s riding dress already."

"With all my heart," answered the knight readily, "an he can ride
the forty miles betwixt this and tomorrow at the same hour; for I
do not purpose to be long absent."

"Bertram would ride all day and all night and feel it not,"
answered Edred with a proud smile; "and he loves the sight and the
smell of the salt sea, and would be loath to miss the chance of
seeing it. Father, art thou going to aid Brother Emmanuel to fly?
Is there peril for him abroad?"

The knight bent a quick, keen glance upon his son.

"I fear so, my boy; and Brother Emmanuel himself thinks that ill is
meant him. And it is better to seek safety in flight at the first
hint of danger than to dally and delay, and perhaps find at last
that it is too late to fly. Thou, my son, wilt for this one day and
night be left in charge of thy mother and thy home and all within
it; for I must needs take with me Warbel and a score of our
stoutest fellows, for the lonely road to the coast is none too safe
for travellers of the better sort. Be thou watchful and vigilant,
and keep thine eyes and thine ears alike open. Heed well that the
gates be closed early, and that all be made safe, and let not
Brother Emmanuel adventure himself without the walls. Use all
discretion and heed, and fare thee well. I shall reach the coast
tonight, and do my business with all speed, and be in the saddle
again with the light of dawn, so thou mayest look to see us again
before noon."

And with a tender farewell to his wife, the knight mounted and rode
away with his gallant little train; and the lady looked after him
from the window, and said to Edred, who quickly came to her to
learn more, if he could, of the words he had recently heard:

"Now may the blessed saints and our Lord Himself be with him! for
no braver and truer gentleman lives in the length and breadth of
this land. There be few, indeed, who would imperil their own safety
rather than yield up one who is after all little more than a
stranger. Heaven send that he repent not this deed! May God be with
him in all his ways!"

"My mother," said Edred cautiously, "is it that Brother Emmanuel is
in sore peril? He is so devout and faithful a son of the Church
that it is hard to credit it."

"In sooth, my son, these be matters hard to be understood; but thy
father truly holds that he were safer out of this country and out
of reach of the Prior of Chadwater and the Lord of Mortimer. Men's
words can be