r head looked upon Sir Gui; her tears,
slow-falling and bitter, staining the beauty of her face.

"My lord--ah, no!" she panted, and started to her feet.

"Dear and fair my lady--fear not. Strong am I, but very gentle--'tis
ever my way with beauty. I do but come for my answer." And he pointed
to a crumpled parchment that lay upon the table.

"O, good my lord," she whispered, "I cannot! If thou art gentle indeed
--then--"

"He lieth above the water-dungeons, lady!" sighed Sir Gui.

"Ah, the sweet Christ aid me!"

"To-morrow he goeth to death, or lieth in those round, white arms.
Lady, the choice is thine: and I pray you show pity to thy husband who
loveth thee well, 'tis said." Now hereupon she sobbed amain and fell
upon her knees with arms outstretched in passionate appeal--but lo! she
spake no word, her swimming eyes oped suddenly wide, and with arms yet
outstretched she stared and stared beyond Sir Gui in so much that he
turned and started back amazed--to behold one clad as a dusty miller, a
mighty man whose battered hat touched the lintel and whose great bulk
filled the doorway--a very silent man who looked and looked with neck
out-thrust, yet moved not and uttered no word. Hereupon Sir Gui spake
quick and passion-choked:

"Fool--fool! hence, thou blundering fool. For this shalt be flayed
alive. Ha!--hence, thou dusty rogue!" But now this grim figure stirred,
and lifting a great hand, spake hoarse and low:

"Peace, knight! Hold thy peace and look!" The wide-eaved hat was tossed
to the floor and Sir Gui, clenching his hands, would have spoken but
the harsh voice drowned his words: "How, knight, thou that art Bloody
Gui of Allerdale! Dost thou not know me, forsooth? I am Waldron, whose
father and mother and sister ye slew. Aye, Waldron of Brand am I,
though men do call me Walkyn o' the Dene these days. Brand was a fair
manor, knight--a fair manor, but long since dust and ashes--ha! a merry
blaze wherein father and mother and sister burned and screamed and
died--in faith, a roguish blaze! Ha! d'ye blench? Dost know me,
forsooth?"

Then Sir Gui stepped back, drawing his sword; but, even so, death leapt
at him. A woman, wailing, fled from the chamber, a chair crashed to the
floor; came a strange, quick tapping of feet upon the floor and
thereafter rose a cry that swelled louder to a scream--louder to a
bubbling shriek, and dying to a groaning hiss, was gone.

And, in a while, Walkyn, that had been Waldron of B