past the
+struggling pair toward his horse.
+
+"What now, ... eh?" roared de Claverlok; "why, here has this young cub
+gone and mislaid your saddle girth! A murrain upon the loutish tribe,
+say I! and you in a sweat to be off, too. I'll----"
+
+"Have done berating the boy, de Claverlok," said Sir Richard. "Now tell
+me, man, what have _you_ done with that girth? I know exactly where
+lies Castle Yewe, and I wish to ride within its sallyport without
+further parley or delay. What have you done with my girth, I say?"
+
+"By Saint George, Sir Dick, what have _I_ done with _your_ saddle
+girth, ... eh? 'Tis too much, this, I tell you. Give me nothing above
+a padded lance and a sword of lath, and I'd do battle with the whole
+of you together. Here have I suffered all manner of insults from every
+blessed soul within this tavern--and now you, Sir Dick, must say to me,
+what have _I_ done with _your_ girth, ... eh!"
+
+"Mayhap," whined the stable-boy, who was squirming to get loose from de
+Claverlok's grasp, "I mislaid me it in yon hay-cock."
+
+"Then I'll go with thee to help find it," de Claverlok said, wriggling
+up the great pile of hay behind the boy.
+
+While they were both down on their hands and knees digging, Sir Richard
+quickly unbuckled the grizzled knight's saddle and set it upon the back
+of his own horse.
+
+"Have you found it, my friend?" he called, when he had made de
+Claverlok's strap secure.
+
+"Nay--not yet. Have patience, Sir Dick," called the grizzled knight
+without stopping to look behind him.
+
+"Then," laughed Sir Richard triumphantly, "being in sore haste to get
+away, I've e'en borrowed thine. Thou canst follow later, sir knight.
+Adieu to you--adieu!"
+
+"Fie--Sir Dick!" shouted de Claverlok, starting up red-faced and
+sliding down the steep side of the hay; "I pray you, be not in such an
+undue haste. Wait! You are leaving with the mark of a powdered hand
+upon your shoulder-cape. Hold, I say! Let me brush it from you, boy!"
+
+The young knight was safe upon the highway before de Claverlok got
+clear of the hay.
+
+"An I have the mark of the scullery-maid upon my shoulder," he called
+back, "I have also the knowledge of the true distance of Castle Yewe
+beneath my bonnet. Give you a round good-day, de Claverlok," he added,
+laughing gaily, and with that pelted off down the road at top speed.
+
+He had a fine view of the Stag and Hounds from the crest of the next
+hill, and saw his companion swing into his saddle and follow after
+him at a great pace, with the lost girth strapped securely about his
+horse's belly. The race was now on in grim earnest, and the young
+knight was resolved, at any hazard, to hold fast to the advantage he
+had gained.
+
+The breadth of the hill intervening, he lost sight of de Claverlok for
+a little space. But he had another view of him when his pursuer rode
+over its summit. The grizzled knight was shouting a string of words
+that, because of the roaring of the wind in his ears and the pounding
+of his horse's hoofs, he could not at all make out, and waving his long
+arms about in the most frantic manner. The young knight was enjoying
+the situation to the marrow. It was worth everything to him merely to
+have outwitted the crafty veteran.
+
+Sir Richard calculated that he was laying the road behind him at the
+rate of five leagues an hour. He was relieved and happy to know that
+of a certainty he would soon arrive at his journey's end, and that,
+too, in despite of the many obstacles that had been so stubbornly
+thrust in his way. "Then," thought he, with a thrill of pleasure, "upon
+fulfilling my King's behest I shall be free to retrace my way to the
+Red Tavern to deliver the fair maiden from her imprisonment."
+
+Thus much, at least, he meant surely to do. After that was
+accomplished, he felt constrained to relinquish the marking of the
+sequel into the hands of the kind--or unkind--Fates.
+
+Meanwhile the race was going steadily and swiftly forward. Though
+exacting the utmost of speed from his horse, Sir Richard was unable
+appreciably to change their positions. With a dogged persistence de
+Claverlok contrived to maintain the rapid pace and relative distance,
+which, when galloping over the level, was well within sight of the
+pursued.
+
+At length, through a narrow cleft between the hills, Sir Richard caught
+a welcome glimpse of high, square-built and crenelated towers. It was
+the goal for which he was so mightily striving.
+
+He had passed through the cleft and was well up the slope leading to
+the portcullis when of a sudden he felt the saddle girth giving way
+beneath him. Appreciating that it would be sheer madness to risk a
+fall and certain defeat of his purpose of delivering the warrant, with
+victory so near, he instantly drew rein, flung himself from off the
+back of his panting stallion and began the work of securing the ill
+adjusted strap.
+
+While thus feverishly engaged he shouted at the top of his voice for
+the guard upon the tower to lower the drawbridge across the wide moat.
+Covered with scarlet-flecked foam, de Claverlok's horse came thundering
+upon him up the hill.
+
+With the grizzled knight scarce above two lance-haft's lengths behind
+him, and wildly calling upon him to wait, that death lay in the King's
+warrant, Sir Richard vaulted into his saddle and made for the castle
+gate.
+
+When he had laid something near half of the remaining distance behind
+him he heard the clear blast of a bugle go singing across the down.
+Without in the least diminishing his speed, he turned in time to see
+a band of armored horsemen flashing out of the pine forest to the
+eastward. Riding in the van he was certain that he recognized the
+livid-scarred face of the traveler in the monk's robe.
+
+If the bridge were now but lowered it would be impossible for them
+to cut Sir Richard off. Would it fall for him? Now he had reached to
+within easy flight of an arrow from the massively buttressed gray
+walls; and as yet he could discern no sign of movement among the thick
+ropes, wheels, and pulleys sustaining it. There appeared no hint of
+life along the face of the great pile. At the very moment when he
+was about to wheel to the westward, in the faint hope of eluding his
+pursuers through a continued flight, there sounded a creaking of
+wheels, and the heavy structure began slowly to move earthward.
+
+De Claverlok's lance, hilt-foremost, went hurtling past the young
+knight's shoulder. Distinctly he heard the dull splash of it as it
+struck the black waters of the moat, far below.
+
+At every stride the slope was growing steeper, and it seemed to Sir
+Richard's straining eyes that the bridge, with its underwork of mossy
+beams and rusted iron trusses, was hanging in mid air directly above
+his head.
+
+So closely had its fall been timed, however, that there was no margin
+left to the young knight upon the side of safety. He was forced to put
+his mount to the leap to gain the top of it.
+
+"God wot there be death here for the twain of us!" Sir Richard heard
+de Claverlok shout as he, too, took the perilous leap but an instant
+behind him.
+
+Through the yawning maw of the arched sallyport they shot together, and
+the heavy portcullis, like iron teeth snapping down after gulping their
+prey, crashed upon the flagging at their backs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+OF THE DELIVERY OF THE KING'S WARRANT
+
+
+The main gateway that gave entrance to the outer bailey was
+impressively wide and lofty. Once inside, postern gates opening upon
+either hand admitted into the great halls, rooms of state, and the
+donjon-keep. Besides these, and at regular intervals along the vaulted,
+winding passageway, the walls were pierced by iron-clad doors giving
+upon the same premises. When the opening of this main artery had been
+sealed by the drawbridge, which fitted tight against it, nothing of
+daylight filtered in, and it received its only illumination from a
+number of huge cressets, two of which were set high overhead at every
+turning, and kept constantly filled with glowing coals by the castle
+attendants.
+
+Before each of the nail-studded doors stood two guards armed at point,
+their halberds planted firm before them, grim and motionless. In the
+dim radiation from the iron baskets they assumed the appearance of a
+rank of immovable and awesome statues that might well have been hewn
+out of the smoke-distained walls before which they were stationed.
+
+When Sir Richard and de Claverlok had ridden past the second turning
+they were confronted by a solid line of them, stretching from wall to
+wall across the flagged floor directly in their path. To the right,
+one of the doors stood wide ajar; a bevy of men and women, sumptuously
+garbed, appeared within the bright rectangle. A fool in motley was
+posing against the pillared casement. It was like a painted picture,
+vivid, touched with brilliant colors, set within an enormous, dark, and
+gloomy frame.
+
+A train of pages, dressed in liveries of slashed silk and velvet, stood
+ready to conduct the two travelers before the lord of the castle. At
+a sign from one, who, because of his distinctive uniform, one would
+have taken to be the major domo, they dismounted and relinquished their
+horses into the care of equerries; then, bringing up in the rear of
+the train of pages, they made their way up the steps and through the
+thronged doorway.
+
+"God's sake! Sir Dick," exclaimed de Claverlok in an agitated whisper
+as they were traversing the length of the vast hall into which they
+were come, "Give not that paper to Douglas. Let me have but a word
+with you in private before adventuring an act so deadly dangerous to
+your person, ... eh?" In the extremity of his eagerness to gain his
+young friend's consent he caught his arm in a viselike grip, as though
+meaning forcibly to detain him.
+
+"Take your hand from off my arm," warned Sir Richard sullenly. "'Twould
+be most unseemly to have out our quarrel here, de Claverlok."
+
+"Quarrels? What quarrel, ... eh? There's no quarrel between us, my boy."
+
+"Aye--but I tell thee there is," maintained Sir Richard. "Much hath
+thy treachery grieved and amazed me, worthy knight, whom I had come to
+consider my stanch friend."
+
+"Treachery, ... eh? What the devil! God wot, my son," de Claverlok
+hurriedly pursued, "I am not traitor--listen----"
+
+"Have a care, de Claverlok, the guards are looking," whispered the
+young knight warningly. "And not a word with you, I say, till I've
+delivered the King's paper. Think you I have foughten my way here for
+naught? No inkling have I of the purpose of your company in stealing
+the parchment and in their attempt to hinder me from reaching here. But
+the copy goes to Lord Douglas as fast as----"
+
+"Cannot you but wait an hour, ... eh? Hell and furies! Never can I
+forgive me my stupidity in allowing you to come within this house of
+death," interrupted de Claverlok. "There's death in that paper, I
+say--death!"
+
+"Death; what mean you?"
+
+"Aye, death! Death to thyself, an thou must hear the truth. 'Tis a
+warrant for your own execution, Sir Dick."
+
+"De Claverlok, you lie in your bewhiskered throat," returned Sir
+Richard in a menacing undertone.
+
+"Never before hath man said that word to me and lived," declared the
+grizzled warrior gloomily. "But I forgive you, Sir Dick. Aye, I forgive
+you. An you'll but consent to wait an hour, I'll hear you asking my
+forgiveness. You can do it, my boy,--you can wait. Say to Douglas that
+thou art an emissary of Henry, who hath but journeyed here to yield to
+him thy sovereign's good wishes. Tell him that I am your companion and
+squire. Mayhap 'twill answer for my present safety."
+
+"First dive within the moat and fetch me your dripping lance. 'Twould
+be a most befitting badge of your loyalty to me to lay before him, de
+Claverlok."
+
+"You would be at this moment in a far better case," observed the
+grizzled warrior bitterly, "an it had taken you in the small of the
+back, where I intended it should land. You know damned well 'twas
+hurled butt foremost, ... eh? By the Rood, boy, answer me."
+
+Sir Richard hesitated; then, measuring his companion's earnest look,
+nodded in the affirmative.
+
+"I'll do it," said he, "though a plague take me, an I think you deserve
+it. But whereof be the good, an your act were seen from barbacan or
+shot-hole?"
+
+"I'll take my solemn oath 'twas driven at the door," observed de
+Claverlok, smiling in open gratification at having achieved his point.
+"You'll delay the blessed paper, too, ... eh?"
+
+"Nay--that I dare not do," whispered Sir Richard decisively. "Even
+now unmeasured harm may have resulted from my egregious blunder in
+permitting the original to be stolen. An ill messenger have I been, de
+Claverlok--an ill messenger."
+
+"You'll persist in delivering the paper, ... eh?"
+
+"Upon my soul. Yea."
+
+By now they had reached to the foot of a broad flight of steps leading
+to a gallery that completely girdled the hall. Already the pages were
+strung halfway up the stairway, awaiting for the two men to follow.
+
+"Await me here, de Claverlok," added Sir Richard in a tone indicating
+his determination to finish his errand as he started up the stairs.
+
+"By the gods, you'll not go!" roared the grizzled knight in a transport
+of infuriated rage, whereupon he made a sudden leap at Sir Richard,
+catching him with a bearlike hug around the middle and dragging him to
+the floor of the hall. "Give me that paper," he whispered in the young
+knight's ear. "Give it to me, Sir Dick!"
+
+"What meaneth this?" shouted a stern voice from above that rang to the
+vaulted dome of the chamber. "Separate me those brawlers, guards!"
+
+In the wink of an eye a cloud of the Douglas retainers had swooped down
+and torn the fiercely struggling men apart. There followed a momentary
+lull during which the two stood glaring into each other's eyes.
+
+"Which of thee hath an errand with Douglas, and what, pray, may it be?"
+resumed the voice from the gallery.
+
+Ranging along the balcony behind him, Sir Richard's eyes fell upon a
+burly, broad-shouldered man standing with arms folded on the threshold
+of an open door.
+
+"I am bearer of a message from King Henry, my lord," answered Sir
+Richard.
+
+"And who is thy combative friend?" queried Douglas. "Why this row
+within my very hall, sir knight?"
+
+"'Twas but a slight misunderstanding, my lord," Sir Richard instantly
+replied. "May I now bring to thee the paper?"
+
+"Aye, that may you. But who is thy friend? Thou hast not answered me."
+
+"My companion and squire, Lord Douglas. I bespeak for him thy pardon.
+Though he meaneth right well, he is ever thoughtless and rude."
+
+"So it would seem. Bring me King Henry's message. Keep me yonder
+belligerent in leash, my men," Douglas added, pointing toward de
+Claverlok, who was still tossing the guards about in a vain endeavor to
+free himself from their smothering grasp.
+
+Sir Richard strode past the struggling, heaving mass of humanity,
+and then, on up the stairway. Upon reaching the landing he turned to
+his right to where Lord Douglas stood within the door leading off
+the jutting balcony. The young knight paused for a moment to glance
+downward above the railing toward de Claverlok. The grizzled warrior
+had evidently signified his intention of remaining quiescent, for
+the guards had loosened their hold of him and he was standing mutely
+against one of the columns that shot from floor to ceiling at regular
+intervals around the entire length and breadth of the hall. His arms
+were folded, and he was gazing straight up into the face of his
+young friend. The beribboned courtiers and brightly dressed women
+were standing at a discreet distance, gaping at him. It reminded
+Sir Richard of an eagle that had dropped its pinions in the midst of
+a swarm of brilliant-winged, fluttering moths. He noted as well the
+expression of sad reproach with which the veteran was regarding him.
+If ever sincerity was stamped in the features of man it was surely
+displayed in the rugged countenance of de Claverlok, and from that
+instant the young knight divined his erstwhile companion to be as
+stanch and true as the steel of the Damascus blade at his side.
+
+"Thou'lt find me here, Sir Richard," de Claverlok called up as the
+young knight turned to enter the door through which Lord Douglas had
+but just preceded him. When he came into his cabinet, after traversing
+a number of curtained passageways, Sir Richard found the bluff Scotsman
+pacing impatiently back and forth across the floor. He paused when the
+young knight entered, greeting him formally from his station in the
+center of the room.
+
+"From King Henry," said he, when the document, fresh from its hiding
+place, had been surrendered into his hands.
+
+Signing Sir Richard to be seated near a massive, carved oak desk,
+Douglas dropped into a high-backed chair before it, broke the great
+red seal and addressed himself to the business of reading. When he had
+finished perusing the document he laid it face downward upon the desk
+and leaned back in his chair, tugging at his wiry, black beard, and
+knitting his fierce brows deeply. During an interval of several minutes
+he remained in this attitude, stealing occasional glances of searching
+inquiry in Sir Richard's direction and muttering inaudible sentences to
+himself.
+
+"That this paper hath reached within the walls of Castle Yewe, sir
+knight," he at length said, speaking with a cold deliberation, as
+though carefully weighing each word, "is certes an indisputable proof
+of thy absolute integrity as a messenger."
+
+"Nay--but----"
+
+"Tut, tut! Say not a word till I have digested this matter within my
+mind," interrupted Douglas. Whereupon he took up the parchment and read
+it through carefully a second time. Then, getting up from his seat,
+he resumed his impatient march across the floor. As Sir Richard sat
+studying the Scotsman's movements, he fancied that he had never seen
+a combination of features more suggestive of unfaltering determination
+and grim pugnacity. Douglas's head was not over large; and his cheek,
+chin, and crown were covered with a thick mop of jet black beard and
+hair. He moved his burly figure awkwardly, like one who was more
+accustomed to riding than walking.
+
+"By the mass!" he suddenly ejaculated. "'Tis, in truth, a riddle far
+too deep for me to unravel. Why hast thou delivered me this message,
+sir knight?" he queried sharply, halting before the bench whereupon Sir
+Richard was sitting.
+
+"Why?" returned the surprised young knight. "Does it not speak for
+itself, my lord? At the behest of my sovereign liege have I brought it
+here; and much doth it shame me to confess that ill have I requited my
+beloved and noble master's trust----"
+
+"Ill requited? What's this the young knight's saying?" Douglas burst
+forth. "Beshrew me, young sir, an I wot how!"
+
+"Well--'tis but the duplicate I have rendered unto thee, Lord
+Douglas. The original I carelessly allowed to be stolen by a band
+of free-lances from whom I did escape but yester eve. Tell me," he
+added anxiously, "will harm result because of my unpardonable lack of
+caution?"
+
+Douglas, with arms akimbo, was standing directly in front of Sir
+Richard and looking straight down into his eyes.
+
+"Save to thyself," he replied slowly, apparently having satisfied
+himself as to the truth of the young knight's statement, "no harm
+can possibly befall. Mayhap, an thou hadst not lost the original, I
+should have adopted another course than the one now forced upon me.
+But--wherefore, Sir Richard, didst thou not join issues with Tyrrell
+withal?"
+
+"Tyrrell?" the young knight replied in a thoroughly puzzled way; "i'
+faith, my lord, I know not the man--though I did hear that name called
+by the outlaw band by which I was held captive."
+
+"Well, well--so thou knowest not Tyrrell?" ejaculated Lord Douglas.
+"Yet certes, man, you tarried a night under the roof of the Red Tavern,
+and rode for a day in his company of conspirators? Either you are the
+cleverest of dissemblers, sir knight, or else, forsooth, the embodiment
+of sluggishness! Nay--regard me not thus in anger--I accept every
+word of your astonishing denial as God's truth--every word. Have
+I not before stated that this document here proves your steadfast
+honesty? Have you never heard of Tyrrell, hireling of Crookback
+Richard--strangler of two drooling boys in the tower? By my soul, man,
+where have you been reared?"
+
+"In Brittany, my lord," Sir Richard returned, his face aflame with
+honest resentment. "There, in Duke Francis's court I learned my lessons
+with the Earl of Richmond, now my beloved King. I do recall that once,
+on London Bridge, I saw the head of one, Dighton, slewing on a pole.
+'Twas he, methought, who did the tower murders."
+
+"Tut, tut! What ignorance! Somewhat of history, Sir Richard, you have
+yet to learn. That fellow was but Tyrrell's tool and groom whom Tyrrell
+himself murdered for playing him false. Lady Douglas shall take you in
+hand and teach you a thing or two of past events. I would hear now,"
+he added, seating himself beside Sir Richard, "your account of your
+journey from Kenilworth. I beg of you, omit no incident that may seem
+to you trifling, as you love your King. It is a most important and
+grave matter, this, Sir Richard."
+
+"I'll do it willingly, my lord," the young knight acquiesced, and
+thereupon began narrating his adventures. It took him an hour or more
+to finish, during all of which time Lord Douglas sat quietly beside
+him, with his elbows planted firmly upon his knees and his face pressed
+against the palms of his hands. At times he would run his fingers
+through his hair, or tap with the heel of his boot upon the floor.
+Sir Richard's tale ran smoothly enough till it came to the point of
+accounting for de Claverlok's companionship. Here he stumbled slightly,
+being obliged to draw largely upon his imagination. He accomplished
+it in a fairly acceptable manner, however, and in a way that he hoped
+would seem natural. Though he was unable to see how harm could befall
+either the grizzled knight or himself in the event of the truth being
+told. Not for a moment had he credited his companion's statement in
+respect of Henry's message containing matter inimical to its bearer.
+But he paid the veteran the tribute of believing him to be absolutely
+sincere, and forgave him accordingly, absolving him from any blame
+because of that which Sir Richard supposed to be his misjudged zeal in
+attempting to withhold the delivery of the parchment.
+
+When the young knight had finished his story, Douglas arose and took a
+few turns across the room.
+
+"Extraordinary," he kept repeating half to himself; "most
+extraordinary!"
+
+Presently he resumed his seat before the desk, remaining silent there
+for awhile, and tapping with his fingers upon its polished top.
+
+"Thou canst not appreciate, I know," he said at length, "how completely
+thy story hath absorbed my interest. I would that I could delve beneath
+the surface and unearth some of its mysteries. Tut, tut! What am I
+saying? Let them take care of themselves. Full often have I found, Sir
+Richard, that the deepest mysteries of to-day become the most loudly
+heralded sensations of to-morrow. Now, an thou'lt but sign thy name
+across the back of this parchment, I'll take thee into the presence of
+the lady of the castle. But--hold! I'll have witnesses."
+
+Then--"MacGregor," he called aloud, and in reply to his summons a lank
+individual arose above a tall desk standing in a corner of the cabinet
+quite as though he had been materialized out of a world of spirits.
+Douglas whispered his instructions in the scrivener's ear, and he
+hurried away, presumably to gather them in.
+
+They entered presently--ten of them there were--mumbling, whispering,
+shaking their powdered heads in a kind of unison, till the white dust
+sifted upon the floor like particles of glittering snow. Standing
+somberly in line behind a long table, awaiting turns to set their names
+beneath Sir Richard's, they reminded him of a row of solemn, nodding
+jackdaws. Not being in a position to appreciate its gravity, the scene
+amused rather than awed the young knight. Not in the remotest degree
+did he surmise that he was henceforth to be but a wooden image--a
+carved knight, if we may be allowed the simile--progressing obediently
+from square to square over the checkered board of a complex conspiracy
+whenever they extended their lean fingers to make the move.
+
+"Remain," Lord Douglas said, when the last of them had written his name
+beneath the young knight's. "Await my return and we'll hold further
+council here," whereupon he took Sir Richard's arm, expressing his
+intention of presenting him to the lady of the castle.
+
+"Now that I have delivered the King's message, my lord," said the young
+knight as they were passing along the gallery and down the stairs, "it
+is my desire to be soon upon my way. On the morrow, an there be nothing
+further here for me to do, I shall fare southward toward Kenilworth."
+
+"Tut, tut! Sir Richard. Be not in such haste to bid us adieux. We are a
+right merry throng here in Castle Yewe, and thou canst pass thy hours
+with us full pleasantly. Thy errand, besides, is not yet done. 'Tis
+thy sovereign's wish that thou shalt bide in Scotland yet awhile as my
+guest. But yonder is Lady Douglas, to whom I shall surrender thee for
+the present."
+
+After introducing the young knight, Douglas begged the privilege of
+talking a moment with his wife in private. A page led Sir Richard to a
+seat within an alcove of the hall, where he remained, looking out of a
+window at a company of infantry drilling in the castle yard till Lord
+and Lady Douglas had finished their rather lengthy discourse.
+
+"I'll see thee at the wassail board this evening, Sir Richard,"
+said Douglas, who had accompanied his wife as far as the curtained
+entrance to the alcove. "Thou art indeed happily come. To-day is the
+twenty-fifth of the month--the feast of Crispian will be spread in
+the state hall. I have made thy squire comfortable in my retainer's
+quarters," he added, and then retired to his room above where the
+jackdaws were awaiting to hold their council.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+OF THE INCIDENT OF THE COBBLER'S FEAST
+
+
+"Noble gentlemen," said Douglas when he had returned into his room, "I
+am here confronted by a problem that I would fain crave thy learned
+assistance in solving. MacGregor," he added, handing Henry's warrant to
+the lean scrivener, "recite to us the contents of this parchment."
+
+MacGregor at once proceeded to read the document, which abounded in
+pompous tautology and redundant sentences. When he had finished with
+the preamble he came to the meat of the warrant, which ran: "Lord
+Douglas, friend and ally, we beg of thee the favor that this young
+knight, Sir Richard Rohan, Kt., bearer of this paper, shall be engaged
+in fair and honorable conflict by men of thine own choice to the end
+that he return not again into England. We pray thee further to keep
+from Sir Richard Rohan, Kt., all knowledge of the purport of this
+warrant upon thee, Lord Douglas. And as thou shalt bear out its intent,
+so shalt thy divers affairs prosper before our court. Signed, Henry
+VII."
+
+"Well, what think you of it, gentlemen?" inquired Douglas when
+MacGregor had finished his sing-song droning of the sentences.
+
+"By thy leave, my lord," said the venerable spokesman of the conclave,
+a very aged man, according to all appearances, whose snowy beard
+swept to the cord knotted about his waist, "by thy leave and that
+of my compeers, I would say that it might be wise to fulfill King
+Henry's wishes in so small a matter. This Perkin Warbeck, to whom
+Lady Anna is teaching the manners of a noble, is not yet prepared to
+assume successfully the part of the dead prince. Not until the youth's
+schooling is complete shalt thou, my lord, be justified in setting thy
+brave men at his back and speeding them across the borders of England.
+And even then it is not thy wish, as we understand it, to be recognized
+as the instigator of this movement. To that end it would be prudent, it
+beseemeth me, to set the burden of obligation upon Henry by carrying
+out his wishes with respect of this Sir Richard Rohan."
+
+"Well and ably said," commented Lord Douglas. "But what cause, think
+you, had Henry for dispatching the youth from Kenilworth to Yewe to
+accomplish a thing that could as well and more surely have been done
+upon the tower block?"
+
+"Marry, my lord, an it be not a senseless wine-wager begot at cock-crow
+after a night of wild feasting, I am much mistaken withal," observed
+another member of the council.
+
+"Belike it is," Douglas agreed. "Belike it is. But 'tis sinful, I take
+it, thus to waste an honest body. I like me the young knight's looks
+mightily, gentlemen, and I say to thee now, an he vanquish in single
+combat those whom thou shalt choose to be his adversaries, I'll appoint
+him chief of horse when the time grows ripe to send our expedition
+against the usurper and tyrant, Henry. This is Lady Anna's suggestion,
+and in her judgment of character I repose the utmost of confidence.
+Now, noble gentles, lay me thy heads together and appoint me a list of
+fighting men, each of whom shall, according as thou mayst order, insult
+and duel with the young knight. Let Henry be apprised of our intention
+to comply with his behest. Counselors, that is all."
+
+The members of the council thereupon bowed gravely and withdrew to
+their own room for the purpose of making out the list in compliance
+with Lord Douglas's request.
+
+During the whole of this time, in the curtained alcove below, Lady
+Anna had been conversing with Sir Richard. From the inception of
+their acquaintance, the young knight had accorded to her a sincere
+admiration, and in a very short space she had won his confidence to
+the extent that he was now narrating to her the experiences of his
+journey. When he came to the incident of the cutting of saffron velvet,
+which he had withheld when telling his story to Lord Douglas, Lady
+Anna displayed a more than passive interest, expressing an earnest
+wish to see and examine the bit of cloth. When he obediently gave it
+to her, she took it within her shapely fingers, crumpling it into many
+wrinkles, arching her fine brows, and making a pretense of feeling
+jealousy. In fact, whenever opportunity offered, she set his cup to
+brimming with sweetest flattery. Like all men of whom she chose to make
+instruments in the furthering of her husband's schemes, Sir Richard
+became a mere creature of clay in her deft hands.
+
+"Lord Douglas told you, Richard," said she, when they were done
+discussing the subject of his adventures, "that to-day is the day of
+the Cobbler's Feast. But he was remiss in not adding that it is also my
+birthday, and that we have arranged that you shall have seat at table
+between my lord and me, ... the guest of honor. Though the honor shall
+be ours in claiming you as such, brave knight." Thereupon she arose
+with a pretty show of reluctance from the cushioned window-seat. "How
+old would you take me to be?" she concluded with an arch look.
+
+Sir Richard, extremely sensible of the intimacy of Lady Anna's
+question, flushed with embarrassment. He begged to be excused from
+answering, averring that he had ever been an ill judge of women's ages.
+When she pressed him for a reply, which she contrived to do without
+seeming to be over bold, he ventured a surmise that she must be nearly
+of an age with himself.
+
+"Why, what a flatterer you are to be sure, Richard," she said, laughing
+gaily. "Beshrew me for a witch, an you are anything more than a mere
+boy! I am thirty-three, sir knight. Thirty-three this day. But come,"
+she added, taking his hand, pressing it gently and casting sidelong
+glances out of a pair of wonderfully expressive brown eyes; "it is
+not my wish to keep you altogether to myself. Permit me to acquaint
+you with the company in the hall," Lady Anna pursued, as she led Sir
+Richard into the throng of courtiers and maidens. "Till we meet beside
+the wassail board, make you merry," she said then. "And forget not to
+address a word or two in my direction. I shall esteem each one of them
+a ... jewel, Richard."
+
+The young knight perceived, the while he was moving from group to group
+receiving introductions, that the council of powdered jackdaws had been
+adjourned. Its members were spread out over the hall, singling out men,
+one after another, and engaging them in a momentary conversation. He
+was curious to know why, after each of these brief exchanges, he at
+once became the object of these men's scrutinizing glances. But, though
+he recalled the incident later, it was temporarily lost and forgotten
+amid the banalities of polite talk to which he was obliged to lend
+constant ear. Sir Richard entered wholly into the holiday spirit
+pervading the company, however, and served out honeyed words with a
+zest quite equal in degree with that which he drank them in. He found
+the change from his ardorous and lonely journey to this atmosphere of
+good cheer and loud merriment to be most agreeable. His message had
+been delivered, his work was now done, and he felt altogether care-free
+and happy.
+
+Before the hour set for the feast in the great hall, he was singled
+out by a page and conducted to a room, which he was told was to be his
+during his stay in Castle Yewe. It was ample in size and magnificently
+furnished. Its walls and ceiling were trimmed in deep oaken paneling.
+Over the fireplace, which occupied quite two-thirds of the west side of
+the chamber, the woodwork was fretted and scrolled from mantel-shelf
+to ceiling. Upon the massive oak bed were neatly arranged a suit of
+slashed silk and velvet, a fine lace and linen upper garment, and boots
+of soft leather to match. There was also an elegantly fashioned rapier
+to take the place of the service-blade that he habitually carried at
+his side. His saddle-bags were flung across a holder fashioned for the
+purpose of bearing these inseparable companions of the traveler.
+
+Sir Richard sat down upon the edge of the bed, and before starting
+to change his dress, took out the cutting of saffron velvet from the
+breast of his doublet. He held it at arm's length, regarding it for
+quite a space with an expression of deep melancholy. He thought again
+of the beautiful Lady Anna's parting, whispered words--"I shall esteem
+each one of them a ... jewel, Richard." They had recurred to him many
+times, and in each instance his heart had undeniably responded in a
+tenderly sentimental way. It occurred to his imaginative fancy that
+the bit of cloth had eyes, and that they were looking at him with sad,
+reproachful glances. He felt less guilty after he had taken up his
+sword and solemnly renewed his vow. He made up his mind that never
+again would he be untrue to the cutting of velvet and the maid by whom
+it had been relinquished into his keeping, but whom he had not yet seen.
+
+With a clearer conscience he went about unbuckling his armor and
+bedecking himself in the rich finery that had been so thoughtfully
+provided for him. Sir Richard was the last guest to come down the
+wide stairway to the floor of the hall. Along each balustrade was a
+row of carved sockets in which wax torches had been set, and when the
+young knight stepped slowly down between their soft light, full many a
+languishing glance sped upward toward him; full many a feminine heart
+beat in a perfect rhythm with his tread upon the gray stone steps.
+
+Following Sir Richard's appearance there was a concerted movement in
+the direction of the dining hall, with Lord Douglas, Lady Anna, and the
+belated arrival in the lead. The room in which the feast of Crispian
+had been spread was of vast dimensions. Its ceiling seemed low in
+comparison with its great length and breadth, and was paneled in highly
+polished red cedar. Wainscoting of the same wood, extending to a height
+of five feet above the floor, stretched around its four sides. Above
+this the walls were covered with rich tapestries, with designs woven in
+arras, representing a brave array of martial scenes, pictures of the
+chase and conflicts within the lists. Stretching from end to end of the
+hall stood the magnificently decorated table, which had been spread
+with lavish and bountiful hands. Forty wax torches shed a bright glow
+over the scene of princely festivities.
+
+Sir Richard was indeed the guest of honor, having a seat above the salt
+between the lord and lady of the castle. A silken canopy, depending
+from gilded chains fastened to the ceiling, swung just above their
+heads. Musicians, dressed in the fantastic garb of the troubadours
+of that time, filled the room with delightful melodies. Merrily the
+feast progressed, with constantly augmenting talk and laughter as
+the delicately chased silver flagons emptied their sparkling streams
+into the tankards held beneath them. There was wassail on wassail,
+downed amid the tinkling of golden cups and the hoarse bellowing of
+bearded, tipsy knights. Sir Richard took his full measure of enjoyment
+out of the occasion, though he suffered a secret regret because of
+his inability to keep up his end with some of the old campaigners
+in the matter of the drink. Even now he was sensible of the fact
+that surrounding objects were assuming an exaggerated brilliancy and
+beauty, combined with a certain vagueness that rendered their charm
+indefinably more alluring. He felt his blood coursing like molten
+silver through his veins. His only outward manifestations of the wine's
+stimulating influence, however, were a fastidious politeness and
+solicitous interest on behalf of those about him.
+
+When Lady Anna pressed his foot softly beneath the board, the young
+knight again committed the sin of being untrue to the cutting of
+saffron velvet.
+
+"'Tis now your turn to give us wassail, Richard," said she, with a
+slight uplifting of her brows that went to his head with a greater
+effect than the wine.
+
+"Give thee all bonnie Scotland, ... her good sovereign, ... Lord
+Douglas, our good host, the lovely Lady Anna, and the King of England,"
+Sir Richard shouted, getting to his feet, with brimming glass stretched
+half across the table.
+
+A brawny knight, dressed handsomely in brown leather slashed with
+crimson velvet, reached across and rudely struck his hand, slopping a
+good portion of the wine about among the guests. Without a moment's
+hesitation Sir Richard gave his insulter the remainder of it in his
+face, amid a transitory silence, profound and tomblike.
+
+Followed then, upon the instant, the excited babbling of many voices,
+from which entanglement of sound Sir Richard contrived to isolate the
+fact that he had been challenged, and that they were to meet in the
+castle yard at dawning of that morning.
+
+"There are here, around this board to-night, a dozen better blades than
+he," Lady Anna whispered low in the young knight's ear when something
+approaching order had been restored. "For my sake, Richard, you must
+not fail to vanquish him," she added, with another pressure of her
+dainty foot.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+OF A SERIES OF REMARKABLE DUELS, AND DE CLAVERLOK'S PERIL
+
+
+Their meeting place was within the larger of the bailey-courts, when
+day was just on the dawn. Towering round about them were the rough
+walls of the huge castle. Sir Richard noted that every embrasure had
+suddenly sprouted a multiple of bright eyes, all gazing down at the
+combatants making ready to begin their battle at the bottom of the damp
+well.
+
+The meeting turned out to be but the merest trifle for the young
+knight. Duke Francis was a past master of the arts of war-craft and had
+taught him thoroughly well. Once, Sir Richard was proud to remember,
+when the old Duke happened to have been in an uncommonly amiable mood,
+he had assured him that he was the most apt of all his pupils. The
+young knight fought only when there was a just cause at issue, and
+then with his whole heart set upon winning the battle. Upon this
+occasion he had very little trouble in disabling his adversary's sword
+arm. But not, however, before playing with him a considerable time in
+deference to the astonishingly early risers, who had dared the chill
+blasts to peer through the open windows.
+
+"Brava, Sir Richard!" the plaudits swept from opening to opening around
+the gray walls when the business was over, upon which the young knight
+made a slight bow of acknowledgment and went hastily back to his warm
+bed, carrying with him there, besides somewhat of an aching head from
+excesses of the night before, the regret that he had been unable to
+give his auditors a prettier play in return for all their pains.
+
+That morning's encounter, however, proved to be but a drowsy prelude
+to a veritable whirlwind of fighting duels. Without so much as a "By
+thy leave, sir," they would jostle Sir Richard roughly about, fling
+gauntlets at his feet, and hurl insults into his very teeth. Indeed,
+dueling grew to be an accepted part of his daily routine, and a day
+without its fight would have left him with the feeling that something
+important had remained undone. But Fortune continued to smile brightly
+upon him; and, saving for a few slight scratches, he carried no mark to
+bear him witness of the amazingly great number of personal combats in
+which he became engaged.
+
+By nature Sir Richard was of a peace-loving disposition. Only upon
+one occasion had he deliberately set out to pick a quarrel, and that
+was with the Renegade Duke, for the purpose of aiding his escape from
+captivity. He was accordingly much puzzled as to the cause of this
+sudden plethora of insults and challenges. That the men were all
+envious of the open favors that Lady Anna continued to bestow upon
+him, was the only possible reason to which he could ascribe them. He
+appreciated that she must have an infinite number of admirers to be
+thus jealously guarded. Another circumstance that appealed to him
+as most singular, was the fact that once he had finished having it
+out with his enemies they became immediately his fast friends. Sir
+Richard's encounters were attended by a strangely favorable issue of
+events, for only in one instance had he been forced to inflict upon
+his adversary anything like a dangerous wound; and Sandufferin, the
+unfortunate exception and mightiest wielder of a blade in Scotland,
+made an ultimate recovery from his injuries. It grew to be a current
+subject of amused talk that when the latest comer had declared his
+intention of facing the young knight's deft sword, those whom he had
+met and vanquished would gather about him and convey their knowledge to
+him of the newcomer's particular methods of fighting.
+
+"Look at them, Anna," Lord Douglas remarked upon an occasion when a
+number of men, many with bandaged hands and arms, were gathered close
+about Sir Richard. "They are giving points to their master, I take it.
+Never, within my knowledge, has there crossed the borders of Scotland a
+greater swordsman than this youthful knight. Marry, and how he seemeth
+to enjoy it, Anna, preserving the happiest of good humor through it
+all! But soon will I call a halt to the saturnalia of fighting and
+acquaint him with the contents of Henry's warrant. He'll make us a
+right brave chief of horse, Anna--that will he. He grows impatient to
+fare away southward. Every day now does he inquire of me whether his
+sovereign's business here is done. An he but guessed that he is held
+captive, I miss my shot an the gates and bars of Yewe would long hold
+him."
+
+"Nay--that they would not," Lady Anna agreed. "'Tis the cutting of
+saffron velvet that beckons him away, my lord. Valiantly though I have
+striven, I cannot wean his regard from that bit of cloth. Many times
+lately have I observed him sitting in lonely corners and regarding it
+with soulful eyes. Would that I had him for pupil in the place of that
+silly boy, Warbeck."
+
+"Ah! But that _was_ a stroke, Lady Anna!" said Douglas admiringly. "The
+oftener I look upon him, the more perfect seemeth his resemblance to
+the Yorkist brood. How doth he progress?"
+
+"Slow, my lord--tiresome slow. 'Tis hard to make him to forget his
+plebeian ancestors. How fares it with the prisoner--he whom you have
+mewed within the dungeon?"
+
+"De Claverlok, mean you? Bah! 'Tis a gruff old warrior, that--with his
+ehs! and ehs! Still doth he stubbornly refuse to pledge me his word to
+separate himself from Sir Richard. Nor, by my faith, can I gain his
+promise to fight beneath our standard."
+
+"What then--the block, my lord?" interrogated Lady Douglas, yawning.
+
+"Aye--the block," replied Douglas, quietly.
+
+On the morning following the day upon which this dialogue took place,
+Sir Richard sauntered down the stairs to find Lady Anna reclining
+indolently at ease within the curtained alcove where first he had met
+her. She had with her a falcon, which she was stroking and feeding
+with bits of bread held daintily between her red lips. She looked up,
+greeting the young knight's coming with a rare smile.
+
+"By the mass, dear Richard," said she, "and how early we are! Was it
+the topsy-turvy going of the men at daybreak that brings you so soon
+afoot? Did you hear the sounding of the tucket-sonuance in yonder yard?
+Or, tell me, boy, is it but another trifle of a duel?"
+
+Right well was she aware that Sir Richard disliked to be called a boy,
+and she appeared to take a secret delight in thus teasing him. As was
+usual, he denied the propriety of the name.
+
+"Tut, tut, then--bloody giant," said she, laughing merrily. "Is it, I
+beg of you, another play of blades?"
+
+"In the whole of Scotland," retorted Sir Richard, "remains there a
+warrior whom I have not met?"
+
+He had encountered three of them the day before, disarming two and
+slightly wounding the other.
+
+"Remains yet the mightiest of them all," Lady Anna answered,
+surrendering another morsel of bread to the pet falcon.
+
+"His name, Lady Anna?"
+
+"Bull Bengough. Would you dare to break a lance with him in the
+approaching tournament ... for me, Sir Richard?"
+
+"One more, or less, what matters it, Lady Anna?" said Sir Richard. "The
+game is palling upon me. I swear I will."
+
+"I am growing fair frightened of your magic invincibility," said Lady
+Anna. "Which are they--fair spirits, or foul shades, by whom you have
+been gifted with a charmed life? In sober earnest, Richard, let me say
+to you that a momentous question hinges upon your meeting with Bull
+Bengough," she added seriously, pressing the young knight's hand by
+way of a reward for his promise, and then went on to fill his head with
+gentle flattery.
+
+She told him of how the men-at-arms had sallied out that morning
+to give battle to a certain traitorous upstart. Unconsciously Sir
+Richard's mind reverted to Tyrrell. After that, for a considerable
+space, they sat together in silence, watching the workingmen engaged
+upon their task of bedizening the seating-place overlooking the lists
+where the coming tournament was designed to be held.
+
+Presently Lady Anna went from the alcove, taking with her a bundle of
+books and manuscripts which, Sir Richard had frequently remarked, she
+often carried about with her through the galleries.
+
+Since his mad entry through the sallyport of Yewe, this was the first
+clear breathing space Sir Richard had been allowed. He suddenly thought
+of his companion of that eventful ride. What with the dining and the
+wining, and the dancing attendance upon this captivating maid and that,
+and the singularly rapid succession of duels, his time had been pretty
+well occupied. "But certes," he said to himself, "these are small
+excuses for having so absolutely forgotten de Claverlok, whom, by my
+faith, I have not clapt eyes upon since leaving him at the foot of the
+stairs to go into the presence of Douglas. True, Lord Douglas assured
+me that he was to be rendered comfortable in other quarters. I dare
+say he is gone by now," he concluded. "But I'll away to the guards to
+discover me what has become of the good fellow."
+
+But Sir Richard was counting the spots before his dies had been cast.
+He borrowed every guard's ear he could find within the precincts of the
+castle, and returned from the long round barren of the faintest hint in
+regard to his friend's whereabouts. Not one of them, so they all swore,
+had so much as heard a whisper of his name.
+
+Feeling a presentiment that some direful mishap had betided his
+faithful companion, and heaping maledictions upon himself for a
+thoughtless ingrate, the young knight was walking slowly along one of
+the inner galleries. As he parted a drapery he came suddenly upon the
+fool, Lightsom, who had discarded his motley and bells for a garb of
+black. His habitually mirthful countenance was wearing an expression
+entirely in sympathy with his somber habit.
+
+"Give you a good-morrow, Lightsom," said Sir Richard, meaning but to
+give the fool greeting and pass on.
+
+"Thou'rt hunting my name by the heels, Sir Richard," Lightsom
+answered, pausing to give the young knight speech. "Vanisheth the
+motley, vanisheth Lightsom, the laughing fool. Vanisheth as well my
+good master, and I discover me without a body whereupon to practise
+my cutting art withal. To-day, good my knight, I was to play the
+executioner. Till I doff this habit let my name be Gruesom....
+Bloodysom.... Anything, forsooth, but Lightsom! Dost take in the dolour
+of my visage?"
+
+"Ah! What an end to come by," observed Sir Richard. "An ax, wielded
+by a fool. Name me thy unhappy victim--and loose thy hold of my cape,
+fellow."
+
+"Marry, sir knight, shudder not thus! Is the touch of a fool less
+contaminative than that of the executioner? An it be, I wot not why.
+One murders the King's good English, the other the King's good
+subjects--both are the slaves of unyielding circumstance. And besides,
+good my knight, the head, after its separation from the body, recks not
+of the means whereof it was accomplished. Thy sword--my ax--'tis all
+the same to 't. So it be a bold, clean, and clever stroke, mark ye!"
+
+"Have done with your parleying, Lightsom, and----"
+
+"Say Grimsom, Sir Richard," the fool interrupted whiningly. "Smear not
+my melancholy cloth with grime!"
+
+"Well, ... Grimsom, then, ... give me thy unhappy victim's name?"
+
+Leaning forward till his repulsive face almost touched Sir Richard's,
+he skewed his features all awry in a horrible grimace. This was his
+only answer. The young knight instantly went cold to the marrow, and
+repeated his question tensely, passing the fool a rose noble.
+
+"This," said Lightsom tantalizingly, balancing the yellow disc upon
+his raised forefinger, "will purchase thee one letter of his name, ...
+just one letter, Sir Richard. I am as hungry for gold as the block is
+thirsty for blood. Why need the pair of us be cheated? Say, ... wilt
+buy me his full name in these round baubles?"
+
+Without a word Sir Richard counted out and passed the fool sixteen more.
+
+"Have I made the count correctly?" he whispered hoarsely.
+
+Lightsom went then to tallying with his clawlike finger upon his beak
+of a nose.
+
+"In truth," he muttered, "I had expected but ten more.... Six....
+Six.... Ah! I, by playing just then the fool, have myself disgraced my
+somber trappings. I have clean forgotten that his name is Lionel, by
+the rood, ... eh!"
+
+This was enough for Sir Richard. In a frenzy of poignant regret and
+mortal fear, and leaving the black dwarf crying shrilly for him not to
+divulge the source of his information, he dashed away down the long
+gallery in a mad search of Lady Anna.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+OF THE GALLERY OF THE GRIFFINS' HEADS
+
+
+Bitterest remorse winged the young knight's feet; apprehension became
+the mother of audacity; and without any ceremonious ado he made for
+that part of the castle which he knew was apportioned to the exclusive
+uses of Lady Anna. Like a hawk winging its predatory flight against a
+covey of unprotected and gentle doves, he swooped down upon the lady's
+retinue of serving-maids.
+
+The contact, however, was as fugitive as it was tempestuous
+and violent, and beyond leaving them all of a-flutter, weeping
+hysterically, and earnestly protesting that this was an hour of the
+morning during which their mistress forbade the slightest interruption
+or disturbance, he accomplished not a single point in the behalf of his
+friend.
+
+While impatiently awaiting Lady Anna's appearance, he fell to
+wandering through the wide, thronged halls, and narrow, lonely, and
+deserted galleries. In opening a door leading from one of these, he
+stumbled upon a blind passageway, which, to all appearances, was
+devoted to no other purpose than that of a vantage-point, whence were
+to be had a view of the open glades and forests, and the towers,
+turrets, barbecan, and walls commanding them. Gloomily he stood gazing
+through one of the deep embrasures, which pierced the outer wall of
+the gallery from end to end, upon the half drawn bridge. It seemed to
+him ages gone since de Claverlok and he had thundered side by side
+above its moldering planks. "What a brave, unselfish fellow he was,"
+mused Sir Richard, "to cast his fortunes along with mine, when, by the
+simple tugging of a rein, he might have ridden among his companions and
+into safety. Well, ... I'll have him free. I vow I'll have him set at
+liberty. Or, by my soul, I'll lay my thoughtless, selfish head beside
+his generous one upon the block."
+
+Yet how good it was to live, Sir Richard thought: to be free; to mark
+the bright sunshine; to watch the sparkling hoar-frost disappearing in
+floating pennants of silvery mist against the purple shadows lurking
+within the background of the firs. By thus enumerating to himself some
+of the joys of life he was not meaning to qualify the integrity of his
+oath. He was sincere at the moment in his determination to free de
+Claverlok, or suffer the penalty of death along with him.
+
+Sir Richard was leaning heavily against the outer wall, yielding to a
+host of melancholy reflections; his shoulder disconsolately pressing
+against the casement of the embrasure. Quite by chance his eyes fell
+upon a row of bronze griffins' heads, each occupying the center of
+a line of deep oaken panels, which extended along the opposite wall
+from the doorway through which he had entered to the end of the sealed
+passageway. Doubtless it was the repellant hideousness of their
+faces that arrested and fixed his attention. Their curled tongues
+protruded in a series of abhorrent grimaces that tended to fascinate
+the observer. The young knight singled out the head just across from
+him and fell to studying it minutely. He grew sensible of a boyish
+desire to attempt to distort his features in a manner similar to it,
+to which desire he finally yielded, and talked to it, moreover, as
+though its bronze ears were possessed of the power to take in his vain
+expostulations.
+
+Not infrequently does it fall out that an inane action is the parent of
+a most happy result. This was true in the present case, for, through
+looking so long and intently upon the weird head of the griffin, Sir
+Richard remarked that its tongue appeared to be more free within its
+distended maw than those of its neighbors. He stepped across and laid
+his finger upon it. It moved. He tugged at it. There was the sound as
+of the lifting of a latch, and the griffin's head, which was secured to
+the woodwork by a hinge, swung instantly free of the oaken panel.
+
+Within the circular recess thus disclosed appeared a brass knob, which,
+upon being turned, released another fastening. The entire panel then
+slid freely to the left, discovering a narrow, crevice-like passageway
+that stretched away beyond the range of the young knight's vision.
+
+More with the aim of seeking a momentary distraction from his rueful
+thoughts than in the hope of making any new or startling discoveries,
+he closed the griffin's head and clambered through the paneled opening.
+Upon assuring himself that there was a way of thrusting back the secret
+door from inside, he made everything fast and crept cautiously ahead in
+the direction of a row of lights, which shone dimly through openings
+upon his left hand and splashed against the wall to his right, thus
+serving vaguely to illuminate the dusty, cobwebby place.
+
+The lights proved to emanate from mere slits of windows set with
+many-colored glass. He peered through the first, which was sufficiently
+transparent to disclose to his view a room and everything that was
+transpiring within.
+
+The walls of this chamber were covered with the richest of hangings.
+Round about were scattered many massive cases filled with books.
+Indeed, Sir Richard noted that its furnishings were all patterned after
+an exquisite fashion, and arranged, withal, in an uncommonly tasteful
+and pleasing manner.
+
+In front of a cheerful fire burning briskly within the wide
+chimney-place sat a fair-haired boy. He was reclining at ease upon a
+deep-seated chair, and the firelight, playing upon his ruffled, snowy
+linen upper garment, his pallid, handsome, aquiline features, and long,
+curly, yellow hair, set before the young knight one of the prettiest
+pictures he had ever looked upon.
+
+Seated upon a stool beside the youth's knee was Lady Anna, who was
+engaged upon reading to him out of a manuscript. That which she was
+reading, Sir Richard thought, appeared to hold immeasurably less of
+interest for her distinguished looking auditor than the reader thereof,
+so greedily was his gaze devouring her. If ever love and devotion shone
+through the eyes from the heart, they were shining in that room and
+upon that woman then. The young knight became conscious of a feeling of
+guilt. It was as though he had profaned a consecrated temple.
+
+Since, however, an accident had brought him there, he regretted that
+he was unable to hear what Lady Anna was reading. But he remained,
+gathering different impressions of the scene by looking through the
+various colored panes, till she arose to leave. This sentence, then,
+spoken aloud and firmly from her station beside the youth's chair, came
+distinctly to his ears:
+
+"To you," she was saying, "there shall be no such person in all the
+world as Warbeck. You must forget even that there was ever such a name.
+Your future----"
+
+Her concluding remarks were lost to Sir Richard's hearing. Lady Anna
+then brushed aside the drapery and disappeared out of the room. For
+many minutes thereafter the youth's eyes remained fixed upon the
+swinging draperies, motionless and longingly, whilst down his pallid
+cheeks coursed many a bitter tear.
+
+Leaving him to his sorrow, which would have been more poignant had he
+been enabled to look into that future that Lady Anna was holding before
+him as a lure, Sir Richard continued warily on his journey along the
+pinched passageway. By the squares of light thrown at long but regular
+intervals against the right wall, he divined that the secret exit was
+pierced with windows throughout its entire length. Through each of
+these he stole a look as he advanced, being obliged to stand always on
+tip-toe to make his brief surveys. He gathered the information that
+a suite of six large rooms had been set aside for the uses of the
+handsome youth. There was an entrance giving upon the last from the
+secret passageway. The young knight made no attempt to open it then,
+but crept onward and looked through the next window. Between the floor
+of the last room and the floor of the spacious hall into which he was
+now looking there was a sheer drop of thirty feet; perhaps even more.
+From the long table standing in its center and the chairs arranged
+in tiers round about, he took it to be a council hall, a place of
+formal meetings of state. It was surmounted by a lofty, domed ceiling,
+decorated with multi-colored glass, corresponding with the panes
+through which he was having a view of the chamber.
+
+Pursuing his way onward past the row of windows opening upon the hall,
+he arrived soon at the end of the passageway, which was marked by a
+yawning vent-hole, with the opening at his feet dropping into abysmal
+depths of darkness, and the one above his head gaping like a sooty
+flue. Iron rungs set securely into the masonry of the wall furthest
+removed from him disappeared into the swart obscurity above and below.
+
+Consumed with curiosity and a desire to push his explorations to the
+end, he stepped across, set his foot upon the ladder, and clambered
+skyward. A trap-door, securely battened from within, stopped his
+progress at the top. Surmising that it opened upon a runway of one of
+the many embattled towers, he started downward. Past the floor of the
+passageway he lowered himself, down, down, till it seemed to him that
+he was penetrating into the very belly of the earth. At the bottom he
+came upon a kind of square room, with a massive, barred door opening
+from one of its sides. The air here was excessively damp, chill, and
+fetid with noisome odors.
+
+So noiselessly as might be he shot back the rusty bolts and made shift
+to open the heavy door. Slowly it yielded to his violent exertions,
+its unused hinges shrilly protesting every inch of the way. When he
+had swung it sufficiently wide to admit the passage of his body, he
+was confronted by the flare of a single candle. Even this faint light,
+upon emerging from such dense darkness, completely dazzled his blinking
+eyes, rendering them momentarily sightless.
+
+"Well, ... by the rood!" the most welcome of voices then rang in
+his ears. "I was looking to see a grisly phantom shape come gliding
+through yon creaking door to devour me! And certes 'tis your own good
+self, Sir Dick, ... eh? Give you a very good-morrow, ... or a very
+good-even.... I' faith, I know not down here the hours of the passing
+day. Everything, as 't were, being of a similar color. But fillip me
+for a fat toad, an you're not a most pleasing apparition, Sir Dick; ...
+a most welcome ghost, ... eh!"
+
+Sir Richard strode forward and took de Claverlok's hand in a firm grip.
+
+"I'll wager, my boy," said the grizzled knight with his usual hearty
+laugh, "that you've fair turned this castle upside down in your
+endeavors to unearth me, ... eh? But for long have I been conducting
+a quiet truce with Heaven, where, Sir Dick, I fancied that you had
+some days since preceded me. How comes it that you're still alive, and
+looking as hearty, by my faith, as a prancing yearling. Did you deliver
+the paper, ... eh?"
+
+"Certes did I deliver it," replied Sir Richard. "And let us for all
+time, my friend, drop the subject of King Henry's message between us.
+You can see that you have been led into a sad error as to its contents.
+I am now biding in Yewe as Douglas's guest till the business of my
+sovereign be completed."
+
+"Guest, Sir Dick? God's sake!" blurted out de Claverlok. "An you're not
+as much prisoner as I, though in somewhat of a better case, I'll barter
+my knighthood for a battered farthing, ... eh! Tell me, has nothing
+untoward happened during your stay?" he added, earnestly. "Sit you down
+upon the feathery side of this stone and tell me your story--'tis the
+best seat I have to offer, Sir Dick."
+
+"Well, beyond the duels," Sir Richard rather reluctantly admitted,
+seating himself beside the grizzled knight upon the stone, "there has
+been nothing unusual to mar a most pleasant visit, saving, of course,
+your own disappearance from my side," he hastened to add. "I bethought
+me though that you had long since fared southward to join your company."
+
+"What--and leave you, Sir Dick? Not any! My knightly vow fetters me
+fast to your side. But when did you find out that I was still here, ...
+eh?"
+
+"Only this morning. It was through a most fortunate train of accidents
+that I have stumbled upon your cell. I have been guilty of an
+unpardonable sin in thus long neglecting you, my friend."
+
+"Nay--not so, Sir Dick. Am I not old enough to care for myself, ... eh?
+But how about these duels? I would hear you tell of them."
+
+"I will, de Claverlok," agreed Sir Richard, "and a certain matter
+besides that I have guarded even from your knowledge. 'Tis of a cutting
+of cloth that I got me in the Red Tavern." Whereupon he proceeded to
+tell, much to the grizzled knight's amusement, the tale of the piece of
+saffron velvet. "And about the duels," the young knight concluded, "I
+am somewhat puzzled to know why they have been brought about. Though
+I believe that it is because of the many favors that Lady Douglas
+continues ever to shower upon me. She is, in truth, a wonderful woman,
+my friend--and well worth fighting for. A wonderful woman!"
+
+"Ah!" laughed the grizzled knight. "When love enters, wits leave, ...
+eh? But explain more in detail the circumstance of these duels. 'Tis
+this that interests me, Sir Dick."
+
+"Oh! 'tis a small enough matter at best, de Claverlok," protested Sir
+Richard with a modest carelessness. "But ever since my tarry within
+these walls I have had always to keep my sword to the grit-wheel. What
+with the spilling of the wine over the table, and the rough jostling of
+them against me through the halls and galleries, it has been 'Come out
+with me, sirrah, into the castle yard,' from gray morning to twilight
+eventide. There was hazard of breaking old fox here on the tough Scot's
+head of 'em. And I swear to you, my good friend, that my right arm
+has been kept full sore with the swinging of it against their flinty
+noddles."
+
+"Pricked you them sore or easy, Sir Dick? Marry, but you must have
+a-many an enemy in Yewe, ... eh?"
+
+"Well, I gave it them as easy as might be," replied Sir Richard, "and
+it perplexes me much to observe that each of them is now my friend.
+Never had I divined, de Claverlok, that there could transpire such a
+round of mysterious events. My brain has been fair addled ever since my
+coming into Scotland."
+
+"Fret not, Sir Dick," said de Claverlok encouragingly, "these mysteries
+will clear away soon enough. But you had better betake yourself now
+whence you came. 'Twill eftsoons be time for them to bring me my bread
+and sour tipple. Ug-gh! Such food as I've been bestowing within my
+belly, Sir Dick. 'Tis unfit for swine, ... eh! But, get you gone, boy,
+and deliver me from this dank hole when you can do it in safety to
+yourself. There must be two passageways hither, as yon door through
+which you came has not before been used. 'Tis through this other that
+they bear me food. Good-bye and good luck to you, Sir Dick."
+
+Upon the grizzled knight's reaffirmation of his assurances that he
+would possess himself in patience till Sir Richard could hit upon a
+safe means of bringing him again into the daylight of freedom, and his
+belief that his young friend was as much a prisoner as was he, the
+young knight parted from him, secure in the belief that no harm could
+befall the veteran till the return of Douglas, before which time, he
+swore to himself, he would contrive to have him free.
+
+Once Sir Richard had emerged into the upper and outer gallery he made
+everything secure, observing the precaution of counting the number of
+griffins' heads intervening between the sliding panel and the door,
+whereupon he hurried down to the inner bailey and commanded an equerry
+to saddle and bring him his stallion.
+
+"God!" the hostler exclaimed, reddening to the line of his stubby hair,
+"an' 'a canna do such for 'e, Sir Richard. Snip, snap! would 'a head
+go ... here," touching his neck, "an' 'a did. 'Tis the lord's orders,
+worshipful knight, ... the lord's orders. Anything else would 'a do for
+'e, sir knight. God wot, an' 'a----"
+
+Sir Richard did not wait to hear the conclusion of the hostler's
+apologies, but tossed him a coin and took his way back into the castle.
+De Claverlok had been right, after all. The young knight was, like his
+friend, a prisoner in Yewe.
+
+Without stopping to plan out a wise course of action, he rushed
+straightway into the presence of Lady Anna and impetuously claimed his
+right to know the reason for his forcible detention.
+
+"How doth the moth flutter," said she, laughing gaily, "when the
+glittering, golden home doth suddenly become a cage! Marry--marry!"
+she added, changing her tone, and bestowing upon Sir Richard the most
+languishing of glances, "are you tired of my company, dear Richard?"
+she asked.
+
+If it had not been for the picture of the fair-haired youth impressed
+indelibly upon the young knight's mind, she would doubtless soon have
+won him over to her again. As it was, however----
+
+"'Tis not that, Lady Anna," he answered firmly; "but I am dooms weary
+of playing the wooden pawn upon the squared board--with no kind of
+conception of where or why I am being moved this and that way about!
+Yea--or even the kind of game in which I am playing such a stupid and
+involuntary part."
+
+"Say not thus, Sir Richard," Lady Anna murmured softly, laying her warm
+hand upon his. "Tell me, I pray you, and what becomes of the pawn after
+it be advanced from square to square above the breadth of the board to
+the farther rank? Tell me, what becomes of it, I say?"
+
+"But scant knowledge have I of the game of chess," Sir Richard
+grumbled. "I' faith, madam, I neither know nor care."
+
+"Ah! But you should both know and care, dear friend," Lady Anna
+pursued. "Let me tell you then that it gains power according to the
+wish of the mind that picked out its zig-rag course. Even it may
+become a royal piece, Richard. Have patience yet a little while, ...
+but have patience. Worse predicaments there are than that of playing
+the moving pawn, I give you warrant."
+
+So far as any definite understanding of his position was concerned,
+this was the beginning and the end of everything he was able to achieve
+through Lady Anna. He tried his bravest before leaving her to impress
+upon her the idea that he was willing to reconcile himself with the
+circumstances of his surroundings. Indeed, he entertained something
+of a shrewd suspicion that this was not far from true. His position
+certainly partook of a most fascinating admixture of unreality and
+romance that came near to capturing his imaginative fancy. He was now
+inclined to regard the entire series of events as something in the
+nature of a gay lark, to which each exciting incident was contributing
+its separate thrill of enjoyment. To effect the release of de Claverlok
+and make his own escape would furnish a capital finish to the whole.
+In order to carry out these purposes he determined in the future
+to conduct himself with the utmost circumspection. "An it is to be
+a game," he said to himself, "I'll take a hand in the playing of it
+myself."
+
+After leaving Lady Anna he strolled carelessly into the tilting-yard,
+for the ostensible purpose of viewing the elaborate preparations for
+the approaching tournament, which were now nearly completed. He made a
+mental calculation of the height of the eastern tower, which was the
+one accessible from the secret passageway. He estimated it roughly to
+be nearly one hundred and fifty feet.
+
+A line over the battlements would be the only way down. It would be
+manifestly impossible to carry a rope of that length through the halls
+and galleries. So he hit upon the scheme of concealing lengths of it
+beneath his cloak and splicing them together after reaching the secret
+exit. By allowing the knotted ends to dangle down the well leading to
+de Claverlok's dungeon, he concluded that they would be safe enough
+from discovery.
+
+He accordingly started his pilfering expeditions on the next morning
+at the hour when Lady Anna was engaged with her pupil. Day after day
+Sir Richard kept at his task, and always he would see her beside the
+boy, at the same hour and in the same attitude; and always he would
+steal a long glance within the room as he crept cautiously by. Twice
+during this time he lowered himself down the ladder to visit with de
+Claverlok, taking with him a flagon of wine and a few dainties from the
+Douglas's table. But the grizzled knight warned him to discontinue his
+subterranean excursions, as there was danger of running into the guard
+regularly administering to his needs.
+
+Following out the veteran's advice, Sir Richard made, after that, but
+one trip in the day, carrying each time something like ten feet of
+stout hemp. On but one occasion did he come near to being discovered,
+and his escape was then of the narrowest.
+
+While he was in the ordinance room one morning he was startled by
+its tubby little keeper coming suddenly upon him just after he had
+hidden a rather more generous length of rope than usual beneath his
+shoulder-cape. Sir Richard made out to be examining one of the brass
+cannons.
+
+"That are a bonnie piece, worshipful knight," said the keeper proudly.
+"A right bonnie piece, Sir Richard. She'll a-come you through a
+two-foot wall, sir, as smooth as a tup-ny whistle-pipe." Here he
+paused, scratching his bullet head, and taking up the end of the coil
+of rope from which Sir Richard had cut the piece inside his cape. "'Tis
+a muckle strange thing how the good hemp do vanish," he pursued in a
+puzzled way, "a muckle strange thing. Once 'a be a-thinkin' as what
+every rogue in the castle were a-stealin' o' rope's-ends to choken
+their knavish throats. But every rag-tailed son of 'em do answer to the
+daily roll. Not one of 'em be a-missin'; not one, sir."
+
+"Mayhap you'll be in trouble for not keeping a closer watch," observed
+Sir Richard. "Here will be money enough to buy you a new coil the next
+time you get you into Bannockburn."
+
+It was on the morning that the young knight was carrying up the last
+splicing of rope but one that he missed Lady Anna from her accustomed
+place beside the youth's knee. Hastily knotting and securing the rope
+around a rung of the iron ladder he hurried back along the passageway.
+Pausing beside the youth's room he again looked through the window.
+The boy was still alone, and pacing back and forth across the room
+in that which seemed to be a paroxysm of grief and anger, clenching
+his blue-veined hands, throwing pillows madly about the floor, and
+soliloquizing with a bitter and impassioned vehemence. Experiencing an
+indescribable sort of fascination, Sir Richard stopped to listen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+OF THE RETURN OF LORD DOUGLAS, AND THE COUNCIL OF JACKDAWS
+
+
+"Ah! Woe is me--woe, woe is me!" the youth was crying bitterly. "To
+think that I must forget my home, my generous father, my brothers, and
+my dear, kind sister. That I must deny even my good and gentle mother
+who bore me into the world and suckled me at her bosom! And here am I
+giving her sorrow of my death when I am living! Woe--woe! Better--far,
+far better that my final act should be the rescuing of one truth out of
+this tissue of black and damning lies! Aye--" he gasped, glaring with
+eyes wide distended around the room--"an the means were but at hand,
+I could do it even now! But how I tremble when I but think of it....
+My hand.... See how it doth shake--palsied with horror of the grisly
+phantom! Even now," he whispered hoarsely, "I can see them bringing in
+the winding sheet. Nay--nay, I dare not! Fear, that doth withhold my
+craven arm, doth set his grinning skull at every exit and bid me stay."
+
+Then, throwing himself at full length upon the floor, the youth
+resigned himself to a fit of tempestuous weeping.
+
+Overwhelmed by a feeling of deepest sympathy for the suffering boy,
+and oblivious to all things else--his own safety, the safety of de
+Claverlok--Sir Richard strode back along the passageway, unbarred the
+secret door leading into the youth's apartments, and impetuously gave
+himself admittance therein.
+
+In another moment the young knight was beside him, and, stooping,
+touched him lightly upon the shoulder.
+
+"Ah! Lady Anna, ... that you should see me thus," murmured the youth
+without lifting his head from his arms. "They said to me that you were
+suffering of an indisposition and would not visit here to-day. Can you,
+... will you grant me pardon?" he added, sighing deeply.
+
+"Fear not," said Sir Richard gently. "I am come to succor thee, good
+youth."
+
+Softly though the young knight had spoken, at the first sound of his
+voice the youth leapt wild-eyed to his feet. Without uttering a word,
+and with hands outspread before his face, he moved slowly backward
+against the wall.
+
+"I pray you, be not afraid, good my youth," said Sir Richard
+reassuringly. "I can show you now a manner of gaining freedom from your
+unhappy imprisonment. A way of winning back to your abandoned home.
+Come, permit me to be your friend. Let hope smooth away the wrinkles
+from your brow and suffuse your countenance with somewhat of joy.
+Escape is at hand."
+
+"But what would she say?" the youth whispered, looking in a frightened
+manner toward the door.
+
+"She shall not know," Sir Richard promised.
+
+"Aye--but thou canst keep nothing from her. Nothing! Even she can read
+the heavens, and divine the inner workings of a mind. The stars whisper
+to her their dark secrets--the stars!"
+
+"Nay, prate not thus. I tell you the way is open. This very night you
+may be free."
+
+"But I--I cannot leave her, sir knight. I love her. Pity me, ... but
+leave me. And how didst thou come here?" the youth suddenly added.
+"Saving Lady Anna and the serving-men, thou art the very first to enter
+within these rooms."
+
+Upon gaining the youth's promise to observe an inviolate secrecy, Sir
+Richard explained the manner of his coming. When he had made everything
+clear, the boy took his arm and led him beside a desk upon which were
+scattered many papers.
+
+"Knowest thou what these are, sir knight?" the youth inquired. "They
+are messages to my simple home; messages to my sweet mother; messages
+full of endearing terms and deep regrets; messages signed with mine own
+true and once honest name, Perkin Warbeck; messages which I dare never
+send, but write and read; and read again, gaining a sort of comfort
+from the double task. Why must I forswear my good name, sir knight? I
+know not. Why am I here? I know not--what shall become of me; I care
+not. I am but a shadow encompassed by flitting shades--a phantom in the
+midst of phantoms, moving in a fog of mystery. Of all, there is but the
+one thing potent--my love for Lady Anna. And yet--and yet, sir knight,
+I fear her. I must remain! Go! Leave me, I entreat of thee, for, by
+thus tarrying, thou art but fruitlessly imperiling thy life."
+
+Earnestly though Sir Richard tried, he was unable to shake the youth's
+determination to remain. With much of pity in his heart, the young
+knight then took leave of him, retraced his way back through the
+secret door and went below. Desiring to take advantage of Lady Anna's
+temporary retirement, he secured the final cutting of rope, stole again
+into the hall of the griffins' heads, and made everything ready for de
+Claverlok's escape and his own, which he meant should be brought off
+that night.
+
+It was lucky for him that he did so, for, upon that same afternoon,
+about sundown, there was heard a loud blaring of trumpets from the
+direction of the wood. Sir Richard at once hurried to the barbecan,
+from whence he had a view of Douglas and his company as they came
+marching up the slope.
+
+Among their number he noted a knight who was not wearing the Douglas
+colors. An oddly tall and lean figure of a man he was, encased from
+crown to toe in a suit of black armor. An ebon, horse-hair plume
+floated from his closed helmet, of the same somber hue were his mighty
+horse and trappings. Sir Richard gathered that he was not a prisoner,
+for he was riding free.
+
+"Marry, but he makes him a fine brave show!" the young knight mused to
+himself, as the Douglas's company started to defile across the lowered
+bridge.
+
+For three days together the air had been of a bitter coldness, and
+accordingly there followed a great scurrying up and down stairs, so
+that fires might be set to blazing in every chimney-place. The first
+inmate of the castle to be greeted by Douglas when he strode within the
+great hall was Sir Richard. He shook his hand most cordially, leading
+him to the canopied seat beneath the farther pillars, inviting him to
+bide at his right hand, and engaging him in conversation for quite an
+hour.
+
+"So the lists are at last prepared," Lord Douglas said, taking up the
+subject of the games, which were to begin on the next day. "And we
+are come in time. 'Twill be the greatest meeting in all Scotland," he
+boastingly declared, twisting and untwisting the wiry hairs of his
+beard. "The greatest and bravest in all Scotland. My hand on 't,
+Richard--and here's hoping you come off with a very surfeit of prizes."
+
+Sir Richard was careful to keep well within earshot of Douglas till
+the hour of the banquet. At the same time he maintained a close watch
+upon the actions of Lightsom. He meant to brook no transformation of
+the fool from his habitual motley to the black. His bells, however,
+continued all the evening to ring out a merry tune of de Claverlok's
+freedom from immediate peril.
+
+Around the table they all gathered presently, with every one seeming to
+be in the happiest of moods. A rare good fortune had evidently attended
+the affairs of the lord of the castle. Few around the board had ever
+seen him so amiable and gracious. Apparently recovered of her illness,
+Lady Anna, agreeable, captivating, beautiful as any of the maids woven
+in arras upon the tapestries behind her, beamed engagingly from her
+accustomed seat beside Lord Douglas. Sir Richard remarked the absence
+of the knight in black from the bright scene of festivity, which set
+him to wondering who and where he was.
+
+"Well, gentlemen, we'll to the council room," commanded Douglas when
+the last morsel had been eaten, the last wassail drunk. He arose
+then, stalking majestically from the hall, with the flock of powdered
+jackdaws following gravely at his spurred and jingling heels.
+
+From the concluding moment of the feast till the time when he found
+his way within the pitch dark gallery of the griffins' heads, Sir
+Richard moved like one in a dream, incidents and people seeming to
+float around him in a filmy, unreal sort of way. He was in a fever to
+get de Claverlok and be safely launched upon his journey. He took time,
+however, to stop on his way to the secret exit in a secluded corner of
+one of the galleries, where he withdrew from its accustomed place and
+stole a look at the piece of saffron velvet. He added another to the
+countless kisses he had pressed against it, and once again renewed his
+vow of unwavering fidelity to the cause of the imprisoned maiden. There
+were reasons for his self accusations of inconstancy. But Sir Richard
+was determined upon redeeming himself so soon as might be after he had
+accomplished his escape from Castle Yewe.
+
+The deep tones of the bell on the watch-tower were droning out the hour
+of midnight when the young knight crept stealthily within the gallery
+of the griffins' heads. Feeling carefully along the wall, he counted
+the protruding tongues, slid open the panel, and stole noiselessly into
+the secret passageway. Away ahead of him squares of light, shining from
+the windows of the council chamber, splashed fantastically against
+the right wall. Every embrasure opening off the youth's room was cast
+in utter darkness. In his mind, Sir Richard could picture him tossing
+restlessly upon a sleepless bed, and his heart rebuked him for leaving
+him there to fight out his melancholy battle alone. "But I, too," the
+young knight thought, recalling the boy's sad, parting words, "am but a
+phantom in the midst of phantoms, moving in a fog of mystery."
+
+In spite of his anxiety to have done with the business in hand and
+be away, the magnificent scene within the great council hall held
+Sir Richard fascinated in front of the first window through which he
+chanced to peer.
+
+In massive silver sconces round about the walls hundreds of candles
+were alight. Standing upon a raised dais, Lord Douglas was engaged in
+delivering an earnest oration. The jackdaws around the table marked his
+every pause with solemn noddings. Viewed as Sir Richard was viewing it,
+from a great height and through a pane of ruby colored glass, it all
+appeared grotesquely unreal, weird, and fairylike.
+
+Not a word reached to where he was standing, but the young knight
+divined that Douglas must have finished speaking, for the conclave of
+jackdaws arose, and, bowing, remained standing beside their chairs.
+Then, upon Douglas waving his sword, two pages parted the draperies
+from the wide entrance, and the lean, tall figure of the knight in
+black moved in a deliberate and stately manner down the steps.
+
+He was not wearing his casque, and when he had drawn within the full
+glare of the multitude of lights every feature of his elongated visage
+was set vividly before Sir Richard. He could not repress an exclamation
+of amazement.
+
+He recognized him to be the mysterious keeper of the Red
+Tavern--Tyrrell.
+
+The young knight was not aware of how long he remained standing beside
+the window, with his face pressed close against its ruby pane. Though
+he did not realize it, the scene then being enacted upon the mosaic
+floor far beneath him was one well worth pausing to witness. It was
+the assembling of the nucleus of a wonderful movement, the deep, still
+center of a wide whirlpool of elaborate conspiracy and action. From
+those clear brains were emanating invisible wires and arms of steel,
+which, clutching the individual, thrust him mercilessly and inevitably
+ahead in the vanguard of the movement. They were not human down there.
+Each of them was but a cold, bloodless, and calculating automaton.
+Lives, to them, were like pinches of sand upon blood-slippery lists,
+serving but to give purchase to the wheels of their tireless juggernaut.
+
+The young knight watched while Douglas seemed to introduce the
+inn-keeper to the assembled counselors. Tyrrell's voice must have been
+uncommonly resonant, for its deep tones came faintly to the ears of
+the observer at the window. It recalled to him the night of the burial
+of the hound and the war song. The grace of the speaker's sweeping
+gestures, as he continued his oration to the men around the table,
+elicited a genuine admiration from Sir Richard. He kept close to the
+window till Tyrrell had finished and gone from the hall.
+
+Though the young knight was unable to link himself or his future
+with the council below, he was sensible of a vague presentiment of a
+something portentous to his welfare that seemed to communicate itself
+to him through the walls of the chamber. With an inward sense of
+creeping fear he started toward the end of the passageway. He noted the
+trembling of his hand as he laid hold of the iron rung of the ladder
+leading down to de Claverlok's dungeon. He was afraid of the things
+that he could not understand.
+
+It was therefore with a deep sense of foreboding evil that he lowered
+himself to the bottom of the deep well and opened the door of the
+grizzled knight's dungeon. Upon that afternoon Sir Richard had apprised
+his friend of his coming, and, saving that he was not wearing his
+armor, de Claverlok was all prepared and waiting for him.
+
+"Put on your suit of mail," said the young knight hurriedly. "I'll help
+you to buckle it fast."
+
+"Eh? But I'm not a giant, Sir Dick, that can wade through the moat with
+my nose above the water. Nor, by the rood, can I swim it with a load of
+iron upon my back!"
+
+"'Tis solid frozen," Sir Richard said. "We'll walk boldly over."
+
+"And the moon, ... eh?"
+
+"There's no faint hint of it, de Claverlok. Make haste! Things have I
+seen that have set me all of a-tremble. It may befall that our ways
+must perforce diverge; an it do, I'll meet you so soon as may be within
+the deserted shepherd's hut; ... remember, my friend."
+
+"Have no fear, Sir Dick. We'll not be separated. The moat frozen, ...
+no moon, ... I tell you, my son, that a good fortune is smiling down
+upon our little adventure, ... eh!"
+
+"Have you brought everything needful?" Sir Richard inquired, when the
+grizzled knight's harness had been adjusted and they were starting
+upward.
+
+"Everything. Not even a regret have I left within the damned hole, Sir
+Dick!"
+
+As they climbed past the floor of the passageway, Sir Richard took
+note of the fact that the lights within the council hall had been
+extinguished. Two spots of faint illumination, however, were now
+shining from the youth's rooms. "Poor boy, he cannot sleep," the young
+knight thought, and passed upward into the yawning flue.
+
+For days he had been pouring oil over the hinges and padlocks of the
+trap-door at the top. The bolts yielded noiselessly. Having made
+everything free, Sir Richard set his back against the planks and gave
+a mighty heave. There followed upon the instant a startled grunt and a
+voice rumbled strangely above the door.
+
+"Hi, Jock!" it called. "Didst mark any quaking of the castle just then?
+No? Well, be damned to me, an' I thought to mysel' th' whole moldy
+tower were a-givin' around our ears. Has't a nippie o' sack in thy
+jerkin, Jock?"
+
+Sir Richard divined that the answer to the guard's question must have
+been a favorable one, for he at once got up from off the trap-door,
+after which he could hear his heavy steps dwindling in the distance
+along the runway.
+
+"'Twould agree passing well with the good fellow's health to drink him
+a gallon of it," de Claverlok whispered as he stepped out into the
+night and unsheathed his sword. "God's sake! Dreaming of a quaking
+earth were enough to set a man at tipple, ... eh?"
+
+To knot and make the rope secure around the crenelated apex of the
+tower was but the work of a moment.
+
+"Go!" Sir Richard whispered. "When the rope swings free I'll be after
+you."
+
+Immediately de Claverlok's grizzled head disappeared over the side
+of the embattlements. Sir Richard looked down, watching him as he
+diminished and became swallowed up in the surrounding gloom. He kept
+a firm grip of the hilt of his blade against the possibility of the
+guard's inopportune return.
+
+He waited till he thought enough time had elapsed for de Claverlok to
+have set his foot upon the frozen moat. He laid his hand upon the rope.
+It was still taut, and vibrating with the warrior's downward scrambling.
+
+Then, though Sir Richard had heard no sound, a soft arm was suddenly
+entwined about his waist. A softer voice was whispering close to his
+ear.
+
+"Shame upon you, Dick, to requite me thus!" it said. "Are you indeed
+upon the point of leaving me?"
+
+It was Lady Anna. Warm, bewitching, clad in a silken robe, all open at
+the throat, and loose and light and clinging.
+
+"Yea, Lady Anna, I am going. Let loose of me," Sir Richard said.
+
+"But Sir Richard--Dick, dear, I--I love you. A last good-bye, then,"
+she said, twining her arms more firmly about him. "But why leave me? I
+tell you truly there an hundred reasons for remaining to one that you
+should go. Believe me, ... dear Dick. Stay but a moment and listen."
+
+"By my soul, Lady Anna, unhand me! Much would I regret to tear you from
+me by force," whispered Sir Richard between his closed teeth.
+
+"Then ... your lips, first, Dick," she pleaded.
+
+Her two round arms were close about him now. The perfume of her flowing
+hair was in his nostrils. The breath of her lips was against his.
+Again it was the Woman against the Man. The Man felt that heaven and
+earth were rushing together in a glorious combat. The primal instinct
+conquered. The Woman had won.
+
+Followed instantly then the thud of a something falling upon the
+ice-bound moat. The young knight, now freed from Lady Anna's embrace,
+groped wildly for the rope.
+
+It was gone!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+OF A JOUST WITH BULL BENGOUGH, AND THE INCIDENT OF THE KNIGHT IN BLACK
+
+
+A deep sense of guilt caused by his momentary surrender to Lady Anna's
+blandishments stirred a very tempest of remorse within Sir Richard's
+mind, which vented itself in a torrent of bitter words directed toward
+his fair seductress. All cold and calm and smiling she listened to the
+young knight's list of accusations.
+
+"Fickle boy!" she said with a gay laugh when Sir Richard had finished.
+"Know you not that a late repentance is like the wind that blows above
+an empty sea? But let me tell you, Sir Richard," she added, abandoning
+the tone of light mockery in which she had first spoken, "that events
+are transpiring right well for you. Have but a mite of patience....
+Wait, and see," whereupon she coolly replaced his poniard within the
+holder dangling from his baldric, reached for his hand and signified
+her desire to have him accompany her below. "'Tis a right bonnie and
+sharp blade, that," she said, referring to the poniard, "and did part
+the rope full smoothly. But come, Sir Richard. Lord Douglas is waiting
+to have speech with you."
+
+"By the mass, Lady Anna, and how came you upon my plans?" Sir Richard
+sullenly inquired when they were come at length into the gallery of the
+griffins' heads.
+
+He remarked that the sliding panel had been thrown wide open, and that
+half a score of attendants bearing flaring rush-lights were awaiting
+their mistress's coming. They all grinned within their beards as the
+young knight passed before them.
+
+Lady Anna looked up into Sir Richard's eyes and smiled brightly.
+
+"Ah! Sir valiant knight," she returned, "much have you yet to learn.
+Never should you confide a secret to a weak and lovelorn boy. Let
+me explain: Wishing much to have an immediate audience with you, my
+lord dispatched a messenger to the great hall. You were not there. A
+round of your accustomed abiding places failed to discover you. Your
+private chamber was searched, but without result. Entertaining somewhat
+of a shrewd suspicion of my own, which was speedily verified by our
+fair-haired, youthful friend, I sought you upon the tower, ... errant
+boy! The rest you know."
+
+Sir Richard made no answering comment. His mind was taken up with de
+Claverlok. He was wondering what the generous warrior would be thinking
+of him. With no more than a curt good-night, he parted from Lady Anna
+at the head of the jutting balcony.
+
+He found Lord Douglas awaiting him in his own chamber. The same in
+which he had delivered Henry's warrant less than a month ago. Douglas
+received him with a gracious cordiality, his red bewhiskered face all
+of a-wrinkle with genial smirks and smiles.
+
+"So, so! Sir Richard," said he, rising and extending the young knight
+his hairy hand. "You have played the leech, I hear, and have delivered
+a suffering old warrior out of the womb of Castle Yewe? Well--well!"
+pausing to roar with laughter; "I looked upon the fellow as your dire
+enemy, and mewed him up for hurling treacherous lance at you. I pray
+you, and why did you not affirm that he was indeed your friend?"
+
+"Said I not so at the foot of the stairs upon the first moment of my
+arrival here?"
+
+"Yea--that you did. But I bethought me that you were but reserving
+him for your own vengeance. Why--you might have had him free for the
+snapping of your fingers. Marry--marry! How often do we struggle
+mightily and in secret for a thing that we might gain in the open, and
+but for the simple asking."
+
+Deeds that to Sir Richard appeared valorous, and partaking somewhat of
+the essence of that chivalry which he strove always to emulate, were
+thus dismissed as mere boyish escapades. His embarrassment and chagrin
+became more profound than ever.
+
+"By'r lady! An I could but borrow the ears of an ass, I'd be armed at
+point device," he ruefully declared.
+
+"Nay, nay, Sir Richard, say not thus," replied Douglas. "An all the
+asses' ears were properly bestowed, let me tell you, our four-legged
+friends would every one be bereft of those useful appendages. Have
+done, my young friend, with vain repining. Your act of this night
+pleases me passing well. Though, an you had left us, as you came
+perilously near doing, you would have broken your knightly word. For,
+in the games of to-morrow, did you not agree with Mistress Douglas to
+break a lance with Bull Bengough? But enough upon that subject. Your
+head was all awry upon your shoulders. You were not heedful of such
+slight obligations. Mark you well, Sir Richard, I wished that you
+should be brought hither so that I might tell you that, upon to-morrow
+night, following the games, there's to be a conclave held within the
+council hall. You shall be present. Something then shall you hear that
+will set your eyes wide open. Some things shall you know that will
+put you in a better case with yourself than you have ever been. And
+then, there is another matter of which I wished to speak," he went on,
+lowering his voice to as soft a tone as he was able to command; "'tis
+concerning the bit of saffron velvet. You have kept that from me, Sir
+Richard, but Lady Anna has told me all. What would you say now, my
+friend, an I told you that I had dispatched emissaries to fetch the
+maid to your side?"
+
+"What mean you, Lord Douglas? The young lady is imprisoned, and her
+jailor is even this moment within Castle Yewe."
+
+"How know you that?"
+
+"I saw him through the window of the secret passageway."
+
+"Aye--true, there is a window," returned Douglas in a tone indicating
+his regret that such was the fact. "And did you hear what he said?"
+
+"Not a word could I hear," Sir Richard openly confessed.
+
+Douglas had been nervously twisting and untwisting his beard. Upon
+hearing the young knight's negative reply he heaved a deep sigh of
+relief.
+
+"'Twould have mattered little, an you had," he said. "Well--'twas
+Tyrrell whom you saw. And henceforward our issues are to be joined. At
+the meeting to-morrow you shall know everything."
+
+"When will the maid arrive? Through what means will your men effect her
+freedom? Does Tyrrell know?" was Sir Richard's volley of questions.
+
+"Nay--Tyrrell does not know. 'Twas at the suggestion of your good
+friend, the Renegade Duke, that I sent for her, who has but just this
+eve arrived within the castle. He has been laid up with a sickness. But
+give you a good-night, Sir Richard, and get you to your bed," Douglas
+concluded, getting up to pull the bell cord above his chair and again
+tendering the young knight his hand.
+
+Like one walking in a dream, Sir Richard followed the smoking
+rush-lights of the two pages who were awaiting to lead him to his room.
+For the third time the words of the unhappy youth, Perkin Warbeck, were
+recalled vividly to his mind--"A phantom in the midst of phantoms,
+moving in a fog of mystery."
+
+A sound body overcame an uneasy mind and conscience, however, and he
+slept peacefully through the fog, with nothing more alarming than
+a multitude of shadowy de Claverloks to inhabit his dreams. In the
+morning he was awake betimes, broke his fast, and then wandered out to
+view the lists, which would soon resound with the huzzas of excited
+spectators, and the tumult of friendly striving.
+
+To the northward of the walls of the castle tents were thickly dotted
+over the hillsides, the blue smoke of their fires rising high into the
+keen, clear air. Horses were tethered to almost every tree; oxen were
+moving about over the slopes, grazing the frosty grass. In the open
+spaces knots of men and women were gathered, eating, drinking, and
+singing. Snatches of their rude songs reached to the young knight's
+ears as he stood watching the interesting spectacle.
+
+Within the space reserved for the uses of the knights who were to
+engage in the games, he noted a pavilion bearing his cognizance
+emblazoned above its entrance. He walked across, stopping in front
+of it to look up along the decorated stand, with its ribbon-twined
+pillars, its manifold pennants, its blaze of multi-colored banners all
+snapping and fluttering in the crisp breeze. It was a brave sight, and
+sent Sir Richard's blood tingling through his veins. He grew conscious
+of a keen desire to feel the first shock of the combat.
+
+By now other knights were passing beside him, many of whom were not
+strangers to Sir Richard's prowess with the sword. They gave him
+the morning's greeting and passed within their tents. Heralds and
+pursuivants, dressed in the brightest and gaudiest of liveries, were
+moving busily about the tilting-yard, engaged upon their tasks of
+observing that everything was in cap-a-pie order. Presently Lord
+Douglas and his retinue of inseparable jackdaws entered the stand
+across the covered bridge that gave into it from the castle. They
+moved in a body to the front and bowed in concert, wishing him a row
+of solemn good-morrows. Sir Richard grew to speculating as to what was
+taking place within their teeming brains. He wished that he might have
+lifted their coverings for a moment to have a peep within.
+
+Upon returning their ceremonious salutations, he parted the curtained
+entrance and walked within his tent.
+
+No sooner was he come inside when a seam opened to the right,
+disclosing a hand holding a parchment with ribbons dangling from its
+great seal. Sir Richard instantly recognized it to be the document
+that had been stolen from his wallet. The seam gaped wider then, and
+Tyrrell's grim visage appeared above the hand.
+
+"Hist!" he whispered low. "I essayed to speak with thee last night
+within thy chamber, but armed guards were stationed without thy door.
+Mark ye well what I say, Sir Richard Rohan, for I must perforce say
+briefly. Here is the message from Henry to Douglas, which I took from
+thee on the night thou didst tarry within the Red Tavern. Mighty well
+is it for thee that it was purloined, ... else thou wouldst not have
+been here to-day. But another of similar import is likely any day
+to arrive from Kenilworth. Thou art in direst peril. Read it, Sir
+Richard. But not now.... After I have gone.... I dare not long remain.
+Thy life and mine would pay instant forfeit were I to be discovered
+here. Hark ye, ... closer! That red striped lance yonder is worm eaten
+to the core. I have one for myself hewn from the same piece of wood.
+When we shall be called opposite in the lists, ... mark ye, now, ...
+forget not to couch that stick at me. It will shatter to the hilt,
+as will mine own. At our next meeting, with fair lances, thou shalt
+have the northern stand. When the trumpet winds, plunge rowels into
+thy steed's belly and charge at me. But do not engage my shield or
+person. Gallop by me and make straight for the gate, which will be open
+and packed with gaping peasantry. I have stationed there two score of
+brawny men and true, who will part a way for thee. Ride on through
+and make southward along the Sauchieburn Pass. I will execute a swift
+demivolte and follow closely at thy heels, appearing to give chase. An,
+perchance, I fail of getting away with thee, go swift to the Red Tavern
+and await there my coming. Zenas will be looking out for thee. An I
+come not, ... well, ... Lord Kennedy shall bear thee messages. Hist!
+At thy door there. 'Tis the man I have bribed to sew up this rent.
+Admit him, Sir Richard, and give thyself to the reading of the warrant.
+Adieu!"
+
+Tyrrell thereupon withdrew his head, and the man went about mending
+the rent. Sir Richard seated himself upon a stool, holding the
+unopened parchment. Even now he hesitated before reading its contents,
+believing that it would be a violation of King Henry's trust. He became
+convinced, finally, that it was a duty that he owed to himself to
+do so, whereupon he unfolded and began perusing the warrant. Having
+finished reading, he crumpled the paper and thrust it beneath his
+breast-plate. For a long time he sat motionless, with his hands knotted
+together upon his knees.
+
+"This--this from Henry!" he thought. "Henry whom I have revered and
+loved and called companion from very childhood! This from the comrade
+by whose side I fought upon the field of Bosworth!"
+
+A something there was went out of the young knight's life during that
+bitter moment which he felt that nothing could ever supplant.
+
+Beyond a certain set firmness of his lips that had never been there
+before, however, when he stepped outside his tent, Sir Richard
+exhibited no traces of the fierce battle that had been waged within
+him. He took the seat that had been provided for him in front of his
+pavilion, and apparently surrendered himself to the full enjoyment of
+the games, which, by now, were in full swing. He even stamped his feet,
+clapped together his hands, and "bravaed!" with as unrestrained a
+vociferance as the most boisterous onlooker in the field.
+
+Beginning next the stand, Sir Richard's tent was the first. Immediately
+beside it, Tyrrell's had been pitched. The redoubtable Bull Bengough's,
+who did not put in his appearance till well along in the day, was set
+beside the gate, the final one of the row.
+
+The young knight remarked well his appearance as he shot into the lists
+to meet the victor of every preceding combat. The champion up to that
+hour.
+
+His horse was a silver-gray stallion, broad hoofed, with fetlocks
+sweeping from above them to the ground. In the matter of gigantic
+proportions, the warrior bestriding its broad, round back, was in
+perfect keeping with the steed. He was harnessed in a suit of highly
+polished steel armor, fluted and damascened. He wore his beaver up, and
+the features displayed within the opening of his casque were singularly
+brutal. His eyes were like two glittering beads, hard and pitiless.
+Above them his black brows marked an uninterrupted and nearly straight
+line from temple to temple.
+
+When everything was ready and the signal had been given, Bull Bengough
+charged, bellowing like his bovine namesake, upon his adversary. By
+sheer force of his superior weight and strength he vanquished his
+antagonist. Without making the slightest show of acknowledgment of
+the loud burst of acclamation that greeted his prowess, he rode on to
+the southern extremity of the lists, where he drew rein, disdainfully
+awaiting the signal to have at his next opponent.
+
+With the customary long preamble, the heralds announced Sir Richard's
+name. Two grooms led his stallion to the front of his pavilion. Leaping
+lightly into his saddle the young knight cantered his horse toward his
+allotted station in the field.
+
+His name was called through many pairs of lips as he passed beneath the
+stand. The young knight had won many friends and fair adherents during
+his stay in Castle Yewe. He signified his appreciation of their good
+wishes by reining to a halt before the stand and bowing gracefully to
+the spectators. There followed a renewed burst of applause and laughter
+when his stallion gravely bent his head, as though in a similar
+acknowledgment. It was a pretty trick, and one that Sir Richard had
+spent a great deal of time and patience to teach.
+
+Now, with casques tight closed, Bull Bengough and Sir Richard were
+awaiting the signal to charge. There was a sinking of many-colored
+scarves beneath a sea of staring, tense-drawn faces. A profound silence
+settled over all the field.
+
+They shot away together at the first note of the trumpeted signal. From
+the start Sir Richard couched his lance at Bull Bengough's helmet.
+As well might he have attempted to overthrow one of the Pyramids of
+Egypt, as to have essayed the upsetting of his burly antagonist through
+engaging the center of his impregnable shield. On account of the young
+knight's lesser weight, and the superior nimbleness of his horse's
+hoofs, he met Bengough a yard or more beyond the center of the lists
+and well within his own territory.
+
+The extreme bulk of his great body rendered the impact of Bengough's
+treelike lance against Sir Richard's shield like a collision with a
+mountain avalanche. The young knight felt himself shaken to the very
+backbone. If the wood had held, it might have been that Bengough would
+have sustained his wide reputation by sweeping his antagonist off
+his seat. Luckily for the young knight, however, it shattered to the
+grasp, and, with speed but slightly diminished, Sir Richard rode on
+through, with his lance's head wedged fast between the eye-slits of his
+adversary's helm.
+
+After that it was like sliding a filled hogshead backward off of
+a moving platform. Sir Richard fancied that he was sensible of a
+trembling of the earth when Bull Bengough alighted upon it.
+
+Thereupon, amid the loud huzzas of the spectators, the young knight
+rode to the front of his pavilion and commanded his squire to bring him
+the red-striped lance. Tyrrell, his next opponent, was riding slowly
+northward to take his place there at the end of the lists.
+
+Compared with his meeting with Bengough, Sir Richard's contact with the
+knight in black was almost featherlike in its softness. Their lances,
+couched well and true, both shattered to their grasps.
+
+It became now the young knight's turn to take the northern stand for
+the next course. He looked southward toward the open gate. It was
+choked with humanity, swaying this way and that in wide, serpentine
+curves. The task of clearing an open space there had already begun.
+
+Upon the sound of the trumpet's blast they made for the meeting place
+in the lists. But the knight in black was not for a moment in Sir
+Richard's eye. He saw but the gate, and within it the crowd of densely
+packed peasantry. Beyond opened out a wide sweep of sloping downs, of
+free roadways, and welcome forest glades.
+
+He had a fleeting picture as he flashed beneath the arched gateway of
+a line of determined, stern-faced, brawny men pushing and thrusting
+as though their very lives depended upon it. They contrived to clear
+him the narrowest of avenues, which closed together when he had passed
+through like the waters of a riven sea.
+
+Sir Richard stole a swift look above his shoulder. Tyrrell, moving at
+a snail's pace, was vainly endeavoring to free himself from the living
+mass that was eddying about him. Like a pair of long flails, he was
+waving his arms above his head, and calling down the wrath of Heaven
+upon his late antagonist for not halting. In the present case his
+talents as an actor were standing him in good stead. Behind him men
+were streaming wildly from the stand. Just as the young knight plunged
+within the forest shadows he heard a bugle wind the _tucket-sonuance_.
+
+Throwing aside the now useless lance, Sir Richard stretched low along
+his stallion's neck and sent him pounding over the frozen road at top
+speed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+OF SIR RICHARD'S MEETING WITH THE FOOT-BOYS, AND HIS RETURN TO THE RED
+TAVERN
+
+
+To gain to the abandoned shepherd's hut and rejoin de Claverlok was now
+Sir Richard's chief concern. As to what his subsequent course of action
+should be he could in no manner determine. He meant, after finding de
+Claverlok, to journey onward toward the Red Tavern, either to effect
+the imprisoned maiden's release when he reached there, or to win her
+away from her abductors should he chance to intercept them on his way.
+In carrying forward this enterprise he intended, if it were possible,
+to secure the grizzled knight's aid. After that (Sir Richard planned
+it all out), a journey to the coast for the three of them, whence
+they would take ship for France and push forward to Brittany and Duke
+Francis's court. There they might tarry for awhile till he had secured
+his patrimony--the which was a something very vague and shadowy to the
+young knight--and then, last of all, the great, wide world.
+
+Desiring to minimize the dangers of pursuit and recapture, he took
+the first road leading from the main highway, which chanced to be one
+winding to the eastward. After about an hour of hard riding, he made
+out on the roadway, some distance ahead, the gray figure of a monk
+mounted upon a long-eared ass. There seemed to be something quite
+familiar to the young knight in the monk's attitude--bent far forward,
+with the sharp peak of his cowl alone appearing above his narrow
+shoulders.
+
+The churchman turned to give Sir Richard greeting as he was upon the
+point of galloping by. It was Erasmus. He arched his brows as though
+surprised at thus meeting with the young knight.
+
+"Why," said the scholar, as Sir Richard slowed down and took his easy
+pace, "I fancied that long ere this thou hadst joined my good friend,
+Bishop Kennedy. We made a vigorous but vain search for thee after that
+ambuscade among the Kilsyth Hills. But Lord Kennedy doubted not but
+that the good knight, Sir Lionel de Claverlok, would soon fetch up
+with thee and bring thee back. Ah! my friend, this fighting! These
+direful conspiracies! 'Tis indeed a sad thing for both church and
+populace when jealous factions do thus selfishly bestir themselves."
+
+For quite a space thereafter they rode along together in silence.
+
+"Grant me pardon for my seeming impertinence," at length said Erasmus;
+"but curious am I to know whence thou hast come, sir knight?"
+
+"I am just riding from Castle Yewe," replied Sir Richard.
+
+"So!" exclaimed the scholar, now lifting his brows in a genuine
+amazement. "Methought, sir, that thou wouldst not long survive a visit
+there. Ah! But mayhap no message from Henry was delivered to Douglas
+during thy stay!"
+
+"Why--friend Erasmus," said Sir Richard, "with my own hand did I
+deliver it."
+
+"But----"
+
+"Aye--I know full well what you would say. The original was stolen from
+me, I know. In truth, Erasmus, every mother's son in broad Scotland
+seems to know. But I had been provided with a copy, the which I
+delivered as fast as my horse could bear me to Yewe after my escape
+upon the Kilsyth Hills. I know now that it was a warrant upon Douglas
+for my undoing, but old fox here stood bravely beside me, and I am
+riding beside you to tell the tale. I' faith, since leaving Kenilworth,
+Erasmus, much have I learned of the world's merciless cruelties."
+
+"Aye--well mayst thou say so, sir knight," agreed the scholar in a
+sympathetic tone. "Listen--and mark well what I have to say," Erasmus
+pursued. "There is now, and right here in Scotland, a great conspiracy
+upon foot, the which doth involve, sir knight, a throne, and in which
+each of two powerful factions is striving mightily to gain but an inch
+of advantage above the other. Wouldst listen to the advice of something
+of a philosopher, a great deal of thy friend, and a close student of
+this question of politics?"
+
+"I would most gladly hear it," declared Sir Richard.
+
+"Then leave this conspiracy-ridden country and embark with me for
+France. A right puissant friend thou hast in old Duke Francis, sir
+knight."
+
+The scholar's manner was openly and frankly sympathetic and friendly.
+Sir Richard was glad to discover one in whom he could confide and in
+whom he could repose an absolute trust. He accordingly set out to make
+Erasmus acquainted with the story of his pilgrimage from Kenilworth to
+Yewe, dwelling, with glowing words, upon the incident of the imprisoned
+maid and the cutting of saffron velvet. He gave his vow to do devoir in
+her cause as his reason for not adopting Erasmus's advice of sailing
+with him for France.
+
+"'Tis a most interesting and thrilling tale," the scholar observed when
+the young knight had finished his narrative. "But why imperil thy life
+further by remaining here to set free a maid whom thou hast never seen?
+A patch of velvet is a dangerously small matter from which to build a
+vision of purity and beauty."
+
+"An man wore coat of mail who said thus to me," said Sir Richard with a
+smile, "he'd have my gauntlet at his feet upon the instant."
+
+"Nay, nay, my good sir knight--thou knowest well that I am speaking
+friendlywise," said Erasmus. "The age of ostentatious chivalry is
+passing. Anon will come a time when sane deeds and true shall take the
+place of those of bombast and display. I am speaking from my heart and
+for thy own good, sir knight. An thou wouldst consent to join me, I
+should be most happy."
+
+Sir Richard disavowed any intention of leaving Scotland till he had
+accomplished his self-imposed mission. But he was thankful to have
+Erasmus for a companion, and continued to ride with him till they came
+into the town of Kirkintilloch, where they halted together at an inn,
+supping there and making merry till somewhat later in the evening than
+Sir Richard had intended to stay. During supper hour they had out their
+argument upon the subject of the waning of chivalry. That is to say,
+the scholar argued and Sir Richard listened and denied. After that, to
+prove to the grave student that chivalry was not in its decline, the
+young knight had the buxom serving-maid sew him a cord to the patch of
+saffron velvet, whereupon he fastened it above his eye, vowing that he
+would not remove it till its fair owner should herself part the string.
+
+About the hour when Sir Richard concluded that he could possibly remain
+no longer, there was a sharp driving of sleet against the tavern
+windows. Appreciating that there was danger of missing his way in the
+darkness and storm, and a warm and comfortable bed appealing more
+pleasantly to his imagination than a night ride in the cold, he came to
+the conclusion to make a night of it and remain.
+
+When he came down early the next morning there was a thin scattering of
+snow on the ground. Upon nearing the tap-room, after instructing the
+hostler to bring around his horse, he heard the sound of loud talk and
+laughter. He observed the precaution of peering through a window before
+venturing inside. He saw, seated about a table therein, a half dozen
+guards from Castle Yewe.
+
+Without waiting to receive the inn-keeper's reckoning, Sir Richard beat
+a precipitate retreat toward the stables. Ordering his stallion made
+ready upon the instant, he tossed the groom a generous handful of coins
+and made off at a rattling pace through the dull streets of the little
+town.
+
+He soon drew beyond the limits of Kirkintilloch, and came presently
+to a road that he fancied would lead him somewhere near to the hut
+in which he hoped that de Claverlok would be awaiting his coming. His
+search, however, was unfruitful of result. All day he rode, describing
+great squares and detours. Upon many occasions he was obliged to plunge
+swiftly into nearby forests in order to avoid bands of horsemen, which
+seemed to be scouring the country upon every hand. He dared not stop at
+another inn, and so took pot-luck in the most remote farm cottages and
+herders' huts that he could find. The patch upon the young knight's eye
+proved to be a source of infinite amusement to the pastoral folk with
+whom he ate and drank.
+
+That night he was forced to seek an asylum within the dismal walls of
+a monastery, whereupon he became the unwilling recipient of the good
+prior's gentle harangue upon the wickedness of registering licentious
+and worldly vows. He charged upon the young knight to seek his Maker's
+pardon, and remove the yellow patch, the which Sir Richard quietly
+listened to till his head nodded sleepily above the table. The good
+father then tendered him his blessing and conducted him to a pallet of
+straw in one of the unoccupied cells.
+
+He was away at dawn of the next day to resume his wanderings above the
+moors and downs.
+
+When occupying the hut with de Claverlok he had been so intent upon
+delivering Henry's warrant to Douglas that he had not troubled himself
+to register surrounding landmarks. This, coupled with the fact that
+he was now obliged to keep a sharp lookout for straggling guards and
+searching parties, rendered his search a most difficult one. Indeed,
+though much regretting to do so, he was forced at length to abandon
+it, concluding that the wiser plan would be to strike a straight line
+in the direction of the Sauchieburn Pass. Upon once reaching there, he
+felt confident that he could easily retrace his way to the abandoned
+hut.
+
+It was near the hour of compline when, after having ridden a
+considerable distance through a forest of pines and hemlocks, he came
+upon a road stretching through the wood at a right angle to the rather
+narrow trail that he had been following. As he emerged upon this
+highroad, which he instantly knew to be the one of which he had been in
+search, he heard a sharp noise of crackling and breaking twigs to his
+left. With a ready hand upon his bridle, prepared, if need were, to
+wheel and bear away, he glanced in the direction whence the sound had
+come.
+
+Two mounted foot-boys, wearing the Douglas colors, were upon the
+point of leading a third horse--which was caparisoned for a lady's
+riding--within the shadows of the trees. Seeking himself to avoid
+discovery, Sir Richard was not in fear of those in a similar
+predicament.
+
+So--"What, ho there, boys!" he shouted, riding swiftly down upon them;
+"can you tell me whether this is the Sauchieburn Pass?"
+
+"Yea, sir knight," one of the foot-boys replied, halting his horse
+along the border of the road. "And for a-many a wearisome hour, sir
+knight, have----"
+
+"Sh-h-h!" cautioned the other from the bushes. "Remember, Harold, our
+heads will surely pay the forfeit of an indiscretion.... Yet, ... 'tis
+a tiresome business to be held here for none knows how long in a dark
+and dreary----"
+
+"Oh ho!" the first then interrupted angrily, "and who is 't now that's
+talking to the ax? Yet--an she would but come--we might return in----"
+
+"Ah ha!" wailed the second; "now you've finished the whole cursed job!
+My name's not Thomas, an I give you not a sound buffeting for----"
+
+"A truce to your quarreling," interrupted Sir Richard. "I have other
+business, my boys, besides putting your precious heads in jeopardy.
+Come ahead, give me your stories after a more complete and less
+disjoined fashion. By my knightly sword no harm shall befall either of
+you because of the telling--I am ready."
+
+"'Tis thus, good sir knight," spoke the one whom his companion had
+called Harold: "Now three days gone our worshipful master, Lord
+Douglas, ... on whom may God's blessing rest, ... commanded us to trap
+palfrey for a maid, ride upon the Sauchieburn Pass to the southern
+extremity of the Forest of Lammermuir and await there her coming.
+Upon the maiden joining us we were bade to conduct her, along unused
+by-roads, safely back to Castle Yewe. Full two days have we waited
+here, sir knight, with nothing better to sleep in o' nights but a thin
+tent in the forest. Every hour between dawn and darkness we but stand
+here with chattering teeth, idly shivering and watching, without
+warrant to sally forward or return. Is 't not, thinkest thou, a sad and
+dismal undertaking?"
+
+"That it is, Harold, my boy," Sir Richard heartily agreed. "An you but
+give me pause to consider," he added, "mayhap I may find out a way to
+aid you in your adventure."
+
+Sir Richard had known at once for whom the boys had been dispatched,
+and was relieved to discover that the part of his plan relating to
+the imprisoned maiden was turning out so happily. He was puzzled to
+understand, however, why the boys had been stationed at such a great
+distance from the Red Tavern. It was at least a full day's journey from
+that part of the forest to the inn. It occurred to him that Douglas
+might have sent guards ahead of the foot-boys, and that when the maid
+did put in her appearance, it would be in the company of an armed
+band. While he was trying to arrive upon the wisest course of action,
+fragmentary whisperings between the foot-boys were carried to his ears.
+
+"By the mass!" one of them was saying, "an it were not for the patch on
+the eye, and the scrag o' beard on the chin, I would take my oath that
+'tis the very knight who overthrew every fighting Jack in Castle Yewe.
+Can'st not tell, Thomas, by the sweep o' the nose o' him, and the sharp
+eye--and the brow?"
+
+"Marry! Mayhap, and 'tis," the other said. "I saw him but the once, you
+must remember. 'Twas when he cut him down the mighty Sandufferin. He
+was certes a----"
+
+"Hark ye, boys," Sir Richard broke in upon their whispered
+conversation; "an I agree to yield you somewhat of my assistance, will
+you take oath with raised hands not to make mention of this meeting to
+thy master?"
+
+Upon such easy terms they both seemed delighted to purchase the young
+knight's aid. He thereupon lined them along the road, with uplifted
+hands, and caused them to repeat the most solemn oath within his power
+to conjure up. Instructing them to await his return, and promising to
+do his best to bring along the maiden, he left them smiling by the
+roadside and fared on southward.
+
+Within a very short time he had drawn clear of the forest. Looking to
+the left, he noted the spur of stunted pines sweeping down over the
+moor. Beyond it he could see the bleak dunes and the promontory upon
+which had been pitched the pavilion of purple and black. The gray mist
+rising out of the sea made an appropriate and effective background for
+it all.
+
+His mind was deeply engaged with the subject of his quest, when, upon
+rounding a rather lofty brae, he came suddenly upon the Red Tavern.
+Surprised beyond the power of speech, thought, or action he reined in
+his stallion. For a considerable time he sat motionless, taking in the
+different points of the structure. There were left no doubts, when he
+had finished with his examination, but that it was the same. With a
+redoubled intensity of imagery, the weird tales of the haunted, flying
+tavern came trooping back to his mind.
+
+How under the heavens the inn had come there he made no attempt to
+fathom. It occurred to him at first that it must have been standing
+there all along, but he dismissed this thought when he had noted the
+fact that, during his enforced march with Bishop Kennedy's company, he
+would have been obliged to pass beside its door. That it was indeed
+there, and a palpable something to be accounted for, however, he could
+no longer deny.
+
+"Well," Sir Richard at length concluded, "I made my entrance upon this
+mysterious series of mishaps through yon sinister door. 'Twould be most
+fitting that my exit from them should be by the same route."
+
+Whereupon, like a man in a trance, he rode up, dismounted, and knocked
+aloud upon the red-daubed planks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+OF THE RESCUE OF THE MAIDEN
+
+
+There was a familiar rattling of chains and sliding bolts. The door
+swung cautiously inward, the evil face of Zenas appearing within the
+narrow opening.
+
+"Ah! The puppet again!" he exclaimed, his baleful eyes glowering
+down upon the traveler. "And where hast thou left Sir James, my good
+brother?"
+
+"He was foiled in making his escape with me from Castle Yewe,"
+explained Sir Richard. "Are there messages awaiting me from Bishop
+Kennedy?" he added.
+
+"Nay. But tarry not without, sir puppet knight. The sharp wind doth
+penetrate keenly to my twisted bones. Come thou inside, ... I'll have a
+groom to bestow thy horse for the night."
+
+"Get you out of the cold and send him here. I but wish the animal
+baited, Zenas. I'll not tarry the night."
+
+In a few minutes the hostler appeared from behind the tavern, received
+instructions as to the care of the horse, and relieved the young knight
+of the reins; Sir Richard then opened the door and stepped inside.
+
+"Ah ha! with a golden patch upon the eye, by my faith!" growled the
+hunchback as the young knight seated himself upon the high-backed bench
+beside the chimney-place. "Methinks, sir puppet knight, that I've often
+seen that self same color."
+
+Zenas stationed himself with his back to the blaze, where he stood,
+rubbing his hands together and laughing shrilly.
+
+"You have seen it. Certes you have seen it!" observed Sir Richard
+quietly. "Yea--Zenas, and I mean to bear away the maiden to whom it
+once belonged, I give you true warrant upon that."
+
+He arose as he spoke, with his hand resting menacingly upon the hilt of
+his sword.
+
+Without a word Zenas thereupon clapped together his hands; three men,
+armed at every point, came instantly into the room. Three blades were
+unsheathed, flashing in the firelight.
+
+"Not so fast, puppet knight; ... I pray you, not so fast," whispered
+the hunchback with an uncanny leer and stretching out toward Sir
+Richard his enormously long arms. "Wilt treat with me quietly now, or
+shall I have the guards at you for a dangerous interloper? Say the
+word, sir puppet knight, say the word," he hissed between his teeth.
+"More good men there are where these came from, an these be not enough
+to truss thee up and render thee harmless."
+
+"Send the men away," said Sir Richard sullenly. "I'll treat with you."
+
+"Tell me then," resumed Zenas, when the guards had betaken themselves
+at his command through the door, "hast ever seen this maid whom thou
+art thus eager to rescue?"
+
+The young knight pondered deeply before committing himself to an
+answer. It would be obviously improper, he thought, to explain the
+manner in which the cutting of velvet had come into his possession.
+But he concluded that a portion of the truth would answer as well as a
+whole falsehood, so----
+
+"In truth, I have never seen the maid," he replied accordingly.
+
+"Well, thou shalt see her.... Yea--and thou shalt have her! Even this
+night, ... now, ... an it be thy wish, sir puppet knight," said Zenas,
+apparently in a transport of glee. "She hath been fair eating her heart
+out to be gone. But mayhap thou wouldst first down a flitch of bacon
+and a tankard or so of stum? A full belly for a hard task, I tell thee!
+Belike 'twould embolden thee for the work in hand."
+
+"Nor sup nor drink will I taste till I have the maiden beside me," Sir
+Richard declared.
+
+"Wait, ... I'll fetch her to thee," Zenas said, and thereupon went out
+of the room, muttering and laughing.
+
+The young knight could hear his catlike footfalls, then, go limping
+up the stairs. Apprehending upon a sudden that the dwarf might be
+meditating some act of violence or harm, Sir Richard rushed to the door
+through which Zenas had made his exit. "Thy life, sir, shall answer for
+her safety," he shouted from the foot of the steps.
+
+"Fear not, Sir Richard Daredevil," the hunchback called back from the
+landing above. "Fear not, I'll bring her to thee all safe enough."
+
+Zenas's undisguised willingness to relinquish the maiden into his hands
+was very puzzling to Sir Richard. Though this perplexity presently
+gave way to a sense of delightful anticipation. At last, he mused, he
+was to see her; to hold her hand; to listen to the sweet accents of her
+voice. He could not control himself in quiet, and went to pacing to and
+fro across the floor in a fever of impatience.
+
+Above stairs a scene was being enacted that, could he have been witness
+to it, would have proved highly interesting to the young knight. The
+half-maniacal hunchback respected and admired his brother, Sir James;
+he loved his brother's sweet daughter, Rocelia, but he feared and
+hated Isabel, whom he had never been able to intimidate or make to do
+his bidding. The maid was indeed possessed of a breezy temper, and
+upon many an occasion the hunchback had been made to feel the sting
+of her words. When he had discovered that she was secretly preparing
+for her departure, he had at once embraced the opportunity to avenge
+himself, causing her to be imprisoned in earnest. He had overheard
+her conversation with an emissary of the Renegade Duke, during which
+Isabel had given her word that she would come to Castle Yewe to join
+her champion. Isabel had a mind of her own, and a keen appreciation of
+the welfare of number one. She was, besides, a capital conspiratress,
+and had availed herself of every chance to acquaint herself with
+the true character and title of the one whom she had chosen for her
+champion. When she had grown familiar with Sir Richard's history, she
+had concluded that through him she might achieve deliverance from
+her monotonous life under the guardianship of her uncle, Sir James,
+and at the same time elevate herself to a higher plane within the
+social world, which were her chief ambitions. She had not been acute
+enough, however, to be aware that, in promising to go to Yewe, she was
+but falling into a trap set for her by the Renegade Duke. She still
+believed that the word was from the Earl of Warwick, by which title she
+always referred to Sir Richard within her mind.
+
+The blaze of anger with which Isabel now greeted Zenas's advent into
+her presence subsided quickly when he told her who was waiting to see
+her below. She made short work of her preparations to depart, promising
+to do so secretly, and without stopping to bid her cousin or governess
+a farewell. As the hunchback was preceding her below he was exulting
+to himself over the circumstance that was to rid him of one of whom he
+was jealous and hated, and another whom he feared. He looked upon it
+as a happy stroke of fortune that had put it in his way to send them
+off together. He chuckled aloud as he thought of how cleverly he was
+cheating the young knight.
+
+"I am yielding him the wrong maid," he said to himself; "the wrong
+maid. The saffron gown doth belong to Rocelia, by my faith!"
+
+It seemed an age to Sir Richard before he heard again the hunchback's
+tread upon the stairs. Another step came to his straining ears, light
+and firm, with an accompaniment of gently rustling skirts.
+
+What would his first words be? And what her whispered answer? He
+thought of the saffron patch above his eye and the unkempt growth of
+beard upon his chin. For but two minutes' service, a barber might have
+earned a handful of rose nobles.
+
+Thereupon the door swung open. Without any apparent hesitation the
+maid, whom the young knight had always pictured as shy and prettily
+diffident, advanced into the ring of firelight. Like an abashed boy, he
+hung his head in an utter confusion. If a fortune had been laid at his
+feet he would have found himself powerless to look up into her waiting
+eyes. It seemed to him that the whole world should be pausing to view
+this meeting. Then his hands were caught within the grasp of soft
+fingers. "Richard, ... my faithful champion," a voice broke low upon
+the dead silence.
+
+Sir Richard then looked up. His eyes fell upon a pair of firm,
+curved lips, a row of dazzling white teeth, a wonderful quantity of
+raven-black hair, shadowing beautifully marked brows and masterful,
+deep-gray eyes. His sight was too blurred to see altogether clearly,
+but he knew her to be comely and bewitching withal.
+
+In despite of this, a sort of vague but exquisite melancholy fell upon
+his highly wrought spirits. It was as indefinable as a fevered dream,
+but it seemed to him to answer to the name of disappointment. He felt
+that he would have been more pleased had the maid displayed in her
+manner less of assurance and more of timidity and reserve.
+
+Isabel began by busily removing the patch from Sir Richard's eye,
+assuring him of her genuine appreciation of his knightly conduct in so
+long having worn it. He did not tell her that it had been there but
+a day. Then, commanding Zenas to bring food and wine, which he did
+without a word of remonstrance, she set the table and bade Sir Richard
+to eat. When the hunchback went out of the room he told her of his
+meeting with the Douglas foot-boys.
+
+"I divined that they were waiting," Isabel said. "But Zenas locked and
+barred the door and would not suffer me to come. It was full kind of
+you to send for me, Sir Richard."
+
+"I? But 'twas not I who sent for thee, fair maid."
+
+"Not you? There was a note signed with your name."
+
+"'Twas written by Douglas, or the Renegade Duke then. An I could, I
+would have sent for thee, though----"
+
+"Isabel, Sir Richard; ... call me Isabel. 'Twas then but a trap to lure
+me within the power of the Duke. Well--we'll attend to him, once we
+come to Castle Yewe, Sir Richard."
+
+"To Castle Yewe? It is the one place on earth from which I would remain
+away. We'll go not to Castle Yewe, Isabel," Sir Richard declared.
+
+"But has not Douglas a plan on foot to set you high in power? And has
+not my uncle gone to him to effect a truce and a combining of forces?
+In truth, Sir Richard, will you go to Yewe?" Isabel insisted.
+
+"I know not what plans they may have," said Sir Richard. "But, an there
+be such, it is all the more reason why I should get me safely away. I
+am come to detest this conspiracy business."
+
+"Well--we'll have that out on the way," observed Isabel. "Come, let us
+be upon our journey before the band returns to thwart our going."
+
+They accordingly set out soon, with the moon low and exceedingly bright
+upon the far horizon. Zenas had improvised a kind of pillion behind the
+young knight's saddle, and upon this Isabel took her seat.
+
+"I wish thee a great joy of thy bargain, sir puppet knight!" the
+hunchback shouted shrilly after them as they started off. "And believe
+me," he added, "I am well and truly requited for the death of poor
+Demon."
+
+"He would not dare to say thus, an I were but off this horse," declared
+Isabel angrily.
+
+Sir Richard could not divine what the hunchback had meant to convey.
+He, therefore, made no reply, but looked back and remarked his squat,
+bent figure standing free upon the nethermost point of the brae against
+the moonlit sky. He reminded the young knight of a monstrous, black,
+and forbidding spider.
+
+Not till they had reached within the cavernous depths of the forest
+did it occur to Sir Richard that he now had before him a long and
+hazardous journey to the coast, with, for companion, a maiden whom he
+had torn from the care of her lawful guardian. But he had pledged his
+knightly word, and apparently there was nothing now to do above seeking
+a priest, and carrying her with him as Mistress Rohan. He quarreled
+and fell out with himself because of his dearth of enthusiasm over the
+project.
+
+"Richard, dear?" Isabel interrupted his thoughts, "is it not nearabouts
+that the Douglas foot-boys are posted?"
+
+"Yea--in a glade upon our right hand. About here, I fancy," Sir Richard
+answered.
+
+"Then stop instantly and summon them to us."
+
+"Indeed, nay!" Sir Richard amazedly exclaimed. "I'm not again for
+running my head into a hornet's nest," he said, by way of borrowing de
+Claverlok's simile. "But," an inspiration dawning upon him, "do you
+wish to leave me and go on to Castle Yewe?"
+
+"Without you--Richard?"
+
+The manner of her reply sent a cold sweat to oozing at his every pore.
+He felt himself caught fair.
+
+"Ho, boys!" Isabel suddenly shouted aloud, clapping her hands. "Draw
+rein, Richard," she commanded.
+
+"Well, by the mass!" the young knight exclaimed. But he drew rein.
+
+There was a great noise of stumbling horses, and the sharp crackling
+of breaking twigs, as the foot-boys hurriedly drew toward the road.
+When they had observed the young knight's companion, they were the most
+relieved and happy of youths. They immediately set about making Isabel
+comfortable upon the back of the housed palfrey, after which the march
+was begun, with the foot-boys singing merrily on before.
+
+Harold rode back presently to announce that he knew of a cave something
+less than a league ahead where they could be rendered comfortable for
+the night. Both Thomas and he would do their best, the youth assured
+Sir Richard in extravagant terms, to have them a fresh hare, a crisp
+loaf of bread, and a sufficiency of sweet goat's milk wherewith to
+break their fasts in the morning. Already, the young knight thought,
+their journey was beginning to assume somewhat of the complexion of a
+wedding tour.
+
+They then directed their course toward the cave; and by an ingenious
+arrangement of the tent, which Harold and Thomas were carrying with
+them, they contrived for Isabel a comfortable and perfectly secluded
+chamber within its depths.
+
+While the foot-boys were engaged in building a roaring fire just
+outside the cavern's broad mouth, Isabel sat upon a boulder and engaged
+Sir Richard in an entertaining and animated conversation. It was the
+first opportunity he had enjoyed since their meeting of having a quiet
+look at her. As she talked, the young knight noted with a certain
+satisfaction the ever-changing expression of her fair and mobile
+countenance as the filmy veils of light and shadow played across it.
+"Certes," he yielded to himself, "she is beautiful. But 'tis beauty,
+methinks, of a rather dangerous and sirenlike kind."
+
+When she was near ready to retire behind the curtain she held up a foot
+abounding in dainty, graceful curves.
+
+"Unfasten me my boot, sir champion," she said archly.
+
+They were alone, the foot-boys having disappeared within the forest to
+gather a fresh supply of hemlock twigs.
+
+"Give thee a right good-night, Richard," said Isabel sweetly, when the
+boots were undone. She was becoming of a ravishing loveliness in the
+weird light of the flickering fire.
+
+Sir Richard was blind to everything at that moment, saving his
+companion's captivating grace.
+
+"Often have I bethought me of that kiss which you sped me through the
+wall," said he, catching and holding her hand. "No wall is there here
+now but one of darkness, ... and we are within."
+
+She cast him one bewitching glance, raising her hand to his waiting
+lips. "Not till we are come within sight of Castle Yewe," said Isabel.
+"Then, brave champion of a maiden in distress, you shall have earned
+it."
+
+Sir Richard realized all too soon, however, that his had been but a
+transitory fascination. The moment that Isabel was swallowed within the
+cave he felt the spell leaving him. So when Harold and Thomas returned
+with their burdens of fuel, he told them in a purposely lifted voice
+that he would help them to gather more. He laid down the law before the
+meek foot-boys once he had enticed them beyond earshot of the cave.
+They were free to give the lady safe conduct into Yewe, Sir Richard
+told them, but he was to make choice of the way. A signal for the
+right, one for the left, and another to indicate straight ahead he gave
+them. Beside every forking road or path they were instructed to seek
+his secret and peremptory command.
+
+"Remember, boys, Sandufferin!" he added, by way of a parting shot. "And
+have a care that you fall not foul of old fox here," he concluded,
+tapping the hilt of his sword.
+
+"Said I not 'twas the same that cut him down the great Sandufferin?"
+Sir Richard heard one of the foot-boys whisper, as he was falling into
+a pleasant forgetfulness of his many troubles beside the crackling
+blaze.
+
+Agreeable with their sworn promises, the faithful foot-boys contrived
+to set before Sir Richard and Isabel an appetizing and ample meal.
+Somewhere within the forest they had come upon a spring, and had filled
+a deep hollow in the rocks with limpid water. Accordingly, when Isabel
+sat down to breakfast, she was looking as fresh and sparkling as any of
+the frost-covered fir trees growing round about.
+
+All of that day they pushed steadily forward, halting but once to sup
+and drink within a herdsman's cottage. When the evening had fallen
+they were among the upland hills, and had journeyed a full two leagues
+beyond the Back Friar's Monastery.
+
+They found shelter for that night in a wayside peasant's hut. Here Sir
+Richard enjoyed a long talk with Isabel, sitting alone with her by the
+chimney-side. He tried to win from her an elucidation of the mystery of
+the moving tavern, but she refused to gratify his curiosity. Whenever
+she chanced to discover that Sir Richard desired particularly a certain
+favor, always she would say, "Not till we are come within sight of
+Castle Yewe, ... then you shall have earned it."
+
+She was leading the young knight a merry dance, with her "Richard,
+fetch me this," and "Richard, dear, fetch me that"; her "Are you
+certain that this is the nearest path to Castle Yewe?" When the young
+knight would grow sullen and demur against returning there, "How absurd
+of you, my brave champion," Isabel would say, "to set yourself against
+those whose only desire it is to put you where you rightfully belong!"
+
+Scarcely an hour passed without seeing its quarrel between them, which
+inevitably ended by her riding close alongside her companion, taking
+his hand and wheedling him, willy-nilly, into the best of good humors.
+Her wonderful eyes during one moment would be flashing cold steel, and
+in the next would radiate the warmth and glory of a tropic sun. Isabel
+was, indeed, a most extraordinary young woman.
+
+Within his mind Sir Richard had made a complete surrender to her
+continued importunings. He was staking his last hope of liberation from
+his uncomfortable, and that which he considered dangerous, position
+upon the slight chance of finding de Claverlok in the deserted hut. "An
+the good fellow happens not to be there," he thought, "why--I'll fare
+on and discover me the things that Lord Douglas has in waiting."
+
+Sir Richard's system of secret signals to the foot-boys worked
+admirably, and quite as well as he could wish. By giving them the
+proper signs he was enabled to follow the path along which the Renegade
+Duke and he had so furiously ridden. He even remarked the patch of
+broken gorse and brambles that plainly marked his fall.
+
+It was upon the afternoon of the third day of their journey that they
+turned into the sandy highway where the young knight had momentarily
+outwitted his pursuer. He recalled to his mind the image of de
+Claverlok's rugged, honest face set fantastically against the moon, as
+he had seen it upon that memorable night. Sir Richard was obliged to
+confess that his hope of discovering him at their appointed rendezvous
+was sinking in proportion with the nearness of his approach thereto.
+
+At length, as they rode free of the forest through which a part of
+the road lay, he made out the little hut standing close beside a down
+something near a quarter of a league distant. There was a monk, on
+foot, moving in their direction along the highway. As the churchman
+drew nearer, Sir Richard noted that he was tallying his string of black
+beads and muttering over his open breviary.
+
+Isabel, just then, rode close to his saddle.
+
+"Richard," said she, "here now is our good priest."
+
+The maiden had left Sir Richard in no possible doubt of her meaning.
+
+A thought came to him, though it was not a happy one, for nothing,
+now, he fancied, could ever more be happy. Carrying out the thought,
+however, he called to the monk to halt and attend upon his words.
+
+"Canst thou go with us, good father, into yonder hut?" he said. "We
+would have thy service at a simple service of wedding. See, ... my
+witnesses are riding hither, ... and I have papers bearing upon my
+knightly reputation."
+
+"Right willingly would I do thee a service, sir knight, but not in that
+hut there," replied the monk, looking up at his questioner with eyes
+distended with fear. "I am but now come from there, ... the good Lord
+forgive him!"
+
+"Forgive who? What is 't, goodman?" cried Sir Richard.
+
+"There abides a great giant there.... Indeed, a tremendous man, ... ill
+with some diresome fever, or fiendish obsession. He made threat to slay
+me, an I but dared set foot within, bellowing fierce oaths the while
+from his pallet of rushes. He will die; ... yea, he will die, for he
+had the white drawn look of death upon his bearded face. I shrove him
+from the doorway--then came away. The Lord have mercy----"
+
+He got no further with the sentence within Sir Richard's hearing.
+Ignoring the road, the young knight went galloping in mighty bounds
+away over the gorse-grown meadow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+OF HOW SIR RICHARD CAME TO THE SHEPHERD'S HUT, AND THE RETURN OF TYRRELL
+
+
+It was not above a few swift winks of the eye till Sir Richard had
+flung himself from off the back of his frothing stallion and was within
+the hut's door.
+
+"Dick!" exclaimed its solitary occupant, rising upon a lean elbow. "I'm
+damned, an it be not yourself, ... eh?" Then, sternly, as the young
+knight made toward the pallet of rushes whereupon he was outstretched:
+"Betake you out of this accursed place," he shouted. "Do you want to
+get you the sweating sickness?"
+
+"An it had been the sweating sickness," said Sir Richard, advancing
+to the sick warrior's side and grasping his woefully thin hand, "I'd
+have found nothing here beyond a moldering corpse. This four years, de
+Claverlok, has the sweating sickness slept. 'Tis but some devastating
+fever brought with you from out of the dungeon in Castle Yewe. You'll
+get you well, man, I know it."
+
+"Meseems I know it, too, Sir Dick," agreed the grizzled warrior weakly.
+"By the mass, 'tis the very first day I've had the courage to swear,
+... eh! And a good monk for auditor, too. The Christian fellow shrove
+me through yon open door. A murrain upon you, Dick! and how is 't
+you're here? And after cutting me some ten stone of stout rope in my
+eye, ... Ingrate!"
+
+After this good-natured outburst de Claverlok threw himself back upon
+the rush-mat, breathing heavily. Noting that his pallor had somewhat
+increased, Sir Richard begged him to remain quiet, the while he would
+recount his adventures since parting from him upon the runway of the
+tower. "God's sake! but there's a woman for you, ... a king-maker,
+Dick," he made a muttered comment, when the young knight gave him the
+story of Lady Anna. He went on with his tale, and had just come to that
+part of it where he had stumbled so unexpectedly upon the Red Tavern,
+when----
+
+"Richard!" a firm and musical voice called from outside; and then
+again, "Richard!"
+
+"Wait. 'Tis the maid herself," said the young knight, going obediently
+to the door.
+
+"My dearest friend on earth is in that hut, Isabel," he said, stepping
+to the side of her palfrey; "and sick well nigh to death. 'Twill be my
+duty and pleasure to remain by his side. When I have nursed him back to
+health, I shall be free. Until then, you must consent to await me in
+Castle Yewe. 'Tis not far, Isabel. But over the hills, there. You'll do
+this thing for me?"
+
+"And a right pretty nurse you'd make," observed Isabel breezily,
+slipping at once from off the round back of her palfrey. "Why, Richard,
+my generous boy," said she, "you have sore trouble in looking after
+your own tangled affairs. An he be your friend, right gladly will I
+attend to the nursing of him myself. Happily, some experience have I
+had of such matters."
+
+Then, in her usual masterful way, she bade the foot-boys strip the bags
+off her horse and started for the hut door. With more of admiration for
+the maid than Sir Richard had felt since their meeting, he followed her
+brisk steps through the door.
+
+After that there was nothing left for him to do but run upon errands.
+It would be--"Richard, do you do so?" and "Richard, do you do thus?"
+"Richard, ride you to the nearest goodwife and fetch me a gourd of
+goat's milk," or a measure of stum, or whatever other toothsome thing
+it chanced to be. Sir Richard was soon thinking that his friend's lean
+body must have grown to be a receptacle for all of the dainties from
+the multitude of hills about them. Almost every hour of the day he
+might have been seen careering over their round summits.
+
+The clever foot-boys made over the lean-to into a quite habitable
+dwelling, thatching its sides and top with dried grass from off the
+meadow. Within its shelter Sir Richard and Harold and Thomas ate,
+slept, and loitered away the time.
+
+There was a quaint old Scots herdsman who used often to visit them,
+bringing with him upon every such occasion his bagpipes, whereupon
+he could play with an uncommon deftness. It was this same simple,
+good-hearted herdsman who had looked in on de Claverlok twice or three
+times every day while the warrior was alone during the interval of his
+sickness. Sir Richard tried in many ways to make him the richer, or
+rather the less poor, because of the timely succor he had brought his
+friend, but the old herdsman would have none of the young knight's
+nobles.
+
+It seemed curious to Sir Richard that, among the countless gruesome
+legends and wild tales that Kimbuchie had ever ready at his tongue's
+end, there was the same one of the Red Tavern that he had heard so
+often repeated whilst riding with Belwiggar along the Sauchieburn
+Pass. Good Tammas would not have it that twice the young knight had
+been beneath its roof, and was yet there before him to tell the tale.
+"Awell, lad," he would say, "awell. I ken well thou'st a muckle lang
+tongue betwixt thy teeth, ... a muckle lang tongue."
+
+Following the first two or three days of their arrival, there remained
+but little for Sir Richard to do within the sick knight's quarters.
+Isabel had both a keen eye and a right willing hand. By stretching the
+tent cloth across one side of the room she secured to herself a fair
+sized retiring room of her own. She appeared to take a positive delight
+in the task of transforming the rude and not over clean interior of
+the hut into a place that was neat, cozy, and altogether inviting.
+
+Sir Richard began to wonder why, in such a pleasing environment, de
+Claverlok was not making a more rapid progress toward health. They
+had been there now nearly a fortnight, and he appeared to have gained
+but little, if anything, in the way of weight or strength. Indeed,
+after the first day or two the sick knight had fallen into an unusual
+and melancholy silence. Often Sir Richard would steal a glance at him
+through the window, and always he would see him idly plucking at his
+coverings, the while his big, hollow eyes would be bent upon every
+movement of his fair nurse.
+
+"Richard!" Isabel called to him one morning while he was having
+breakfast in the lean-to. It was just past dawn, with the sun painting
+a rose-glory above the eastern hills. When the young knight went to her
+she was standing just outside the closed door of the hut. He remarked
+to himself how pale seemed her face in despite of the sun's warm
+reflection upon it.
+
+"What is it, Isabel?" he inquired, feeling a vague apprehension as to
+the welfare of his friend.
+
+"'Tis this, Richard," said Isabel gravely, "one of the foot-boys must
+you post me on to Bannockburn. Counsel him to bring instantly a leech,
+... the best in the town. I would e'en send you, but you may be needed
+here."
+
+"I pray you, Isabel, tell me not that he is worse."
+
+"I fear me.... Ah! Much I fear me that you are soon to lose your
+friend," Isabel answered drearily.
+
+In all haste Sir Richard filled Harold's wallet with coins and sent him
+clipping above the hills toward Bannockburn, whereupon he sat down upon
+a boulder, yielding himself to the gloomiest of reflections. He was
+staring, with chin buried deep in his hands, along the winding roadway.
+Upon a sudden, looming gaunt against the sky, he saw the familiar
+figure of the knight in black riding slowly over the hills. Hurrying to
+the opposite side of the hut, Sir Richard stood outside the window and
+signed Isabel to come out.
+
+"Make haste; what is it? Your friend has but this moment begged to
+speak with you in private," said she, when she had joined the young
+knight outside.
+
+"Tyrrell is approaching in this direction," said Sir Richard. "I saw
+him but now riding over the northern hill."
+
+"Give thanks to God!" exclaimed Isabel with an earnest and deep fervor,
+clasping tightly together her white hands.
+
+"Why, because that you shall now be discovered?"
+
+"Nay; what care I for that, ... now! But because yonder tyrant," she
+hurriedly went on, leading Sir Richard to the side of the cabin whence
+Tyrrell could be seen, "is a cunning chymist, a famous physician, ... a
+student of Linacre. Go, join your friend, ... but have a care, excite
+him not. I'll await my uncle here."
+
+For days Sir Richard had noted a change in Isabel's manner. Bit by bit
+she seemed to have grown more grave and thoughtful, and less breezily
+abrupt in her way of speaking. He had remarked the humility with which
+she obeyed de Claverlok's slightest wish. Upon this morning she had
+displayed a depth of feeling of which he had considered her quite
+incapable. In seeking out the reason as he was making his way into the
+hut, the answer dawned suddenly upon him. He understood.
+
+"Well, my good friend de Claverlok," said he, with an attempt to be
+cheerful, as he came beside the sick man's bed. "Methought that by now
+you would be on horse and a-tilting."
+
+"Hark thee, Dick," de Claverlok whispered. "I'll be a-tilting with the
+devil by to-morrow, ... eh!" whereupon he smiled, a wan, brave smile.
+Then, looking soberly up into the young knight's eyes--"Dick, ...
+friend, ... I have a confession to make ere I lay down my last lance,"
+he said. "God's sake! To think that I should play the fool at my age,
+... two score and four, come the seventeenth day of next month--" he
+paused for a space, drooping his dimmed eyes. "But to my confession:
+I meant no harm, ... God wot, my boy, and I intended not to do it,
+Dick; ... but I loved the maid with whom your troth is plighted from
+the moment her dainty foot stepped across yon sill.... I ask your
+forgiveness----"
+
+"De Claverlok, ... dear old friend, ... are you serious?"
+
+"Serious, ... eh?"
+
+"God of my fathers! Do you mean it?" Sir Richard fervently exclaimed.
+"An this be imperiling your precious life, take her, man, and let
+health return upon you."
+
+Thereupon the grizzled knight discovered a strength wherewith to frown.
+
+"'Tis most unseemly this, ... most unseemly, ... eh! And you, Dick,
+with your troth but fresh----"
+
+"De Claverlok," interrupted Sir Richard firmly, "no promises have
+passed. She thinks me but a silly youth--which is true.... I am. Isabel
+cares not a fig for me, nor, by my faith, do I for her! We shall never
+wed. Get you back inside your coat of mail and make her happy, for she
+loves you, my friend. I read it in her sad eyes but this moment gone."
+
+"Say you truly, Dick? God's sake, boy, you--you, ... but when I get me
+inside my harness I'll have a lance at you, Dick, for saying somewhat
+against her."
+
+Sir Richard pressed then the fevered hand that the sick man tried to
+lift within his. Whereupon de Claverlok smiled, and, sighing happily,
+seemed to fall into a deep and peaceful sleep.
+
+When the young knight stepped lightly through the door he saw Tyrrell
+seated upon his horse, with Isabel pleading at his stirrup for him to
+dismount and wait upon the sick man.
+
+"Attend upon my words, Sir Richard Rohan," Tyrrell said as the young
+knight drew beside them. "This ungrateful maid, having withdrawn
+herself by stealth from beneath the shelter of my roof, now desires me
+to succor a knight of whom she is enamored. Let her first take solemn
+oath, in thy presence, that she will not journey inside of Castle Yewe.
+Nor shall she, an she be carried there by force, make known my plans to
+Douglas. As to her inheritance: I have it safe invested, and will yield
+her warrant to have it delivered into her hands either in Glasgow or in
+London. Art thou witness to this?"
+
+"Yea, Sir James, I am."
+
+"Isabel Savoy," resumed Tyrrell, "do thou lift up thy right hand to
+Heaven and swear?"
+
+She looked at the two men with big eyes, proudly, her lips firmly set.
+It was as though the victory was hers. She took the oath.
+
+"And now, a word with thee, Sir Richard," grim Tyrrell said, turning
+toward the young knight. "The man stricken within is thy dearest
+friend, I have been told. Mayhap I can save him to thee; mayhap not.
+Everything of skill that I possess shall be used in his behalf, an thou
+wilt agree upon thy knightly word to return with me anon to the Red
+Tavern and listen there to some things that I have to say. Thy honest
+word, ... 'twill be sufficient?"
+
+"I give it willingly," Sir Richard said.
+
+"Then assist me to dismount.... I'm sorry, sore, and lame. Friend
+Douglas, suspecting something of my conniving at thy escape, Sir
+Richard, gave me a bit taste of the torture. Whereupon, learning
+nothing from my sealed lips, apologized, and set me free. He would have
+done for me for all, an he dared. Beshrew me, though, an I can see how
+thou art still abroad, with all of the Douglas forces searching so
+diligently for thee. Thy proximity to his citadel it must have been
+that hath saved thee."
+
+Sir Richard remarked that he was looking exceedingly pale, seeming old
+and decrepit when compared with his sturdy appearance upon the day that
+he had shattered lances with him in the lists. The young knight helped
+him to dismount and led him, cursing at every step, to the door of the
+hut.
+
+"I should have known," Tyrrell said to Sir Richard, upon joining him in
+the thatched lean-to about an hour later, "that faithful de Claverlok
+would be somewhere in thy vicinity. Prithee, and how is 't? Tell me,
+Sir Richard?"
+
+"Suffer me first to hear news of my friend," said the young knight.
+"Thinkest thou that he will make a return to his old good health?"
+
+"Methinks he is sore in love with the maiden, Isabel," Tyrrell
+answered, nodding his head and smiling grimly. "Well--'tis a most
+powerful stimulating nostrum. An I miss not my guess, he'll get him
+well."
+
+Thereupon, with a right good heart, Sir Richard recounted to Tyrrell
+the story of his travels with de Claverlok.
+
+"And dost tell me that he has been all of these days in thy company
+without divulging word of our plans, or of thy part therein?"
+
+"Not one word--his knightly vow withheld his honest tongue. But I am
+certes ready to hear them now," declared Sir Richard.
+
+"God wot, but there's a man to maintain his knightly vow! Though
+'twould have been better had he broken faith and told thee of some
+things. So thou art ready to listen now, Sir Richard? Well, there's a
+good reason for thy desire to become acquainted with these mysterious
+haps. But, have patience yet a little time. Everything shalt thou know
+when we return to the tavern; ... everything, Sir Richard."
+
+After that he sat for a long space, smiling, rubbing his hands
+together, and muttering to himself. Upon returning to himself, he
+commanded the foot-boy, Thomas, to bring him his saddle-bags. Taking
+from them many packages, herbs and powders, he called Isabel to him and
+instructed her as to the manner in which they should be administered.
+When he was done, she signed Sir Richard with her eyes to follow her
+outside.
+
+"He will soon be well, Richard," she said, taking the young knight's
+hand. "And now, boy, you are free--and happy, too, I make no doubt.
+Ah! What hosts of enemies have my sharp tongue made for me! But I'll
+curb it now, Richard--I've found its master," she added, laughing
+lightly, and thereupon went tripping through the cabin door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+OF HOW SIR RICHARD LISTENED TO A STORY IN THE FOREST
+
+
+When Sir Richard came again into the outer hut Tyrrell was setting a
+pot to boil upon the fire. As he bent above the red blaze, dropping
+pinches of various herbs within the kettle the while he peered closely,
+from time to time, into the open pages of a book lying beside him upon
+a stool, he minded the young knight of a black wizard, engaged in
+weaving some unholy incantation.
+
+"Bear me company over the hills, Sir Richard," he said presently,
+setting the now steaming pot upon the ground. "We must procure us
+another herb to complete the nostrum. I' faith, and what a smell is
+here!" he added, taking up a staff and starting, lame and halting, for
+the door. "But 'tis as efficacious to the body, withal, as the odor is
+displeasing to the nostrils."
+
+Sir Richard noted Tyrrell's strange demeanor as they moved slowly from
+hillock to hillock. When his keen eyes were not bent upon the earth,
+they would be regarding him with an intent and somewhat of an inquiring
+glance.
+
+Times he would kick aside a plant, stoop with a painful deliberation,
+and convey a fragment of its root or leaf to his lips. If it happened
+to be of the kind of which he was in search, he would unearth it with
+the point of his mailed foot and continue upon his way. Though by now
+he was carrying a considerable quantity of the herbs, he was making no
+move to return. Several times he appeared upon the point of speaking,
+but always his glance would fall swiftly from that of his companion
+and engage the ground at his feet. In this silent manner they drew, at
+length, within the shadows of the wood.
+
+"A strange foreboding of some direful happening doth rest heavily upon
+my mind," he said then. "Our grasp on life is indeed a slender thing,
+and easily broken. Mayhap 'twould be the better part of wisdom to say
+some things to thee here ... and now." He paused, measuring the young
+knight carefully with his eye.
+
+"Dost know, Sir Richard," he said then, after somewhat of an impulsive
+manner, as he went stirring about with his staff among the fallen
+leaves, "that in history I shall ever be written down as a base and
+cowardly murderer? Thou hast belike heard the dismal story of the boy
+princes in the Tower?"
+
+"In very truth, I have," Sir Richard made answer.
+
+"'Tis known of the whole world, I doubt not," he gloomily pursued. "And
+yet ... and yet, I was but plotting ... plotting deeply, daringly ...
+to save their precious lives. Hark ye, Sir Richard ... and mark thee
+well that which I am about to say. An it were not for a fiendish knave,
+called Forrest,--upon whom God's direst curse rest!--they had been both
+saved to England.
+
+"Forrest, learning of the command laid upon me by King Richard foully
+to murder both his nephews whilst they did sleep, procured quittance
+of the keys from Brakenbury and smothered the younger prince before
+I rushed, with Dighton, my groom, into the Tower room. Commanding my
+faithful servant to put pillow lightly above the mouth of the living
+prince, the Duke of York, I bade Forrest instantly to carry tidings of
+their death to the bloodless rooting hog, who was gnawing his nails and
+awaiting news in the palace. With Forrest safe dispatched to the King,
+we hastily garbed the prince in kirtles, thus giving him the semblance
+of a young maid. My men were waiting by the side of the Tower gate ...
+they brought him safe to Scotland."
+
+"But----"
+
+"Nay ... prithee, listen!" he said, seating himself upon a
+lightning-riven log, whilst Sir Richard took stand against its
+splintered, upright trunk. "The royal youth was fair-haired, pale and
+sickly. All my cunning arts were impotent to stay the implacable hand
+of death. Thus, Sir Knight, did the young Duke pass into oblivion ...
+beneath my very roof, and here in bleak Scotland. I durst not even
+acclaim his passing; but laid him, then, within an unmarked, though not
+an unmourned, grave. Slowly, stealthily, but surely, I had been massing
+a power behind him that would have swept him straight upon England's
+throne. Upon either coast, Sir Richard, this power is still augmenting.
+Ships speed me soldiers from France and Spain upon the east, and from
+Holland and Italy upon the west." He paused for a space, then,--"Dost
+find my tale interesting?" he asked.
+
+"Above any I have ever heard," Sir Richard told him.
+
+"And what wouldst thou say," he resumed, raising his hand impressively,
+"an I swore to thee that I had found a brave-hearted and goodly youth
+whose right to a seat upon the throne of England took precedence over
+that of the usurper now sitting there? A tyrant ... who gave warrant
+of death into the hands of his God-brother, and laid command upon
+him to deliver it upon that brother's executioner ... what wouldst
+thou say--Sir Richard Rohan, Earl of Warwick, son of Edward, Duke of
+Clarence?"
+
+Sir Richard felt as though the meshes of a far-spread net were dropping
+down about him.
+
+"I cannot say.... Even I cannot think!" he cried, burying his face in
+his arms.
+
+"Thou art but a brave-hearted, artless youth, Sir Richard ... Sire.
+Enough hast thou heard to-day to turn the head of Caesar. Think upon
+what I have said ... upon what I have yet to say ... and make answer
+at thy calmer leisure," said Tyrrell in a manner of voice dignified,
+pacific, kind. Then, reaching across, he grasped the young knight's arm
+and drew him to a seat beside him upon the fallen log.
+
+"Once Lord Douglas," he then resumed, "was sworn ally of mine; but a
+craven traitor, whom we now know to be the Renegade Duke of Buckingham,
+carried tidings of the prince's death and my untoward interest in thy
+welfare into Castle Yewe. Twice since thy coming have the Douglas
+forces given me battle.... And yet, without the warrants, he cannot be
+acquainted with thy true identity ... 'tis passing----"
+
+"But I had duplicates of the warrants," Sir Richard said to him; "the
+which you may be sure I made haste to deliver."
+
+"Duplicates!"
+
+"Sewn within my doublet--they were passed over in thy search."
+
+"God in Heaven absolve me for this inadvertence!" roared Tyrrell,
+getting to his feet, and, in seeming forgetfulness of his infirmities,
+strode furiously back and forth above the brown and crackling leaves.
+"Much, indeed, is now made plain to me. Yet ... after losing his
+hold of him," he went on, communing with himself, "why did Douglas so
+stoutly maintain his position ... there remains no other claimant ...
+'tis passing strange--passing strange!"
+
+For some time thereafter he continued setting restless footfalls amidst
+the carpet of dead leaves, clenching his hands and biting his thin lips.
+
+Upon a sudden Sir Richard recalled the circumstance of the fair-haired
+youth imprisoned in Castle Yewe.
+
+"Mayhap I can lesson thee of some things, Sir James," he volunteered.
+
+"Then thou wilt discover in me a right willing listener," said Tyrrell,
+seating himself again upon the riven log.
+
+So, briefly as might be, and clearly as he could compass it, Sir
+Richard related the story of the secret passageway and of Lady Douglas'
+daily teaching of the imprisoned youth.
+
+"Ah! what monstrous iniquity!" Tyrrell cried when his companion had
+finished, thrusting his staff deep into the black mould. "Now is
+everything made transparent ... as plain as the haps of yesterday! So
+false Douglas would impose him a counterfeit prince upon the credulous
+people of England? Marry! marry! to what depths of dishonor doth self
+ambition lead us! But what saidst thou was this youth's name, Sir
+Richard?"
+
+"Perkin Warbeck."
+
+"I' faith I know it not. Some yeoman's son, forsooth. Poor boy! an he
+follow this adventure to its end, he'll be gazing upon his body from
+another view-point than atop his shoulders. But more upon this same
+subject when we are come into the Tavern. Let all of that which has
+been said to thee to-day assimilate perfectly with thy understanding.
+Papers shall be laid before thee in substantiation of all my
+statements."
+
+Stooping, Tyrrell took up the herbs which he had gathered by the way.
+
+"Let us now return and finish the brewing of good de Claverlok's
+nostrum," he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+OF HOW ONCE MORE THE YOUNG KNIGHT JOURNEYED SOUTHWARD
+
+
+Tyrrell appeared singularly nervous and distraught; and, after
+having finished with the brewing of the nostrum, was for setting out
+immediately upon his journey with Sir Richard to the tavern. But
+the young knight remained firm in his determination not to leave de
+Claverlok till he was well assured of his ultimate recovery. His great,
+sinewy frame had been sore racked with fever, Tyrrell told him, and it
+would be many weeks ere de Claverlok could be expected to regain his
+usual health.
+
+It was late in the evening when the foot-boy, Harold, returned from
+Bannockburn with a doctor. This good man was a fat, bulbous-faced
+person, wearing a flamboyant badge in the shape of an enormous wart
+directly upon the tip of his nose. He arrived with a tremendous fuss
+and bustle, wheezing so that he was to be heard in every corner of the
+place. He subsided upon the instant, however, when he learned that he
+was expected to consult with a student of the eminent Linacre.
+
+Soon he came out to take sup with Tyrrell and Sir Richard in their
+little hut. When the young knight made haste to inquire as to what case
+his friend was in:
+
+"It doth mightily please me," answered the fat doctor from Bannockburn,
+"to agree with his worshipful lordship inside ... ahem! I may e'en
+say that mine own opinions were exactly one with his ... and him, sir
+knight, a celebrated student and co-worker with the famous Thomas
+Linacre, of London; who, as thou dost probably know, doth entertain
+many a cunning precept somewhat at variance from the accepted standards
+of the older ... and ... well--schools ... ahem! Yet did his worshipful
+lordship do me the distinguished honor to inform me that my humble ...
+er ... prognosis was infinitely similar, if not somewhat superior,
+withal,--an thou'lt permit me to say thus--to that which would have
+been arrived upon by a great many ... er ... practitioners and chymists
+of ... ahem! ... London."
+
+"Gramercy for thy learned opinion," said Sir Richard winking above the
+doctor's bald head at the foot-boys. "So! thou'rt of opinion that the
+good knight will surely recover?"
+
+"Ah! assuredly will he. Though in cases of this kind, where the ...
+ahem!--alimentary passages have become somewhat flabby ... yes ...
+flabby, I may say, from long disuse (Sir Richard thought of all his
+scourings over the hills for goats-milk, goodies, and wine!)--there may
+follow, anon, a more or less ... ahem!--more or less, I say, violent
+inflammation of the ... er ... esophagus; which, if not immediately
+allayed--but, by the mass, and what a delicious odor is that!"
+
+Harold, just then, had happily uncovered the simmering kettle.
+
+"Yes," said Sir Richard, "art hungry, good doctor?"
+
+"In sooth, an I be not, sir knight, thou mayst call me a fustian
+shove-groat shilling! marry! marry! and were not such a ride as I've
+had to-day full fatiguing to a gentleman of my avoirdupois?"
+
+Well, after contemplating the widespread devastation which the amiable
+doctor wrought upon the viands set before him, right willingly would
+anyone have yielded to him the palm of gluttony--though it must be
+said of Sir Richard that his own appetite was something not below the
+average. And how the man could drink, too! It seemed to Sir Richard
+that he would never have done with pouring their hard-fetched wine into
+his gullet. He might appropriately have been girded with iron hoops and
+set aside as a filled hogshead when the last drop trickled within his
+vast interior. A flabby esophagus could never have been attributed to
+the good doctor, withal.
+
+But he warmed up famously under the wine's genial influence, and
+regaled his hosts throughout the evening with many a merry tale. Sir
+Richard misliked him not at all; and, before the good doctor set up his
+thunderous snoring before the pleasing warmth of the blaze, the young
+knight had secured his promise to remain with de Claverlok till he was
+safe on the road to health. It may be said further, too, that he was a
+gainer of the half of Sir Richard's remaining nobles because of the
+bargain.
+
+The young knight passed a sleepless night, interspersed with fanciful
+dreams wrought around the circumstance of his new-discovered ancestry.
+He seemed to be always alone and lonely, sitting upon a lofty eminence,
+with a ray of dazzling white light, ever broadening, sweeping from
+where he sat into illimitable space. The vast area thus brilliantly
+illumined ever seemed peopled with a countless multitude of kneeling
+beings; reminding him of the glimmering sun of evening lying softly
+upon the woolly backs of innumerable sheep.
+
+It chanced that Sir Richard was the last member of their little
+company to be abroad the next morning, and when he came out into the
+sunshine Harold and Thomas, who had been whispering together, dropped
+in concert to their knees. Then Sir James Tyrrell, now more than ever
+bent and gray looking, drew toward him, limping around the corner
+of the sick knight's hut. He bowed to Sir Richard after a grave and
+courtly fashion, and, when the young knight extended his hand, saluted
+it deferentially with his lips. Not anyone could have been more abject
+in his obsequiousness than the fat doctor from Bannockburn. He begged
+Sir Richard but to lay some command upon him so that he might give
+proof of his devotion to his cause and person. To the young knight it
+seemed to be the beginning of the fulfillment of his visions. Only
+good de Claverlok and unconquerable Isabel remained the same; the
+which resulted in Sir Richard deriving the greater pleasure from their
+companionship.
+
+All of the while it was to be remarked that shrewd Tyrrell's eyes bent
+close upon Sir Richard's every action. By reaching out to him a taste
+of sovereignty, he felt that he was tempting him to desire it in a
+greater portion.
+
+Sir Richard divined that it was to be a silent duel between them;
+and he was bound to confess to himself that he was already becoming
+conscious of the tightening of the net about him. He was becoming
+fearful that the master politician might win.
+
+It was like a transitory release from the clutch of an unseen, iron
+hand to get within the larger hut and enjoy a talk with de Claverlok
+and Isabel. Though still pitifully weak, it was clearly to be seen
+that Sir Richard's faithful friend and squire was now leaving his
+illness behind him.
+
+"Think well and deeply, boy, before deciding upon thy course," he
+advised Sir Richard when he arose to take leave of him. "'Tis no small
+thing to hurl a great power at a sleeping, peaceful nation; thereby
+to embroil it in bloody strife and dissensions ... eh. But, once thy
+path be laid, follow it without halt or deviation to the end. Thus let
+me say," he added, taking the young knight's hand, "'twill be a right
+brave day for England when thy consent be won to sit upon her throne."
+
+"But, whatever I do, de Claverlok, and whereever I go," Sir Richard
+said, "your own good self shall sure be with me."
+
+"Within this very hovel, Sir Richard, we will await thy further
+command," he replied.
+
+"Sir Richard!" Isabel called to the young knight as he was about to
+step to the door. "Take this bit packet," she said, handing him the
+smallest of parcels. "Guard it next thy heart till thou hast reached
+into the Forest of Lammermuir--then, thou mayst open it. But remember,
+boy, not before! And now," she added, standing a-tiptoe, "I'll kiss
+thee a good-bye ... one for myself--one for Lionel. Thou art a brave,
+good youth, Sir Richard."
+
+There were tears in the young knight's eyes when he stepped outside the
+hut ready to start with Tyrrell, who was on horse and waiting, upon
+their journey.
+
+Sir Richard was surprised to discover that Harold's jennet was trapped
+and standing beside his saddled stallion. When he inquired what it
+meant, the foot-boy went on his knees before him and besought the young
+knight to permit him to become his lowly squire. When Sir Richard
+inquired of him what Thomas intended doing, the foot-boy informed him
+that his mate had sought a like service with de Claverlok.
+
+"Then get off your knees," Sir Richard told him, "and come along; or,
+by the mass! I'll have the broad of my sword this moment at your hinder
+quarters."
+
+Whereupon they mounted and started for the road. Sir Richard looked
+several times over his shoulder-piece; and always his backward glance
+would be met by a waving of Isabel's lace scarf in the doorway, and
+two profound bows from in front of the smaller hut. 'Twas a sight well
+worth seeing--that awkward curtsy of the fat doctor from Bannockburn.
+
+They were perforce obliged to travel slowly, as Tyrrell's infirmities
+seemed fast growing upon him. From the drawn and haggard look of his
+thin countenance it could plainly be seen that he was in constant and
+extreme pain. Moreover, Sir Richard noted that by now he had ceased
+attributing his sufferings to the tortures to which he had been put
+in Castle Yewe. Times he would be seized with a fit of coughing of so
+violent a nature that Sir Richard bethought him it might well have
+shattered his very insides.
+
+Then, for the space of two days, a most unpleasant transition of
+weathers set in upon them, marked by incessant and dense fogs, heavy
+rains and sharp, driving flurries of snow. So alarmingly was Tyrrell's
+sickness increasing that upon the morning of the fourth day, it
+appeared impossible that he would have sufficient strength longer
+to sit horse. Sir Richard begged him to stay within the herdsman's
+cottage, where they had stopped for the night, till he had ridden
+ahead to summon help. But Tyrrell stubbornly refused to listen to the
+young knight's entreaties.
+
+That day had broken bright, was almost balmy, and brilliantly clear,
+the gray storm-pall having rolled seaward during the night.
+
+"'Twill be a salve to my sore lungs, sire ... this blessed warmth,"
+Tyrrell said to Sir Richard, lifting his nose into the thin air as he
+tottered upon the young knight's arm toward his waiting barb.
+
+With Harold's assistance Sir Richard contrived to seat Tyrrell upon
+his horse; though it was no easy task, all encumbered as he was in the
+heaviest of armor.
+
+"Put hand upon my shoulder, man," Sir Richard said to him after they
+had started, riding close to his side.
+
+"Without aid have I come through life ... alone I'll sit till I fall
+... sire," Tyrrell answered gloomily.
+
+"An you call me king rightfully," said Sir Richard sternly, "put hand
+on my shoulder ... 'tis a command!"
+
+Tyrrell turned upon the young knight a wan smile and then capitulated.
+
+"Now thou art becoming an apt pupil ... sire," he answered in a whisper.
+
+By now they were riding along a part of the Sauchieburn Pass with
+which Sir Richard was not familiar. It was that portion stretching
+northward from the point where he had left it to give battle with the
+Renegade Duke. The country here was more thickly populated than any
+through which they had passed. Drawing upon a high eminence, the three
+travelers could see the smoke from many chimney-tops curling above the
+downs. Away to the left was a cluster of cottages, surmounted by the
+steeple of a church. A good two leagues ahead could be distinguished
+that which appeared to be an inn standing alone against the roadside.
+
+Like a yellow and much broken ribbon the highway fell away from their
+feet, threading in wide, sweeping curves along the narrow, winding
+valley. Upon this roadway, and appearing and disappearing with it
+around the bases of the hills, a company of armed horsemen was riding.
+
+For some time the weight of Tyrrell's body had been bearing momentarily
+more heavily against that of Sir Richard. It could be noted that his
+eyes had lost a great measure of their accustomed brilliancy, and that
+his breaths were coming thick and painfully labored. Sir Richard leaned
+toward him and told him of the approaching horsemen.
+
+"Canst decipher the colors beneath which they ride?" Tyrrell asked
+weakly.
+
+"Methinks I can but just make me out a device in sable upon a field
+gules. The banners do so flutter in the wind," Sir Richard added, "that
+I cannot guess its form."
+
+"Sable upon gules," Tyrrell whispered, without raising his head. "They
+are thine own good men ... sire."
+
+As they drew within easy distance Sir Richard recognized them to be a
+part of the company of knights who had bivouaced around the pavilion of
+purple and black. When the approaching company made out who the three
+horsemen were they set up a great shouting, driving down upon them with
+waving swords and lances. They grew quiet upon the instant, however,
+when they observed that their leader, Sir James Tyrrell, lifted not his
+head, and bore in around him with grave and apprehensive faces.
+
+Suddenly, then, and with a supreme effort of will, Tyrrell straightened
+his tall, gaunt form upon his saddle, scowling meanwhile with
+deep-knitted brows upon the circle of grim warriors gathered about him.
+Sir Richard noted still the pitiful half-haze upon his eyes.
+
+"Knights," he cried, in a deep and penetrating voice; "I have kept my
+vows to thee. Here, now, I bring thee thy leader--Sir Richard Rohan,
+Earl of Warwick; Son of Edward, Duke of Clarence"--he swayed so it
+seemed that he must surely fall. Then, raising himself with that which
+seemed to be a superhuman effort high upon his stirrups: "I acclaim
+this young knight, before all the world, _King Richard IV_!" he
+shouted, and pitched forward, inert, insensible, into the arms of one
+of his men.
+
+Right tenderly did they bear him down the hill till they came to the
+tavern which Sir Richard had glimpsed from the promontory but a short
+while gone.
+
+"'Tis an inflammation of the pleura," he whispered to Sir Richard when
+the young knight was standing beside his bed within a small room of
+the tavern. "'Tis a dangerous sickness ... God wot, an I may or may
+not survive, sire, to witness the fruition of all my labors. But the
+torch is now ready trimmed, awaiting but the application of the spark.
+Grant me the boon of thy promise to continue on thy journey to the Red
+Tavern. Lord Bishop Kennedy shall soon seek thee there. In him thou
+canst repose the utmost confidence; I yield thee into his hands. Give
+thee adieu, sire," he whispered, saluting Sir Richard's outstretched
+hand with his feverish lips.
+
+The dim passageway outside the small room in which Tyrrell had been
+disposed was filled with the low humming of voices, a subdued sound of
+clanking swords and the pale gleamings of points of light on polished
+armor. As Sir Richard stepped through the door, these solemn-visaged
+knights moved silently against the wall and balustrade, thus opening
+him an avenue down the stairs. They made him obeisance, one by one, as
+he passed between; each whispering him a princely name and title, the
+which sang loud in the young knight's ears of the fame of many valorous
+deeds long since set down in history.
+
+A round dozen of them followed him upon the highway, intending to give
+him safe conduct to his destination. Experiencing an intense longing
+to be alone, however, Sir Richard summoned courage to decline their
+proffered services, and thereupon set his stallion's head again toward
+the Red Tavern with none but Harold in his train.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+OF A VISION IN THE FOREST OF LAMMERMUIR
+
+
+Now that he was no longer moving under the masterful influence of
+Tyrrell, Sir Richard began to feel brave to throw aside the honors
+that had been peremptorily thrust upon him. After the manner of an
+ill-wrought suit of armor, they were galling and wearing upon his
+unwilling shoulders.
+
+Being innately modest and not desiring fame or power, Sir Richard
+had always shirked positions in which any obligation of assuming the
+initiative was concerned; and certainly now he felt no desire to leap
+at once to the very pinnacle of such positions. Contrariwise, he felt a
+deep and genuine yearning to be once again, to himself and those about
+him, just plain Sir Richard Rohan, knight, free lance, and good fellow
+welcome met to all of his friends. He was moved by no impulse to seek
+revenge upon King Henry. "For," he argued with himself, "the King
+did but attempt to do the thing which I, were I in his place, would
+have been deficient of the courage to do; to render my sovereignty
+unassailable. An such a momentous matter be at stake, of what slight
+consequence becomes a life more, or a life less? and if, forsooth, it
+chanced to be the life of a friend ... well, so much the worse for the
+friend."
+
+It never dawned upon Sir Richard in his youthful exuberance to consider
+that there were two questions involved: the one of claiming the throne,
+and the other of securing a seat thereon. His belief was genuine that
+the fate of a great empire was suspended upon the slender thread of his
+choice.
+
+As to his breaking faith with Tyrrell and stealing away without first
+journeying to the Red Tavern, he did not consider that for a moment.
+
+Overburdened with a sense of the grave responsibility thus imposed
+upon him, he rode straight through the Forest of Lammermuir without
+once thinking to open the parcel that Isabel had given into his hand.
+Had this not been so, Sir Richard would doubtless have suspected
+a circumstance that was soon to burst upon him in the nature of a
+wonderful surprise.
+
+The Red Tavern, which, upon each previous occasion when Sir Richard
+had approached it, had appeared so forbiddingly lonely, was now become
+a veritable hive of buzzing industry. It was early evening when the
+young knight arrived there; and, in the obscure twilight, he could just
+make out the shadowy outlines of many horses tethered to the trees upon
+both sides of the pass. Scores of blazing, smoking torches set upright
+into the ground shed a weird illumination over this scene of strange
+activity.
+
+Guards were stationed closely round about. "Richard Rohan, knight
+... and squire," the young knight passed word to a pair of them who
+halted and challenged him. Plainly he could hear, then, his name passed
+swiftly forward from lip to lip. When he rode within the circle of
+yellow light and dismounted before the door above which swung the sign
+of the vulture, his coming was greeted by an uproarious cheering, in
+the midst of which he could distinguish loud cries of "_Long live King
+Richard IV!_"
+
+Lord Bishop Kennedy was even then awaiting the young knight's arrival,
+welcoming him after a courteous, formal and dignified fashion. The Lord
+Bishop laid command upon one of his lieutenants; after which, in almost
+the flutter of an eyelid, the noise of talking hushed, the lighted
+torches vanished, and, when the dwindling sound of hoofbeats had died
+away, the tavern resumed its wonted somber and solitary aspect.
+
+Zenas spread table in the cozy warmth of the chimney-side, where Bishop
+Kennedy and Sir Richard took sup and drink together. Since his first
+sight of the tavern the young knight had invested it within his mind
+with an atmosphere of dark lugubriousness; thus was his surprise all
+the more great when, upon Zenas clearing table, the dessert was borne
+in by a silvery-haired woman of a most refined and motherly air, whom
+Lord Kennedy introduced as grandam Sutherland.
+
+"It doth astonish me," said Lord Kennedy, when she had gone from the
+room, "how the good grandam hath preserved her sweetness of temper
+throughout all these years of turmoil and dangers. It was the saddest
+of haps to her when the young prince died--she was like the gentlest
+of mothers to him withal."
+
+"And the young maiden must e'en have been a sore burdensome care," Sir
+Richard suggested.
+
+"Why," quoth Lord Kennedy, "she, sire, is the most noble, amiable, and
+pretty-mannered of all young maidens I have ever known."
+
+It was the first scintilla of emotion Sir Richard had observed
+displayed by Bishop Kennedy. His championship certainly appeared
+genuine. The young knight gathered that the goodman was not
+particularly well acquainted with her volatile tempers. He bethought
+him also that it would ill become him to speak belittlingly of one who,
+by now, was doubtless become his dearest friend's wife. He made shift,
+therefore, to take up another subject, and one that for long had been a
+sore weight upon his mind.
+
+"My lord," said he; "an thou wouldst consent to enlighten my
+understanding of the mysteries surrounding this tavern wherein we sit,
+I would consider it right kind of thee."
+
+"In respect of what, sire?" he asked, between sippings of his wine.
+
+"An it be not a fantasy," said Sir Richard, "when I first tarried
+beneath its roof it was surely three days' journey removed from where
+it now stands."
+
+Bishop Kennedy answered not by word of mouth, but, clapping together
+his hands, summoned Zenas and bade him to fetch them a lighted torch.
+Then, leading the way through the rear door, he depressed the blazing
+rush-light till it revealed a great hole in that which had appeared to
+be a solid foundation of stone. Its rays discovered to Sir Richard a
+pair of broad and heavy wheels set firmly beneath the tavern sill.
+
+"Let these clear away that mystery, sire," Kennedy said. "There are
+seven more similarly disposed beneath the building, which is parlous
+lightly set up. By the dual aid of long, dark nights, and a multitude
+of tugging horses, the Red Tavern became soon a weird and haunted
+thing; moving magically from place to place, discussed in lowered
+whispers by the yeomanry, and shunned by passing wayfarers. Thus, not
+alone was the lamented prince afforded a safe asylum, comparatively
+free from the dangers of discovery, but we were provided as well with a
+meeting place for the captains of our gathering hosts. It has served
+right happily its purpose, sire; and I would that my life had been as
+useful to those about me. Now its work is done. Eftsoons its blazing
+timbers shall proclaim a new light to a tyrant-darkened people."
+
+After that he took his leave to join the army, which was stationed some
+nine miles to the eastward upon the shores of the sea.
+
+By now the moon, a pallid disc, was sailing high in the greenish-blue
+heavens. Feeling the need of an hour or two of solitude wherein to
+meditate upon the wonders by which Sir Richard discovered himself to be
+surrounded, and, if possible, to reconcile his vacillating mind with
+the new complexion which the face of the world had turned upon him,
+he gathered his cloak about his shoulders and walked alone into the
+forest. Once there, he laid himself down upon the soft, dry carpet of
+pine needles, and resigned his thoughts to the ineffable delights of
+fantastical castle-building.
+
+How long Sir Richard lay thus, with his face upturned to the sky, he
+had no means of knowing. It seemed that his eyes began playing a kind
+of game with the interwoven branches of the trees and the moon. Then
+he fell into a sort of doze, where everything withdrew into a haze of
+oblivion till the moment he became suddenly conscious that his ears
+were being ravished by the strains of a charming melody. For quite a
+space he remained like one dreaming; passively drinking in each sweet,
+pure and quivering note. He was dimly aware that this same glorious
+voice had been for days and days singing its wonderful song of love to
+him.
+
+Then, like a flashing of intense light, it came upon Sir Richard that
+this was the voice which he had heard steal out upon the night at the
+moment when Tyrrell, Zenas, and he were burying the dead hound.
+
+Cautiously getting to his feet, and dodging warily from tree to tree,
+he made his way in the direction whence the voice seemed to be coming.
+
+As he ever after regarded it, all of the adventures through which
+he had passed, and which are here set down, were but the prelude to
+the vision of fair loveliness which suddenly presented itself to his
+dazzled eyes.
+
+With her arm linked within that of the silvery-haired old lady, she
+was walking slowly along the forest road, her head uplifted in song. It
+seemed to Sir Richard that the soft moonlight enveloped her lovingly,
+imparting to her wondrous beauty an essence of unreality. The golden
+nimbus encompassing her head added immeasurably to the impression that
+he was but gazing upon an ephemeral picture,--fairy-painted--the which
+must become soon a floating radiance above the roadway and then blend
+insensibly with the air before his captive eyes.
+
+Silently the young knight stood there, with the better part of him
+going out to vie with the silvery moonbeams in tenderly caressing her.
+That grosser portion of him stationed beneath the tree remained, as
+though hewn in stone and clutching deep into the rough bark, till the
+maiden turned to retrace her way into the tavern. When she had gone he
+rushed madly back, stealing furtively to the rear of the building, and
+tremblingly tore open the covering of Isabel's packet.
+
+In it was the cutting of saffron velvet.
+
+Then, impatiently biding his time till they should again draw nigh, he
+sauntered around the corner of the building with his gaze fastened
+upon the moon. He could have made oath that he saw, first, a dozen of
+them, and then none at all.
+
+"Give thee a fair good-night, dame Sutherland," Sir Richard said in an
+agitated voice, "art thou, too, enjoying the moon?"
+
+The grandam dropped him a pretty curtsy, the while the other stood with
+drooping and averted head.
+
+"Thank thee much, sire; I am," the old lady gave him answer.
+
+"'Tis a bonnie night, i' faith."
+
+"Yes, sire, 'tis," curtsying again.
+
+"And the moon--'tis extraordinary bright?"
+
+"Yes, sire, 'tis," curtsying once more.
+
+"I trust the ... young lady--may not suffer an indisposition from the
+dank airs?"
+
+"We have grown accustomed, sire," with another curtsy.
+
+Sir Richard noted for the first time that the aged grandam's head, as
+well as that of her beautiful young companion, was uncovered.
+
+"Yet ... 'tis parlous dank," said he, edging between them and the door.
+
+"I have the honor to present to thy august notice, sire, my beloved
+granddaughter--Rocelia Tyrrell," dame Sutherland yielded.
+
+Sir Richard knew not what he answered. He took her hand, he remembered
+afterward, turned instantly light-headed, and made out to salute it
+rather awkwardly with his lips.
+
+When the young knight came to himself he was intently watching the door
+through which Rocelia had disappeared.
+
+"I wonder whether her robe was of a color saffron?" he kept mentally
+repeating over and over again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+OF HOW SIR RICHARD PLAYED THE KING IN HIS LITTLE KINGDOM
+
+
+Sir Richard broke his fast in the main room below, sitting by the
+fire in the broad chimney. He concluded that the chamber to which he
+had been assigned upon the first night of his visit to the Red Tavern
+was now surrendered to the uses of the ladies; it being the only one,
+so far as he could see, that could boast of a coating of mortar. The
+walls of the remaining rooms abounded in cracks and crannies, the
+which admitted the chill blasts in discomforting volumes. To the
+weary young knight, the roaring blaze by the table's side was a most
+agreeable accompaniment to a very excellent repast. Often afterward
+it recurred to Sir Richard that he ate during that day because of an
+habitual predilection to line his inwards. In solemn truth, however,
+the wine set before him seemed without hint of zest or bouquet, and
+the toothsome viands provided by Zenas might as well have been so much
+sawdust for all the taste that Sir Richard got out of them withal.
+
+With the sun drawing toward the zenith, the earth warmed into a
+semblance of balminess, and the young knight loitered about outside
+in the hope that Rocelia would walk out presently to take the air. It
+entered Sir Richard's whirling head that the hunchback had divined
+the cause of his excessive restlessness; the which the impetuous
+young knight resented by soundly tongue-lashing the fellow. He scarce
+answered Sir Richard a word, but received his acrimonious outburst with
+queer leers, and winks, and knowing smiles. The young knight was fair
+tempted to take the flat of his sword to him.
+
+"I fear me much that Isabel has soured thy accustomed sweet temper ...
+sire," Zenas said, with an intonation that was unmistakably satirical.
+The young knight noted that this was the first occasion upon which the
+crook-back had actually avowed him sovereign.
+
+"Ah! and right willingly would I play the king," Sir Richard thought,
+"an I could but wield empire over one dear subject. And why not,
+forsooth?" his ruminations carried him along. "By'r Lady! who's to
+prevent me from asserting my sovereignty by commanding this young woman
+to be summoned into my presence?"
+
+It was as Sir Richard was striding toward the tavern door to carry out
+his mad project that he glimpsed Rocelia through an upper window. She
+looked out upon him, inclining her head and smiling. Deferentially Sir
+Richard doffed his helm, his courage vanishing from him like rime on a
+mid-August day. The young knight noted that she was wearing a gown of
+saffron velvet.
+
+Then, quickly entering the tavern, Sir Richard commanded Zenas to fetch
+him ink, paper and a quill. "Henceforth," said he to himself, "I'll
+surely play the king; and here shall be my kingdom." But he made up his
+mind to temper his rule in the meantime with somewhat of diplomacy and
+cunning.
+
+"Summon Harold hither," said he to the hunchback; "I'll have speech of
+him."
+
+Directing the note which he then wrote jointly to dame Sutherland and
+Rocelia, he gave it into the foot-boy's hands and bade him to deliver
+it at their door. Then, going outside, he directed the groom to trap
+his stallion; whereupon he started swiftly northward along the forest
+road. Glancing backward as he swept around the point of the brae, Sir
+Richard was pleased to discover both of the ladies at the window waving
+him their adieux.
+
+It was well along in the afternoon when the young knight arrived at
+the inn where Tyrrell was lying. Stretching east and west from the
+little building were long, double lines of white tents. The inn-keeper
+had established him a tap-room in the stable, the which was crowded
+with boisterous, brawling soldiers. It reminded Sir Richard of another
+Babel, so varied were their manners of speech.
+
+Within the tavern, however, all was orderly and quiet, with a strong
+reek of medicines in every corner. For long the young knight seated
+himself by Tyrrell's bed, the while Sir James stormed and raved in a
+frightful delirium of fever; cursing King Richard III.; describing the
+horrible tortures to which his brother had been put; condemning Henry
+for a base usurper, and railing against Douglas and his traitorous
+defection. It must have been a full hour before his mind merged into
+a brief period of calm sanity. Coolly then he counted the pulsings of
+his heart, whereupon he told the young knight that he was sore feeble.
+"'Twill be a week at least," he said, "ere the fever shall have run
+its course. If I am alive after that, perchance I might come safely
+through." He looked at the young knight askance when Sir Richard spoke
+to him of Rocelia, but gave him a word of cheer to deliver to her. The
+young knight remained by Tyrrell's side till again the fever gripped
+him; then took his way downstairs, bestrode his stallion, and clipped
+it along the pass toward his little kingdom.
+
+They must have been harkening eagerly for his coming, for Sir Richard
+found the women both awaiting him in the main room.
+
+"How noble it is of thee, sire," said Rocelia sweetly, when Sir Richard
+had repeated her father's message, "to bethink thee of our grave
+anxiety. How can we ever requite thee?" Whereupon she cast upon Sir
+Richard a shy glance that repaid him upon that instant an hundred fold.
+
+The which, however, did not prevent the young knight from saying: "By
+bearing me company at table, dear Rocelia. I have been dooms lonely
+these two days gone."
+
+Sir Richard noted that Rocelia looked appealingly toward her grandam;
+and, by the same token, so did the young knight. But not appealingly,
+withal. He was not unmindful at that moment that he was indeed playing
+the king.
+
+Sir Richard never afterward forgot that meal in the vague, warm light
+of the chimney-corner; with Rocelia, in a rose-glow of maidenly
+confusion, seated where he could feast his eyes upon the delicate
+transitions of expression upon her beautiful countenance. She was
+garbed in the robe a cutting of which was even then resting against his
+much disturbed heart, though the young knight lacked the resolution
+to tell her so. Perhaps she knew it though, he thought. Whereupon he
+became quite intoxicated with the knowledge that there existed between
+them a bond of secret understanding. They talked, God knows of what, he
+never knew. The dame had fallen into a doze upon one of the high-backed
+benches, for which blessing the young knight offered thanks to
+Morpheus. It gave them a good hour more together than they should
+likely otherwise have had.
+
+Soon after that the good dame snored loudly once or twice and then
+awakened suddenly from the noise of it. She rose immediately and begged
+permission to retire.
+
+"Dost thou not take the sun and air of the morning?" Sir Richard asked
+Rocelia when they were about to leave.
+
+"When the men are not here, and good grandam is not suffering of a
+gout," she answered. "I do so enjoy to wander through the forest, sire."
+
+"Then," said Sir Richard, "upon the morrow, wilt suffer me to be thy
+escort upon such an excursion?"
+
+There followed then a second triangular duel of the eyes. The result
+was similarly happy with the first.
+
+Sir Richard went contented and singing to his bed.
+
+For several glory-filled days thereafter it would be a walk with
+Rocelia in the morning through the forest glades; after which the
+young knight would ride northward to seek tidings of her father's
+condition. Times there were when it seemed impossible that he could
+recover. But, on the eighth day, Sir Richard found him wholly rational
+and well quit of his fever.
+
+He would soon be upon his feet now, he told the young knight, in a weak
+whisper. After that they would set out for Wales, he said, gathering
+their forces along the way, and then march down on London. Sir Richard
+was in no mind to say him yea or nay; his thoughts being every one upon
+Rocelia. When Tyrrell learned of the young knight's daily ride to his
+sick-bed he rendered him the heartiest of thanks.
+
+"'Tis indeed seldom, sire," he said, "that an humble servant is
+permitted the satisfaction of laboring for a grateful king."
+
+Tyrrell was once again become the shrewd and wily politician.
+
+Sir Richard remembered that all the way homeward (he called it home
+within his mind, it being the only place worthy of the name of which he
+knew), his heart was singing a merry lay within his breast, because of
+the good news he was carrying to Rocelia.
+
+What a joyous evening it was they spent together, sitting at the table
+in the chimney-side with Dame Sutherland soundly sleeping upon the
+bench! Sir Richard insisted that Rocelia hum over song after song for
+him; the which she did, trilling them low and sweet. At length she
+struck upon the one for which he had been waiting; the song he had
+heard steal out upon that lonely night when he was engaged with Sir
+James and Zenas in the task of burying the hound.
+
+When she had finished the last note Sir Richard told her of the weird
+circumstances surrounding his first acquaintance with it.
+
+Thereupon, for the first time, the young knight made bold to tell
+her that he had ever since that night carried that same song within
+his memory--and a certain cutting of saffron velvet next his heart
+(forgetting to mention, however, that part of the time when he had worn
+it above his eye).
+
+"Ah! sire," said Rocelia, "can it be that it is thou----" and then
+she paused with lips all of a quiver, her fair head turned toward the
+glowing fire.
+
+"Why!" said Sir Richard, "and did you not know, dear Rocelia, that
+since that night I have been avowed champion of yours?"
+
+"Sire----"
+
+"Call me not sire, dear. Name me Richard," the young knight whispered,
+trying vainly to imprison her hand. "God wot, an you still wish to
+leave, I will bear me away this time the proper maiden!"
+
+"Then ... was it indeed thou," Rocelia whispered, half weeping, half
+laughing, "who bore away my cousin Isabel?"
+
+"Did you not know?" said Sir Richard.
+
+"I but knew that she had gone ... with some knight, I thought it was
+... and that it had been her choice to go. She was ever unhappy after
+we came from London. Oh! sire ... much do I regret that thou hast been
+made the target of one of her mad pranks."
+
+"Let me but once hear Richard on your lips, Rocelia," pleaded the young
+knight.
+
+"I dare not," said she, with an affrighted glance toward her sleeping
+grandam.
+
+"I lay command upon you," said Sir Richard feigning to be stern.
+
+"Well, then ... Richard," said she in the softest of whispers.
+
+Silence for a space.
+
+"It seems," said the young knight then, smiling, "that I have been
+victim of every madcap prank and conspiracy in all Scotland. What quip
+was this of Isabel's?"
+
+"I should not have known, sire----"
+
+"Richard," the young knight corrected her gently.
+
+"Thou saidst but once ... Richard," she whispered, smiling. "I should
+not have known, I say, had it not been for the piece of cloth snipped
+out of my robe. I was sleeping when she sent it through the wall."
+
+"And the note--said she something of a note, Rocelia?" Sir Richard
+asked.
+
+"No, nothing, sire."
+
+"Then here it is," said he, diving into the leathern pouch hanging at
+his baldric and laying the scrap of paper before Rocelia upon the table
+top. The while she was reading it Sir Richard got him out the cutting
+of velvet.
+
+"And here is the other," he said, laying the crumpled bit of cloth
+beside the note, which by now Rocelia had finished reading. "This may
+go to feed the blaze," he added with a light laugh, tossing the note
+into the fire. "The other ... may I have it now from thy dear hand? I
+would renew my knightly vows."
+
+"But thou art now a king ... and may not," she gave Sir Richard answer,
+he thought in a tone and manner of sadness and regret. Suddenly she
+took it up then and thrust it quickly within the lace at her bosom.
+
+"But I am not a king, Rocelia ... or ever shall be," Sir Richard
+protested. "That bit of yellow cloth it was that kept me posting back
+and forth above this barren, dreary country. It drew, and held me
+willing prisoner here. Now I have lost it. To-morrow I will go."
+
+"But, no!" said she, "how canst thou leave when everything is waiting?
+Already hast thou been proclaimed."
+
+"Everything was waiting before I came," he answered. "When I am
+gone 'twill be as though Richard Rohan had never been. As to the
+proclamation ... 'twas but a thing of empty words. I played the king
+here, because thou wert of my kingdom. An I have not thee for subject,
+I am no longer monarch. To-morrow, I say, I take my leave of Scotland."
+
+"But, pray you, not to-morrow ... Richard," cried Rocelia aloud,
+clutching at the cloth upon the table.
+
+There was a look in her eyes that brought the young man bounding to
+his feet. He had meant to gather her within his arms. But he swiftly
+interpreted her frightened backward glance in sufficient season to
+transform the gesture into a sweeping bow.
+
+Grandam Sutherland had but just awakened, and was blinking at the two
+after a confused fashion. She had been aroused by Rocelia's cry.
+
+"God's mercy upon us!" exclaimed the old lady; "it must be near upon
+the stroke of eleven?"
+
+"An the weather hold, we'll walk to-morrow morning?" said Sir Richard,
+taking Rocelia's hand.
+
+"To-morrow morning, sire," she answered, softly pressing his fingers.
+
+The young knight slept no wink that night because of the tender caress.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+OF THE END OF THE RED TAVERN AND ITS FITTING EPITAPH
+
+
+A score of times during the next morning Sir Richard berated the
+sun for a laggard orb. When he was not stationed in front of his
+narrow window gazing out upon the reddening sky, the filmy rags of
+undulating mist floating above the moor, and the round summits of the
+downs blushing rosily above them, he would be polishing up his gear
+and industriously brushing the kinks out of his horse-hair plume. In
+lieu of a Venetian glass, he trimmed his beard to a proper point by
+reflecting his image against his glittering breast-plate, which he hung
+from a nail in the wall beside the window.
+
+Zenas was but just kindling a fire when Sir Richard came down into the
+main room, the while the hunchback was cursing roundly at Harold for
+refusing to bring in more logs. It was their habit to begin quibbling
+the moment they clapt eyes upon each other. Being in the merriest
+of tempers, the young knight soon contrived to straighten out their
+quarrel, posting the foot-boy, happily whistling, in quest of an
+armload of wood. He even succeeded in enticing somewhat of a grin into
+the sullen visage of the crook-back.
+
+"An thou canst keep me in this gallant humor, sire," said he, "thou
+mayst buy me a garb of motley and call me thy fool. See! this twisted,
+gnarled form ... these masque-like features ... and the yellow
+fang-teeth, all loose and tottering.... By'r Lady! sire, they were a
+right famous complement of the cap and bells, quoth 'a."
+
+"An I am king, good, my Zenas," said Sir Richard, "why, thou shalt even
+play the fool."
+
+"An thou be ever a king ... with a proper throne," said he, grinning
+and rubbing his hands together, "then I _am_ a fool. These be parlous
+undertakings, sire ... parlous, deadly undertakings. An I mistake not,
+there'll be a pretty row of poled heads on London Bridge to mark the
+end."
+
+The young knight had it on his tongue to tell him that there'd be
+no heads lopped off on his behalf, but he thought better of it and
+remained silent.
+
+"And the appetite ... the appetite, prithee," Zenas went on croaking,
+as Sir Richard sat beside the loaded table, idly dreaming. "'Tis a
+right savory pasty, this," said he, cutting through its brown covering.
+
+"I'll have naught of sup now, Zenas," the young knight said. "But keep
+it warm ... mayhap later I'll be an hungered."
+
+Downing a goblet of canary, to calm his shaking inwards, the young
+knight went outside. Ordering his stallion instantly to be made ready,
+he galloped madly then against the face of the rising sun, hoping in
+this manner to cool his heated temples.
+
+The light air coming into his nostrils, the swift moving against the
+wind, made him soon feel like a puffed giant upon a pigmy land; an
+enchanted prince upon a magic road.
+
+Sir Richard must have ridden after this fashion something above two
+leagues. Then he came suddenly within sight of the sea, which rolled
+vast above him, like a shimmering green curtain hanging pendant from
+the sky. Hull down on the vague horizon, he saw a ship that seemed to
+be making from the coast.
+
+Upon the beach there remained less than a score of tents to mark the
+encampment of an armed host. One after another, as he looked, they were
+sinking between the white sand dunes. Black spots, reminding him much
+of scurrying sand-crabs, were moving hurriedly in and about them.
+
+The young knight rode down to meet a solitary horseman approaching
+along the road. Presently, by the red cross flaming out of a white
+tunic, he made out that it was Lord Bishop Kennedy. "Give thee a
+good-morrow, sire," the Bishop called out to Sir Richard as they drew
+within hailing distance. "Thou art early abroad, I see?"
+
+The young knight returned his salutation and made answer: "Yes."
+
+"Our forces here," pursued Kennedy, as Sir Richard wheeled and rode
+beside him, "are now withdrawing for the purpose of massing above the
+forest. In a fortnight Sir James will belike be able to sit horse;
+whereupon we shall at once begin our march southward. After to-night,
+but a pile of charred timbers will remain to tell the tale of the Red
+Tavern. And right happy am I withal that the enterprise doth draw
+to a point of focus. 'Twill mark the end of intrigue, jealousy, and
+treachery; the beginning of war-like action."
+
+Conversing in this wise, they drew, at length, within sight of the
+doomed tavern. The young knight glanced upward as he rode toward the
+door and saw Rocelia flash away from the window as she observed that
+Sir Richard was not riding alone. A wave of ineffable emotion surged
+over him as he divined that she had been awaiting his return. It seemed
+an age before Harold came to relieve him of his horse.
+
+When he came inside Sir Richard saw that the table was as he had left
+it.
+
+"Lord Kennedy will take sup with thee," Zenas told him, smiling
+craftily and rubbing his hands together the while.
+
+"I care not to eat," said the young knight. "Where's Lord Kennedy?"
+
+"He begged of thee to yield him but a moment till he had speech of the
+ladies, sire."
+
+Wearing a countenance as impassive as that of a graven image, Lord
+Kennedy came down presently and said that the maiden was suffering of a
+slight indisposition and would not walk with Sir Richard that morning.
+
+There was an appreciable air of constraint about him which revealed to
+the young knight instantly that something was gone wrong. He noted,
+moreover, Zenas' smile of cunning triumph, and guessed that he had been
+the cause thereof.
+
+"I'll have it from her own lips," suddenly declared Sir Richard, his
+hand upon the hilt of his blade.
+
+"Sire!"
+
+"Avaunt with thy empty titles!" he cried. "Dost hear me?... I have
+said!"
+
+"'Tis impossible," said Lord Kennedy, sternly, albeit his manner was of
+the quietest.
+
+"Was that truly her message?" asked Sir Richard.
+
+"It was," said Kennedy, opening him coolly an egg.
+
+"Setting thy bishop's mitre aside," said the young knight quietly, "I
+say that thou liest in thy throat, an this be the maiden's answer!"
+
+With a bound, which overturned his chair and brought the litter of the
+table-top crashing upon the floor, Lord Kennedy was on his feet, his
+naked blade flashing before Sir Richard's eyes.
+
+Kennedy, with the play of blades, was like a child in the hands of the
+young knight. There were scarce above a half dozen passes before his
+sword went humming through the window, taking glass and sash with it to
+the ground.
+
+Sir Richard turned upon hearing a sharp cry in the direction of the
+stair door. Rocelia, all white and trembling was framed within its
+casements. Thinking alone of her, he started for the steps.
+
+"Sire," Lord Kennedy called to him.
+
+The young knight wheeled. With tunic split from chin to skirt, Bishop
+Kennedy was standing in the middle of the floor; grave-faced, ashen,
+but wonderfully calm.
+
+"I have turned traitorous sword against my king," he said. "Thou owest
+me a death, sire."
+
+"Then I'll remain ever in thy debt," Sir Richard made answer. "'Twas
+the fault of my unruly tongue. I ask thy forgiveness, Lord Kennedy.
+And now, come, Rocelia," he said to the frightened maiden, "we'll have
+earned our walk."
+
+Thereupon he went over to where she was standing, placed her yielding
+arm within his and together they walked through the outer door.
+
+"One word with thee, sire," Lord Kennedy called after them when they
+had started for the forest.
+
+"Thou meanest fair by that maiden?" he said, when Sir Richard came back
+to the door. "She is the bonniest in all Scotland, sire," he added,
+with a great sincerity of tone.
+
+"Thou hast spoken truth, Lord Kennedy," the young knight answered,
+reaching out his hand. "And, sir, by the cross of this, my sword, I
+would liefer have her than any proffered kingdom atop of earth."
+
+"And thou wouldst certes be the gainer," Kennedy answered. "God wot how
+this may end, sire," he added, shaking his head. Then, grasping Sir
+Richard's hand for a moment, he turned sadly back into the tavern room.
+
+Before setting out upon their walk the young knight summoned Harold to
+him and laid injunction upon him to trap his stallion, the jennet, and
+a third palfrey for a lady.
+
+"It will be for a long journey, mayhap. Lead them so quickly as may
+be," he told him, "along the road where I first came upon you, and
+await there my coming."
+
+A little corner within the wood there was which Rocelia and Sir Richard
+had come to look upon as all their own. Thither in silence they took
+their way. Upon reaching there she sat down upon a log, leaning her
+back against a tree; whilst the young knight disposed himself upon the
+moss at her feet.
+
+Rocelia's eyes bore plain evidence that she had been weeping. Indeed
+she seemed in the most melancholy of moods; and, when Sir Richard made
+bold to comfort her, would not suffer him even to take her hand. Then
+with many halts and sighs she repeated to him what Bishop Kennedy had
+said to her. Which, in effect, was, that it would be wrong for them
+to be another time alone together. That Sir Richard, being the lawful
+heir to the crown, must have a care of the proprieties, and seek
+companionship among those who were his equals. All this and much more
+Rocelia told him, bravely, with her soft eyes looking sad into his; her
+sweet lips never once faltering from the difficult task imposed upon
+them.
+
+"But," said Sir Richard, "did I not swear to you last night, Rocelia,
+that I would never be king? I am seeking now, and in you, dear, a
+companion through life. Whether you say me yea or nay, 'twill be all
+the same. I mean to leave upon this very day. Will you not trust----"
+
+"Ah! Richard," she said, sweetly, "speak not that word. All trust do I
+impose in you. It is not that, dear," laying her hand lightly upon his
+bared head; "no, 'tis not that. It is that I--I love you too well and
+dearly to assist in this sacrifice of your splendid future. No--no! you
+must not, Richard ... indeed, you must not. I may never lay lips upon
+yours, dear. But, mayhap, you will remember me for a while as a simple
+maid who dared to tell you that she loved you; and who, loving you,
+surrendered you to her country ... and begged you, prayed you to assert
+your rightful position within its boundaries."
+
+"But I cannot, Rocelia," Sir Richard protested. "Got wot an I despise
+not the whole vile conspiracy. An you'll not go with me, I'll go alone
+... and with a heart fair breaking for love of you. Come!" he pleaded;
+"let me bear you away out of this turmoil-ridden land to a place of
+safety, and peaceful quiet, and contentment."
+
+"Ah! and how sweet it would all be, my dear," said she, allowing Sir
+Richard to take and keep her hand, but keeping him firmly at a distance
+withal. "I am so tired of it all. Naught have I known but strife and
+danger since I came out of girlhood. But, ah, no! it may never be. 'Tis
+your duty, Richard, to claim your own; and mine to prevail upon you not
+to abandon it. Never let it be said that my champion was a deserter of
+his colors."
+
+"I held faithfully to the saffron color," declared Sir Richard, "and,
+i' faith, I'll hold to it still."
+
+She smiled sadly, stroking his hair.
+
+"But these other colors, Richard," said she, "were marked upon your
+escutcheon at your birth. You may not desert them."
+
+Sir Richard had been all along looking up into Rocelia's face. He
+dropped his head disconsolately when she set him in the light of a
+deserter. He never knew what he would have answered. He knew only that
+she shrieked suddenly aloud and drew him swiftly close to her bosom.
+
+"For the love of God, dear heart, turn!" she cried. "'Tis Zenas with a
+poniard!"
+
+The young knight wheeled in time to see the murderous crook-back
+plucking his long blade from the earth, where it had buried itself to
+the very hilt under the impetus that was meant to have been expended
+upon Sir Richard's body.
+
+In another moment the young knight had grappled with him; and then they
+went rolling and threshing over the ground in the throes of a deadly
+encounter. "God! what a strength is there in this grossly misshapen
+body!" Sir Richard thought, and though he kept tight hold of the
+hunchback's knife hand, every moment Sir Richard feared that he would
+succeed in turning the blade and driving it home in his neck. So narrow
+was the margin between the young knight and death withal, that once the
+keen point traveled across his throat and opened a slight scratch.
+
+"You will kill my hound? you damned sword-and-buckler knight!" Zenas
+kept hissing in Sir Richard's ear. "You abominable puppet, you would
+cheat my good brother of his head to set you on a throne!--you fustian,
+lack-linen pretender!--you flap-dragon tippler!--I'll send you whirling
+straight to hell, an I get me this poniard home!"
+
+It happened by the merest stroke of fortune that, in their furious
+tumbling about, the hunchback's head struck with a great violence
+against the log whereupon Rocelia had been sitting. His forbidding form
+grew instantly limp and insensible, and the young knight leaped quickly
+to his feet. A drop or two of blood was trickling down his breast-plate
+from the scratch across his neck.
+
+The moment that Sir Richard was fairly up Rocelia was in his arms, with
+her lips laid close upon his. Then, thrusting him impulsively from her,
+she tore open her cloak, ripped a quantity of lace from her gown, and
+began binding it around his neck.
+
+"You'll not be very much hurt, Richard ... dear Dick?" said she,
+kissing him again.
+
+He did not say her too strong a nay (for which he was soon forgiven!),
+for Sir Richard discovered that when he but so much as hesitated he
+had another kiss.
+
+"Oh, Richard, my love," said Rocelia, "take me away. I understand it
+all now--this murderous treachery, this stabbing in the back ... these
+fearsome, dark conspiracies! But take me, dear, to that place of rest,
+and peace, and sweet contentment. Even now I am ready."
+
+Thus, with his arm clasped tight about her, they sought the road and
+their waiting horses. Eftsoons they were on their way, taking the
+narrower road to the left, which would lead them the more directly to
+the hut where the young knight had left de Claverlok.
+
+It was late that evening when they drew out of the deep forest, far
+above and to the northwest of their starting point.
+
+Many leagues behind them, and rising high into the heavens, they could
+see a lurid splotch of light, glowing red and yellow in the mystic
+darkness.
+
+"'Tis the end of the Red Tavern," said Sir Richard.
+
+"Well," whispered Rocelia, "it brought you to me, dear Richard."
+
+"And to me, sweet Rocelia," said the young knight earnestly, "it
+brought you."
+
+"Have I thy permission to speak, Sir Richard?" begged Harold, who was
+standing by.
+
+"Certes, you have, my boy," replied Sir Richard.
+
+"Then let me wish that all of thy troubles shall be as the smoke of
+it," said Harold earnestly.
+
+"'Tis a fitting epitaph," Rocelia said, her hand stealing within that
+of the young knight.
+
+Then, for a little space, they stood there upon the summit of the hill,
+watching the glare of the burning tavern fading and dying away.
+
+"Yes ... a most fitting epitaph," Sir Richard made answer. Whereupon
+they resumed their journey lightsomely, happily, northward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+OF HOW A FLEDGLING DROPPED FROM THE CONSPIRATOR'S NEST
+
+
+The happy travelers found shelter for that night in the kind herdsman's
+cottage where Sir Richard had tarried whilst journeying with Isabel.
+The simple folk displayed a quite lively surprise upon observing that
+the maid with whom the young knight was now traveling was not the same.
+Sir Richard thought that mayhap they imagined that he was engaged upon
+the business of depopulating Scotland of her famous beauties. "There is
+just cause for such a supposition, i' truth," he added to himself.
+
+"I ken weel," the good man said, a glint of Scot's humor in his eyes,
+"that 'e braw English laddies be unco daft. The muckle Auld Hornie be
+in 'e all! But 'e hae yin bonnie lassie with 'e, now, sir knight ...
+yin muckle cantie jo!" and with that he winked at Sir Richard in a
+knowing fashion.
+
+His goodwife, a white-capped dame, busied herself in setting before
+them a "gigot" and a "bit kebbuck"; which translated and assimilated
+into English leg-o'-mutton and cheese. Bearing well in mind the company
+in which it was eaten, it would be a profanation to tell how thoroughly
+the young knight enjoyed that meal withal. But it must be confessed as
+well that the mulled ale was like a goblet of nectar to his palate.
+
+They passed a long and happy evening, Rocelia and Sir Richard, sitting
+by the fire's side beneath the smoke-browned beams of the low-ceilinged
+kitchen. Intently she listened, with her soft eyes bent lovingly upon
+the young knight, the while he recounted the adventures through which
+he had passed. She laughed right heartily when he came to that part
+of his tale where he had rescued her cousin Isabel out of the Red
+Tavern; and told him how bitterly her uncle Zenas had misliked her
+cousin, though all the while standing in somewhat of fear of her sharp
+tongue. Rocelia had known of but three, she said, who had ever held
+the slightest place within Zenas' morbid affections. Of the three, she
+named first the hound, to whose life Sir Richard had put a quietus on
+that first night; then her father; and, last, herself. "Revenge and
+jealousy, I make no doubt, hath armed the crookback's hand against
+thee, dear," she said.
+
+"Richard ... dear Dick," she whispered afterward, when it came to
+parting for the night, "since learning of all these base intrigues,
+these petty jealousies, these crafty plottings and counter-plottings,
+I am no whit sorry to see you leaving them all behind you. I would
+rather that my king should sit ever upon a three-legged stool than
+upon a velvet-tufted and silken-canopied throne won after these wicked
+fashions."
+
+They were out betimes the next morning, albeit the day was none of the
+pleasantest; a thick fog having set in from the sea during the night.
+As they moved slowly over the downs Sir Richard remarked that the
+members of their little party seemed like gray and misty shadows moving
+against a pearly cloud.
+
+Before the middle of the day they drew near the little hut where de
+Claverlok and Isabel would doubtless be waiting. It was fair blotted
+out in the mist, but Sir Richard could make out a vague and shadowy
+form sitting desolate upon a huge boulder by the roadside. Upon a
+nearer approach he recognized it to be the foot-boy Thomas. When he
+caught sight of the approaching company of three he came sliding down
+off the boulder, running to the young knight's side and embracing his
+greaved leg for very joy.
+
+"Oh, sire!" he hoarsely whispered, "the very devil's to pay back
+there," jerking his thumb above his shoulder.
+
+"And now, prithee, what is 't?" asked Sir Richard.
+
+"Came yester morn, sir," he answered, "a great, tall, bearded
+knight,--with the two points of his mustachios turned skyward ...
+so,--vowing that he'd bear Mistress de Claverlok away with him or kill
+everyone in the place. My worshipful master was for having his sword
+at him upon the instant (and he, sire, but just able to be out of his
+bed). But Mistress de Claverlok bars the door and holds the murderous
+knight without. Even I may not be admitted. Hark ye!... I can hear him
+cursing even now. Thus does he carry on all the day. Why, sire, he
+stuck the good doctor from Bannockburn right in the middle ... here,
+sire ... like he were cutting him a cheese. By Saint Peter! but 'tis a
+parlous business!"
+
+"Said you his name, Thomas?"
+
+"He called himself the Renegade Duke ... and vowed that he ate sick
+knights for breakfast. Mistress Isabel doth mightily strive to keep the
+worshipful master indoors. An he could, he would get out, sire, and
+have him pinned like the fat doctor from Bannockburn."
+
+"Vowed him he ate sick knights for breakfast, did he?" said Sir Richard
+grimly. "Mayhap, then, he'll relish a well one for dessert." Whereupon,
+in despite of Rocelia's admonishing cry, the young knight spurred into
+the mist toward the hut.
+
+He saw the fellow clambering upon his saddle when he heard Sir Richard
+drawing near. The moment that he saw who was riding down upon him, the
+craven coward set spurs against his steed and made off at the top of
+his bent up the steep hill and quickly was swallowed up in the fog.
+
+But what a boisterously glad reunion was there when, upon Sir Richard
+halloaing out his name, the hut door was unbarred and set open!
+
+"By the mass, Sir Richard, but it doth mightily comfort me to clap eyes
+again upon thee ... eh! Weak as I am, boy, I'd have given yon miscreant
+somewhat of a battle ... eh. But Isabel would e'en padlock the door and
+thrust key in her bosom ... didst thou not, Dame de Claverlok? But tell
+me, Sir Richard, where hast thou been the while?"
+
+By way of an answer Sir Richard went back and fetched Rocelia out of
+the fog cloud; whereupon the two maids fell into a rapturous embrace,
+shedding some happy tears whilst Sir Richard made haste to explain to
+de Claverlok the case in which they stood.
+
+"Certes, boy, and I can procure thee a priest," shouted de Claverlok,
+responding to a whispered question in his ear.
+
+Then; "Thomas! Thomas!" he bellowed; "post you hot-foot to the goodman
+who tied us a fine knot the week gone. Speed! Avaunt, boy! Have him
+here within the hour's quarter on your horse's back.... Begone!"
+
+"They'll be after thee ... God! but they'll not let thee get free of
+their king-making clutches, an they can help. We'll be ready to journey
+coast-ward, Sir Richard, when the ceremony is over."
+
+Happily, the foot-boy returned soon with the monk, whom de Claverlok
+and the rest succeeded in persuading to do office at Rocelia's and Sir
+Richard's wedding, placating him with a promise of another ceremony
+more in keeping with the dignity of the Church when they should have
+arrived at Bretagne. Besides requiting him quite handsomely for that
+day's services, they paid him to have masses said for the dead doctor
+outside; providing as well for a fitting burial of his body.
+
+It set in to rain before the company of six was ready to start for
+Glasgow. As there had been even now too much precious time consumed,
+they decided to brave the weather and be at once upon their way. To
+their journey's end it was but something above five leagues, but the
+heavy roads made the going a slow and difficult task. By stretching
+a tent-cloth over a rude frame, upheld by four poles, the foot-boys
+contrived for Isabel and Rocelia a passing shelter from the rain,
+which was by now pelting hard and steadily against the helmets of Sir
+Richard and de Claverlok.
+
+They had ridden after this cumbrous fashion near half the distance when
+Sir Richard thought he heard the dull rumbling of a carriage to their
+rear. Adventuring the hazard of a hidden bog, the party turned aside
+and rode upon the moor till they had set an impenetrable curtain of
+mist between themselves and the highway. Leaving his horse in Harold's
+keeping the young knight crept back, stationing himself behind a thick
+clump of gorse growing by the roadside.
+
+Accompanied by a score or more of outriders streaming water, shedding
+loud curses, and flogging their tired mounts for everything that was
+in them, came a great lumbering coach and six, looming gigantic as a
+castle in the weird fog. As it passed where Sir Richard was lying, he
+noted that its wheels were three quarters sunken in the deep mud, which
+rolled off them as they turned after the manner of a miniature cataract.
+
+"How far, sayst thou, it will be from Glasgow?" He heard a voice,
+which he knew well for that of Douglas, roaring from within its depths.
+
+"Said I not that they would be after thee, Sir Richard ... eh?" de
+Claverlok observed when the young knight went back and told them what
+he had seen.
+
+They were perforce obliged to give the coach a good start, for, by
+now, the mist was rapidly thinning; and they durst not put themselves
+within sight of Douglas' men. Before reaching the gates of Glasgow they
+divided their little party in twain. Three entering from the north,
+three from the south, with an arrangement to foregather at King's Dock,
+upon the River Clyde. It was decided upon that Sir Richard, having
+nothing to do within the town, should make his way at once to the
+harbor and seek berths on shipboard for France. Whilst de Claverlok and
+Isabel, having to attend to the business of Isabel's inheritance, would
+join them later at the river's side.
+
+They were in no trouble to enter the town, and made shift to take the
+narrower and less frequented streets leading to the water-front. As
+they were riding through, Rocelia pointed to a fellow, garbed in the
+Douglas livery, who was nailing a proclamation, writ in great, glaring
+letters, against a plank fence.
+
+It was an offer of a reward of two hundred and fifty pounds for Sir
+Richard's arrest and detention; the which was followed by a neat and
+accurate description of his person and apparel. Before they got to the
+next corner there were a dozen idlers, with mouths agape, standing
+before it and taking it in.
+
+Knowing well that Sir Richard's chances of getting safely away were
+diminishing in proportion with the number of placards that were being
+then posted over the town, they made all haste to reach the river and
+get safely aboard ship.
+
+Without mishap our travelers came anon to King's Dock. Sir Richard was
+most gratified to discover that there was a great ship, above which
+rose three towering masts, riding at anchor in the midst of the harbor.
+He gazed longingly across at her, wishing that they were all safe
+bestowed upon her lofty and much ornamented poop.
+
+Dismounting, and bidding Harold to do the same the while the young
+knight lifted Rocelia to the rough paving stones, he sent them both
+posting into a tavern. "The sooner we draw free of the streets the
+better," he thought. Beckoning a sailor then, who was watching them
+from the quay, Sir Richard handed him a shilling and told him to
+tie him the three horses in a dark and narrow alleyway near hand.
+"I' faith, 'twill be the last I shall ever see of them," he said to
+himself; and not without a feeling of regret that he would never again
+bestride the strong back of his faithful stallion.
+
+"Where can I find me the captain of yonder ship?" Sir Richard asked of
+the sailor, as he came slouching out of the dark alleyway.
+
+"Thou'll find him in there--where the sack flows thickest," the sailor
+answered, pointing to the tavern wherein Rocelia and Harold had taken
+shelter. "The ship's ready and all laden for the sea now, sir knight,
+with the tide flowing strong. I swear to you the master's boat's
+a-riding at the dock-side now ... but he be right bravely liquored up,
+quoth 'a, and no one dare go a-nigh 'im to tell it. 'Tis a damned bad
+thing ... the sack ... but, begging your pardon, sir knight, an this
+shilling be good siller, I bethink me I'll buy me a swig or two."
+
+"Of what name may your ship be?" queried Sir Richard.
+
+"She'll be the 'Trinity,' sir knight," said he, "and the bonniest hulk
+that ever cut water down the Firth."
+
+"See you here, my man," said the young knight, as he was starting for a
+tap-room upon the opposite side of the street. "Are you wanting to line
+your pocket with a rose noble or two?"
+
+"With nothing but this bit shilling ... and the town fair flooded with
+rum? God wot, and I am not!" said he.
+
+"Then do you keep stand here," said Sir Richard; and, hurrying to the
+tavern door, he bade Harold and Rocelia to join him outside.
+
+"Now, hark ye well," resumed Sir Richard, to the waiting sailor. "Lead
+this lady and my squire to the dock there, bestow them safely within
+the captain's boat, and wait you there till I come ... here," he added,
+handing him the promised coin. "There'll be another, an you do this
+thing to my taste."
+
+"I'm a-thinking as what you don't know my master, sir knight,"
+observed the sailor, gazing hard at the tavern door.
+
+"No. But I will in another moment," said the young knight, going for
+the door.
+
+"Captain of the 'Trinity,'" he shouted when he had swung it wide.
+
+"The very devil and all! and what's this, prithee?" the drunken captain
+shouted, rolling heavily down upon Sir Richard and quite filling the
+open space.
+
+In a very few words the young knight told him just what he wanted,
+making offer of all his remaining nobles, saving one, if he would
+consent to bear them all safely into France.
+
+"Six, sayst thou? Any women?" the seaman asked.
+
+"Two," Sir Richard replied.
+
+"Then ... damn thy nobles!" he bellowed, slamming the door in the young
+knight's very face.
+
+"But I tell you that you must do this thing," Sir Richard persisted,
+again setting open the door.
+
+"What! hell, man!" he shouted, turning purple in the face.
+
+"I say you must."
+
+"I'll pitch thee headfirst out, an thou sayst that again!" the captain
+bawled.
+
+"I repeat, sir captain, that we must take thy ship," said Sir Richard.
+"Moreover, I tell thee to thy teeth thou canst not pitch me out."
+
+"I'll wager a noble," he returned, peeling him off his cloak and
+great-jacket.
+
+"An I put thee out," said Sir Richard, "wilt thou take six on ship and
+fifty nobles in hand?"
+
+"An thou goest out ... what then?" said he.
+
+"Ten golden discs for thy trouble," the young knight made laughing
+rejoinder.
+
+"Done," said the captain.
+
+Sir Richard did not much like the curious crowd gathering closely
+around them, but he knew well that he must accept the hazard. It was
+the only way to win to the ship.
+
+Well, they went at it then, and how the chairs and tables standing near
+did tumble, roll and clatter about their flying heels! The captain was
+of a similar size and build with Bull Bengoff, and it was somewhat like
+tugging at an enormous animated hogshead to get him moving withal. But
+Sir Richard got him started rolling toward the door presently, and
+then, with one mighty heave, he sent him tumbling over and over down
+the stone steps.
+
+"What saidst thou was thy name, sir knight?" the captain asked, sitting
+prone upon the paving stones and rubbing the top of his pate. There
+went a loud laugh around at his earnest manner of asking the question.
+
+Walking down the steps, Sir Richard stooped, whispering it close to his
+ear.
+
+"God's mercy upon me!" he shouted, getting as quickly as might be to
+his feet and winding his great arms about the young knight's neck. Sir
+Richard at once set again to tugging, bethinking him that they were
+again to have at it.
+
+"No, no!" shouted the captain, laughing, "I've had my belly full of
+that---- God! dost thou not know, man? That ship in the offing yonder
+doth belong to him whose wealth and titles were left all to thee ...
+are even now thine. Right glad will old Duke Francis be to have me
+fetch thee back. Thou art of age now, and can claim thy inheritance."
+
+"My benefactor ... who is he?" asked the young knight in an amazed
+whisper.
+
+"Who _is_ he? Why, he's dead, Sir Richard, these nineteen years ...
+'twas the man after whom thou wert named--Richard Neville, Earl of
+Warwick ... often styled 'king-maker.' But come! come inside," he
+cried, taking the young knight's arm; "we'll have a bowl or two of sack
+and a right juicy pasty together, Sir Richard. Let the damned ship
+wait!"
+
+"But, listen," Sir Richard whispered, "I'm in the direst peril. 'Twould
+be well an thou couldst get me on board thy ship at once."
+
+Just at that moment they saw de Claverlok, Isabel, and Thomas ride upon
+the King's Dock out of a side street. Looking away from the river, Sir
+Richard saw a band of horses, with Douglas at their head, coming above
+the hill at a breakneck speed.
+
+"Come!" the young knight shouted, clutching the good captain's arm; "do
+not tarry for thy cap--there's not one tick of the clock to spare."
+
+Which indeed there was not, for they had but just tumbled into the boat
+and drew clear of the quay when Douglas and his horsemen rode furiously
+upon it.
+
+"Come hither, Sir Richard ... sire!" Lord Douglas called. "Prithee, do
+return. I have here the messages to show thee. The messages thou didst
+bring me from Henry. All signed, thou dost remember, by thy good self
+and my councilmen. Come back! but a moment's speech would I have of
+thee ... sire."
+
+"I wish thee well of thy enterprises, Lord Douglas," the young knight
+shouted back. "Make kings an thou wilt, I'll have none of it. Thou
+canst give me nothing.... I have beside me here, my lord, the best that
+Scotland has to give."
+
+Then, he remembered afterward, Rocelia took his hand, standing beside
+him in the captain's boat, and together they waved the great Douglas a
+last farewell.
+
+When they had climbed to the topmost deck of the great ship they saw
+another cavalcade of armed men riding down to the river front from
+out another street. Sir Richard noted above their plumed helmets a
+bedraggled banner, bearing a device sable upon a field gules.
+
+"They are your father's men, Rocelia," Sir Richard said, gathering her
+close to his side.
+
+"Yes, Dick," said she. "God keep him from all harm and bring him safe
+to us some future day."
+
+Soon, then, with great brown sails bellying in the wind, they dropped
+down the Firth of Clyde, with the twinkling lights of Glasgow fading
+dim in the distance.
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
+preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
+
+Simple typographical errors were corrected. Occasional unmatched
+quotation marks were corrected when there was no ambiguity.
+
+Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
+
+Page 142: Spurious closing quotation mark removed after: he wanted to
+know?
+
+Page 173: Missing opening quotation mark added at start of: "But
+where's the....
+
+Page 189: Spurious closing quotation mark removed after: What quarrel,
+... eh?
+
+Page 333: "with her eyes to follow" was misprinted as "eves".
+
+Page 340: Double-quote mark changed to apostrophe at start of: 'tis
+passing----
+
+
+
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