treasure it is."

The Lady Tiphaine smiled across at her husband. "You have often told
me, Bertrand, that there were very gentle knights amongst the English,"
quoth she.

"Aye, aye," said he moodily. "But to horse, Sir Nigel, you and yours
and we shall seek the chateau of Sir Tristram de Rochefort, which is
two miles on this side of Villefranche. He is Seneschal of Auvergne, and
mine old war companion."

"Certes, he would have a welcome for you," quoth Sir Nigel; "but indeed
he might look askance at one who comes without permit over the marches."

"By the Virgin! when he learns that you have come to draw away these
rascals he will be very blithe to look upon your face. Inn-keeper, here
are ten gold pieces. What is over and above your reckoning you may take
off from your charges to the next needy knight who comes this way. Come
then, for it grows late and the horses are stamping in the roadway."

The Lady Tiphaine and her spouse sprang upon their steeds without
setting feet to stirrup, and away they jingled down the white moonlit
highway, with Sir Nigel at the lady's bridle-arm, and Ford a spear's
length behind them. Alleyne had lingered for an instant in the passage,
and as he did so there came a wild outcry from a chamber upon the
left, and out there ran Aylward and John, laughing together like two
schoolboys who are bent upon a prank. At sight of Alleyne they slunk
past him with somewhat of a shame-faced air, and springing upon their
horses galloped after their party. The hubbub within the chamber did not
cease, however, but rather increased, with yells of: "A moi, mes amis! A
moi, camarades! A moi, l'honorable champion de l'Eveque de Montaubon! A
la recousse de l'eglise sainte!" So shrill was the outcry that both the
inn-keeper and Alleyne, with every varlet within hearing, rushed wildly
to the scene of the uproar.

It was indeed a singular scene which met their eyes. The room was a long
and lofty one, stone floored and bare, with a fire at the further end
upon which a great pot was boiling. A deal table ran down the centre,
with a wooden wine-pitcher upon it and two horn cups. Some way from it
was a smaller table with a single beaker and a broken wine-bottle. From
the heavy wooden rafters which formed the roof there hung rows of hooks
which held up sides of bacon, joints of smoked beef, and strings of
onions for winter use. In the very centre of all these, upon the
largest hook of all, there hung a fat little