quite against my will; nor did one word pass there between Abbot Martin and myself about the child. It matters little whether you believe my words or not, for I repeat again, be he in whose charge he may, he is where you shall hardly find him for the present; but as to my dealings with the abbot, if it pleases you to ask, your guest Sir Nicholas le Hardi was a witness to them, and you may have his knightly word, if that will content you, to quiet that suspicion." Sir Godfrey hesitated, and gave the priest a glance which he intended to be searching; it might as well have fallen upon a mask of ice. Baffled and puzzled, he yet hardly gave up the thought.

"By St Benedict!" he exclaimed, "if I had good cause to think there had been any false dealing on the part of the holy brotherhood, I would make them sing miserere for it till their cloister rang again! Yet I doubt there is scarce so much Christian love between ye, that ye should be thus deep in each other's secrets on the sudden; and I confess I did hold Abbot Martin for a wiser man than to thrust his hand willingly into other men's quarrels. Well-we may chance to ride that way to-morrow. But beware, I warn you, lest you carry this a step too far for both of us. If it is to be battle from this time

forth between us, down with the barriers-laissez aller !"

"And shall we cry, 'Heaven defend the right?"" said the chaplain, with his old smile. "Nay, Sir Godfrey; I at least have given no challenge-I have but stood on my defence; and when noble knights hold rendezvous together to hunt us down, we meaner animals have no defence but flight."

The violence of the knight's passion was over, and he looked almost admiringly on the other's cool selfpossession. "It will cost the fiend himself a hard day's hunting, Giacomo," he said, "to bring thee to bay! but 'twill be a quarry he may well boast of. I have no stomach nor patience to track such subtle game; but I warn you again, I will he led no fool's chase at your pleasure. Be wise, and bring back the child-what matters a hasty word?"

"It matters this much," said the priest: "it cannot be unspoken. But I say too, be wise, and let not this breed a quarrel between us. But come what may of it, I have taken my course, and I leave you to take yours."

He moved to the door as he spoke, and though the knight made a halfmovement forwards as if to stop him, removed the bolt, and passed from the chamber.

The bright autumn morning had tempted the idlers of Ladysmede to a council in the sunny courtyard below. Picot the hunter was there, with a leash of greyhounds, awaiting orders from Sir Godfrey; and meanwhile leaning over the low wall, and holding his usual gossip with the old cellarer, Stephen, who had treated him to a morning's draught of ale, in return for such small scraps of country news as his rambles by wood and water-side enabled him to purvey. Young Raoul the esquire was there too, dividing his attention between Picot's talk and the adjustment of a new mantle which was at present the main object of his affections. Menat-arms and serving lads lay or lounged about in various attitudes

of laziness, but it was to these three that the conversation was chiefly confined; for Robin Armourer, who made one of the group, was a man whose blows were readier than his words at any time, and he now stood leaning against the window-sill, blinking in the sunshine, in a state of very doubtful consciousness.

But their usual light topics of discourse were soon superseded by a piece of intelligence which, for the time, even distracted the young esquire's thoughts from their favourite subject himself and his appoint

ments.

Stephen, called within for a moment to receive some orders from a domestic, returned with the announcement of the child Giulio's sudden disappearance. He was little

known to any in the household; for his time was spent almost entirely in the company of Father Giacomo, and his quiet ways were little suited to such rough companionship as he would have found in most of Sir Godfrey's following. He was therefore less of a favourite amongst them than a boy of his age would otherwise have been, and from his marked attachment to the Italian, had shared something of his unpopularity. Still, the rumour of his being thus unaccountably missing was sure to cause a general feeling of disquiet; and old Stephen's countenance especially wore a troubled expression, when it became evident that no clue to this strange circumstance was to be had from any of those present.

"I reckon he is gone back to where he came from," said Picot, at last; "he comes here o' the sudden, and he goes o' the sudden, too; I had as lief as a new jerkin that others of his company that I could name "-and here he looked round him cautiously -"had taken flight with him." "I would be very loth the little lad came to harm," said Stephen, shaking his head doubtfully.

He was never likely to come to much good," replied the hunter; "he had never the ways of a well-to-do child. I mind well, and so does Master Raoul, when I brought him to see the rarest cock-fighting that we had last Shrovetide, he told me, in his outlandish fashion, he did not care for such cruel sport, quotha! I count him to have but little good English blood in his veins. Why, there is my youngest knave, that is but five years old come Childermas, will clap his hands and shout with the best, and cried because he had not strength enough to wring the neck of a craven."

""Tis very well for you to say so, Picot we all have our gifts; but he was a proper child in his learning, and of a very gentle wit. He could read like any clerk-'twas wonderful. It is but a four or five days back that he sat here by me on the wall, and showed me a book he had with marvellous cunning pictures in it, and told me all about Peter, and John Baptist, and Herod, and a many

blessed saints: 'twas as good as a mass to hear him."

"Herod was none of a saint," said Picot: "I never heard his name but to a hound-he was own father to Rob Miller's brindled bitch Marian."

"He was there in the book," replied the indignant cellarer; "and you may see him figured on the wall in the Lady's aisle in Lowcote, with a crown on his head, sitting on a throne well-nigh as high as Our Lady's-as big a saint as any of the rest; but thou art little better than a heathen, I fear me, Picot, and neither knowest nor carest for ought beyond thy craft."

"If I know my craft, 'tis more than some know," retorted Picot : "this ale smacks mightily of the cistern." He winked at the young squire as he spoke.

"How!" cried Stephen, seizing the jack out of the hunter's hand, and testing the quality of its contents-"thou liest, varlet! Wilt please you to taste it, Master Raoul? better was never malted."

"You will please to excuse me," said the squire, waving the jack from him daintily: "I am far from misdoubting its strength, good Stephen, but 'tis too heavy a liquor for the morning."

"Go draw us another measure, Master Cellarer," said Picot; "and Robin shall be judge between us, though I have little fear but the next will taste better."

The cellarer hesitated, and was preparing a look of offended dignity; but he cast a glance round, and saw that the laugh was against him; so he wisely joined in it, and turned the tables in his own favour by at once descending to his own dominions, and reappearing with two foaming measures, of which he invited all the rest to partake, but would not allow Picot to taste until he had made public and solemn recantation of his slander.

"Has Sir Godfrey given order for any search for this young fledgling?" resumed the squire, when the laugh had subsided.

"I have heard nought of it," said Stephen; "but he seemed mightily disturbed, they say, and has had conference with the priest in his

own chamber. Now, if there be any devilry in this old house-as, the saints preserve us! I sometimes fear there is-I reckon that grinning ape, with his white teeth and black

eyes

There was a slight rustle behind the speaker; and with swift step and downcast look the Italian passed close by him from the house. He moved his hat slightly in return for Raoul's hurried attempt at a graceful salutation, and shot a rapid glance at the old cellarer, as the latter turned round, and almost dropped the vessel he was holding.

"Holy St Bridget!" said Stephen, leaning his pursy sides against the doorway, "he must sure have heard me! did ye mark that cursed leer in his eye? I have eaten my bread in this house ever since I was born, and should eat but little if I left it-that I wot well; and I have to bear much, and will bear much, from my lawful lord, Sir Godfrey; if it contents him to call me fool and dotard, let him do his pleasure we know cur duties here, Master Raoul, from squire to scullion; but that man's evil looks-christened men are not called upon to abide them, and ought not they poison the good victuals and drink within me, and are going nigh to slay me, body and soul too. I feel it here, masters," continued the poor cellarer, letting his hands wander over his capacious person as if in search of the most painful spot; and in truth he looked very pale.

"If he be found with a stray bolt in his body one of these moonlight nights," said Picot, looking vengefully after the priest as he crossed the drawbridge, "I trust none of ye will look too close to see if my mark be on it; I never yet had fair day's sport if he came across me in the morning. There has never been seen a dozen head of game in Wyfel's Wood ever since I found him maundering there with one of them evillooking books he carries; there be no saints' pictures in them, Master Stephen-I can tell a breviary when I see it, though mayhap ye doubt it; but 'tis my belief the honest birds and beasts be frighted at such outlandish learning."

"Nay, nay, Picot: the books will

hardly startle the game so much as that elder urchin of thine with his half-broken pup," said Raoul. “Best keep him out of Wyfel's Wood, if the game is to lie quiet; I would not give a mark for his life if Sir Godfrey catch him there as I did. I grant ye, friends, Father Giacomo has strange ways; but he is a fine scholar, and has seen much of the world, and there is somewhat to be learnt from him."

The young esquire, though, like all the other retainers, he stood in some awe of the chaplain, had rather affected his conversation latterly, and was considerably impressed by his unusual stores of learning and information. Raoul would very much have liked to have been an adept in all accomplishments, scholarship included - that is, if his education could have been completed without any trouble on his own part. He believed himself to be so, to a certain extent, naturally.

"Well," said Picot, returning to the charge, "I see no good in booklearning myself, unless it be for priests, and suchlike. It only spoils a man's eye and hand."

66

Spoken like a very churl," said Stephen: "there is young Waryn Foliot of the Leys, now; he has studied two years or more in Paris, and hath read more books, I dare almost say, than this foreign priest himself, and in more godly fashion; but he shall give thee fifty yards in twelve score, Picot, and shoot thee for thy forester's place."

Waryn Foliot's skill as a marksman was too well known to be gainsaid amongst his neighbours; for though the young student had been wont to mix but little in the knightly sports to which his father's rank gave him admission, he had stood at the royal butts when the king lay at Michamstede, and maintained the honour of his county there against some of the best archers in England. Picot, therefore, with a laugh of philosophical indifference, changed the conversation to a less personal subject.

"What does this stranger knight here, Master Raoul canst tell us? My lord seems mightily taken with his company; and yet, for my part,

I could easy find a man I had liefer drink with."

Raoul was something of the same opinion himself, privately; for the Crusader was wont to treat the gay young squire with very curt civility. It did not become him, however, to unbosom his secrets before his present audience, and he contented himself by replying carelessly to Picot's question.

"His business in these parts is money-raising for King Richard. A scarce article, even with princes it seems, is that same commodity of silver; I would not care if I had his sacred majesty's warrant to raise a little for myself. I take it our worshipful master has his reasons for making much of his guest-he holds it wise to fly with the falcon when there's fowl to be struck. Well, come what may, Master Stephen, they will scarce squeeze aught out of us poor liegemen's pockets; I would, though, I had a cellarer's place."

"To be always filling for other folk," said Stephen, with a laugh; a brave way to grow rich, that is. But do none of ye know," he continued, addressing Raoul with the satisfied air of one who is conscious of imparting some news of interest, "that this Sir Nicholas is here for another purpose also?"

"Nay, what?" said the esquire, with affected indifference.

"He is come as a suitor to the Lady Gladice."

"Ha! say ye so?" said Raoul, stirred at once into a degree of curiosity quite plebeian.

I had it from his own bodysquire, but an hour ago; he is a conversible enough man if his morningcup be to his liking. Faith, and I drank with him right heartily to Sir Nicholas's merry wooing; for in these wild times our master may well be glad to marry his ward on a stout knight that can hold his own when he hath it. Ay, and 'tis time, too, she were well provided of a husband -'tis full time."

"She were a prize worth winning," said the hunter.

"Ay, there go many broad manors with her, Picot; and from what I gather, this Sir Nicholas hath some of them."

"As fine a lady as I would wish to set eyes on," said Picot; "tall and straight, and sits a horse royally

dost remember her at the hawking, Master Raoul? I had well-nigh missed the little merlin's first cast with looking at her."

"She has a sweet figure," said the esquire, looking at his leg.

"Look you now," said the cellarer, "how you young men talk! as if a pair of bright eyes and a delicate turn of body were an inheritance for a man! 'tis strange the world gets no wiser. Ye both know her aunt, Dame Elfhild-well-a-way! some five-andthirty years ago, though I could think it had been scarce ten! she was talked of for her beauty far and near; and well I mind the noise that was made of her, by knights and squires too, at the great jousts at Lincoln, where good Sir Rainald, heaven rest him! broke his leg; well, for all the cry she made, she was never wed to this day, though Sir Amyas he that married her cousin, and was father to this damosel ye prate of he did play the fool about her for a while; but the cousin had the lands, look ye, though she lacked the beauty, and he made a wiser choice; and a great comfort it was to him, I warrant ye, when Dame Elfhild's face, that was such a marvel, had grown as yellow as my doublet, and her nose hooked like a gos-hawk's-as ye can see for yourselves any day-and there was not a penny to choose between his own dame's looks and hers -a great comfort he must have felt it, that the good broad woods and meadows showed as fresh and fair as ever."

Whatever reply Raoul was about to make-and youth has seldom been at a loss for arguments in such a cause-was cut short by the hasty approach of his brother esquire, who, though of somewhat humbler birth (for Raoul came of gentle blood), assumed the privilege of years and experience to exercise a certain degree of authority over his young comrade, which the boy thought it due to his dignity to chafe at occasionally in public, but which, on the

le, he submitted to with good and temper, and which had ore than once the means of

keeping him from provoking Sir Godfrey's violence. They were excellent friends at heart; perhaps all the more so from the difference in their age and disposition.

"So," said the new-comer, "here I find your young idleship, as I supposed, holding a fool's court of japers and talemongers as usual. In sooth, my good friends all, I should like to see the worshipful Sir Godrey make one here among you just at this present, in the blessed mood which it pleases him to be in this morning! You sirrah, Robin! if it be not too great a disturbance of your leisure, it may concern you to know that the black gelding wants a shoe, and that Sir Godfrey rides forth early this afternoon, and might have a fancy that such little matters should be looked

to; and you, Master Raoul, will it please you to see to the ordering of your master's riding - armour, and make ready yourself to ride with us so far as Willan's Hope-or had I best carry word to Sir Godfrey that you have other business in hand?"

"In good time, Baldwin, in good time," said the younger esquire, moving off at once, though rather deliberately, and casting a laughing look back at the others, as if to clear himself from all suspicion of being influenced in his movements by any weak-minded reverence for his elders. He hastened his steps, however, when Sir Godfrey's voice was heard in the distance, even louder pitched than usual, and the cellarer also disappeared in search of his duties.

The afternoon sun flashed bright upon their steel harness, as Sir Godfrey and his guest, with a gallant train of esquires and men-at-arms, rode out over the drawbridge on their way to the old Saxon tower of Willan's Hope, where the Lady Gladice kept her maiden state under the moral guard of her kinswoman, and the more substantial and efficient protection of the stout seneschal and liegemen of her father's house. It was a privilege rarely conceded to an heiress of those warlike days to occupy a house of her own even under such precautions. In the present case, several circumstances had combined to procure her this unusual indulgence. Sir Godfrey, under whose guardianship, as one of her nearest relatives, she had been left by her deceased father, had indeed suggested that, in accordance with all established precedent, she should make her home at Ladysmede; but to this proposition Gladice had steadily refused to agree, and had declared her determination rather to seek a temporary refuge in the cloister- or even to take the veil at once-than to become an inmate of her kinsman's rude and licentious household. The consciousness that the Manor would scarcely serve as the ideal of a maiden's bower, might hardly in it

self have had sufficient weight with de Burgh to induce him to submit quietly to this refusal; but the alternative of the convent would have interfered very materially with his own views in the matter, and he well knew that any such determination on her part-especially since she had some claim to an independent voice in the matter, being of age at her father's death-would have been strongly supported by one whose power and influence was just then at its highest, and whose displeasure even he would have been cautious of incurring-William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely. He was a distant relative, and had in early life been a close friend of Sir Amyas; and in his household the young heiress would at once have found shelter and protection, had she chosen to appeal to his good offices. But the lady of Willan's Hope- and possibly the knowledge of this was an additional motive with Sir Godfrey-had what was less common, or at least less boldly professed in those days than at present a will of her own; she would have gone into a nunnery and taken a veil of any colour, rather than have made her abode at Ladysmede under its present owner; but she very much preferred to remain her own mistress in the old Tower, dull