arlike King of the Peak. By a few adroit turns with his sword John
disarmed his antagonist, and rushing in upon him easily threw him to the
ground by a wrestler's trick. Guild and the servant by that time were
within six yards of Sir George and John.

"Stop!" cried Manners, "your master is on the ground at my feet. My sword
point is at his heart. Make but one step toward me and Sir George Vernon
will be a dead man."

Guild and the servant halted instantly.

"What are your terms?" cried Guild, speaking with the haste which he well
knew was necessary if he would save his master's life.

"My terms are easy," answered John. "All I ask is that you allow me to
depart in peace. I am here on no harmful errand, and I demand that I may
depart and that I be not followed nor spied upon by any one."

"You may depart in peace," said Guild. "No one will follow you; no one
will spy upon you. To this I pledge my knightly word in the name of Christ
my Saviour."

John at once took his way unmolested up the hill and rode home with his
heart full of fear lest his tryst with Dorothy had been discovered.

Guild and the servant assisted Sir George to rise, and the three started
down the hill toward the stile where Dorothy was standing. She was hidden
from them, however, by the wall. Jennie Faxton, who had been on guard
while John and Dorothy were at the gate, at Dorothy's suggestion stood on
top of the stile where she could easily be seen by Sir George when he
approached.

"When my father comes here and questions you," said Dorothy to Jennie
Faxton, "tell him that the man whom he attacked was your sweetheart."

"Never fear, mistress," responded Jennie. "I will have a fine story for
the master."

Dorothy crouched inside the wall under the shadow of a bush, and Jennie
waited on the top of the stile. Sir George, thinking the girl was Dorothy,
lost no time in approaching her. He caught her roughly by the arm and
turned her around that he might see her face.

"By God, Guild," he muttered, "I have made a mistake. I thought the girl
was Doll."

He left instantly and followed Guild and the servant to the kitchen door.
When Sir George left the stile, Dorothy hastened back to the postern of
which she had the key, and hurried toward her room. She reached the door
of her father's room just in time to see Sir George and Guild enter it.
They saw her, and supposed her to be myself. If she hesitated, she was
lost. But Dorothy never hesitated. To