rom Paul's neck as he
turned from contemplating that retiring figure. The strain upon his
faculties during the past twenty-four hours had been intense, and
when it was removed he felt an immense sensation of relief. But
with that relief came a greater access of fatigue than he had been
conscious of before. He had been spurred along the road by the
sense of responsibility--by the feeling that the safety and perhaps
the life of the young Prince of Wales depended in a great measure
upon his sagacity, endurance, and foresight. To get the prince to
Leigh's Priory, beneath the care of the good monks who were stanch
to the cause of the saintly Henry, was the one aim and object of
his thoughts. He had known all along that the last miles of the
journey would be those most fraught with peril, and to lessen this
peril had been the main purpose on his mind. Having seen the prince
start off on the direct path, so disguised that it was impossible
to anticipate detection, he felt as though his life's work for the
moment were ended, and heaving a great sigh of relief, he sank down
upon a heap of dead leaves, and gave himself up to a brief spell of
repose, which his weary frame did indeed seem to require.

The cold, together with the exhaustion of hunger and fatigue,
sealed his senses for a brief space, and he remembered nothing
more. He fancied his eyes had been closed but for a few seconds,
when some noise close at hand caused him to raise his head with a
start. But the dusk had deepened in the great wood, and he saw that
he must have been asleep for quite half an hour.

He started and listened intently. Yes, there was no mistaking the
sounds. A party of mounted horsemen were approaching him along the
narrow track which wandered through the wood. Paul would have
started to his feet and fled to the thicket, but his benumbed limbs
refused their office. It was freezing hard upon the ground, and he
had lain there till his blood had almost ceased to circulate, and
he was powerless to move.

Yet even then his thoughts were first for Edward, and only second
for himself. He rapidly reviewed the situation.

"They are on the path that he has taken. He has the start, but they
are mounted. Are they in pursuit of anyone? They have dogs with
them: that looks as if they were hunting something. It were better
that they should not come up with Edward. In another half hour he
will be safe at the Priory, if he make good speed, as methinks he
will;