mond. "My brother lives! He lives for thee alone! I have come to
lead thee to him, if thou wilt go. But first, sweet mistress, let me
take thee to our Prince. It is our noble Prince who has come to see into
this matter his own royal self. I had scarce hoped for so much honour,
and yet I ever knew him for the soul of generosity and chivalry. Let me
lead thee to him. Tell him all thy tale. We have the craven foe in our
hands now, and this time he shall not escape us!"

Gaston ground his teeth, and his eyes flashed fire, as he thought of all
the wickedness of Peter Sanghurst. He was within the walls of Basildene,
his brother's rightful inheritance; the memory of the cruelty and the
treachery of this man was fresh in his mind. The Prince was hearing all
the tale; the Prince would judge and condemn. Gaston knew well what the
fate of the tyrant would be, and there was no room for aught in his
heart beside a great exultant triumph.

Giving his arm to Joan, who was looking absolutely radiant in her
stately beauty, he led her down into the hall below, where the Prince
was seated with some knights and nobles round him -- Master Bernard de
Brocas occupying a seat upon his right hand -- examining witnesses and
looking at the papers respecting the ownership of Basildene which were
now laid before him. At the lower end of the hall, his hands bound
behind him, and his person guarded by two strong troopers, stood Peter
Sanghurst, his face a chalky-white colour, his eyes almost starting from
his head with terror, all his old ease and assumption gone, the innate
cowardice of his nature showing itself in every look and every gesture.

A thoroughly cruel man is always at heart a coward, and Peter Sanghurst,
who had taken the liveliest delight in inflicting pain of every kind
upon those in his power, now stood shivering and almost fainting with
apprehension at the fate in store for himself. As plentiful evidence had
been given of his many acts of barbarity and tyranny, there had been
fierce threats passed from mouth to mouth that hanging was too good for
him -- that he ought to taste what he had inflicted on others; and the
wretched man stood there in an agony of apprehension, every particle of
his swaggering boldness gone, and without a vestige of real courage to
uphold him in the hour of his humiliation.

As the Prince saw the approach of Joan, he sprang to his feet, and all
the assembled nobles did the same. With that chivalrous courte