l goods, of your Ladyship, and
of all ladies and children dwelling with you, shall be free from
seizure, and no hand shall be laid on you nor any thing belonging to
you."

My Lady rose up, resting her hand on the chair from which she rose; I
think it was to support her.

"I return humble thanks to the Lord King," said she, in a trembling
voice. "What hath happened, Master Inge?"

"Dame," quoth he, "how shall I tell you? My Lord is a prisoner of the
Tower, and Sir Edmund and Sir Geoffrey with him--"

If my Lady could turn whiter, I think she did. I felt Joan's hand-clasp
tighten upon mine, till I could almost have cried out.

"And Dame Isabel the Queen is herself under ward in the Castle of
Berkhamsted, and all matters turned upside down. Man saith that the
great men with the King be now Sir William de Montacute and Sir Edward
de Bohun, and divers more of like sort. And my Lord of Lancaster, man
saith, flung up his cap, and thanked God that he had lived to see that
day."

My Lady had stood as still and silent as an image, all the while Master
Inge was speaking, only that when he said the Queen was in ward, she
gave a sort of gasp. When he had done, she clasped her hands, and
looked up to Heaven.

"Dost Thou come," she said, in a strange voice that did not sound like
hers, "dost Thou come to judge the earth? We have waited long for Thee.
Yet--Oh, if it be possible--if it be possible! Spare my boys to me!
And spare--"

A strange kind of sob seemed to come up in her throat, and she held out
her hands as if she could not see. I believe, if Master Inge and
Lettice had not been quick to spring forward and catch her by the arms,
she would have fallen to the floor. They bore her into her bedchamber
close by; and we children saw her not for some time. Dame Hilda was in
and out; but when we asked her how my Lady fared, she did nought save
shake her head, from which we learned little except that things went ill
in some way. When we asked Lettice, she said--

"There, now! don't hinder me. Poor children, you will know soon
enough."

Aveline was the best, for she sat down and gathered us into her arms and
comforted us; but even she gave us no real answer, only she kept saying,
"Poor maids! poor little maids!"

So above a month passed away. Master John de Melbourne was sent down
from the King as supervisor of the lands and goods of my Lady and her
children; but he came with the men-at-arms, so he brought no