e years old. The lady on the pillion, lifting the child
underneath her veil, strained it to her bosom, and bowed her head low
upon its light soft hair. Meanwhile, the horse stood still as a statue,
and the page sat as still before her. In respectful silence the other
three stood round. They knew, every one of them, that in that embrace
to one of the two the bitterness of death was passing; and that when it
was ended she would have nothing left to fear--only because she would
have nothing left to hope. At length, suddenly, the lady lifted her
head, and held forth the child to Alina. Turning her head away toward
the sea, from the old castle, from the child, she made her farewell in
one word.

"Depart!"

The three standing there watched her departure--never lifting her veil,
nor turning her head--until she was hidden from their sight among the
abundant green foliage around. They lingered a minute longer; but only
a minute--for a shrill, harsh voice from the portcullis summoned them to
return.

"Ralph, thou lither hilding! Alina, thou jade! Come hither at once,
and get you to work. My Lady's bower yet unswept, by the Seven
Sleepers! and ye lingering yonder as ye had leaden heels! By the holy
bones of Saint Benedict, our master shall con you light thanks when he
cometh!"

"That may be," said Alina, under her breath. "Get you in, Ralph and
Jocelyn, or she shall be after again."

And she turned and walked quickly into the castle, still carrying the
child.

Eleven hours later, a very different procession climbed the castle-hill,
and passed in at the portcullis. It was headed by a sumptuous litter,
beside which rode a gentleman magnificently attired. Behind came a
hundred horsemen in livery, and the line was closed by a crowd of
archers in Lincoln green, bearing cross-bows. From the litter, assisted
by the gentleman, descended a young lady of some three-and-twenty years,
upon whose lips hovered a smile of pleasure, and whose fair hair flowed
in natural ringlets from beneath a golden fillet. The gentleman was her
senior by about fifteen years. He was a tall, active, handsome man,
with a dark face, stern, set lips, and a pair of dark, quick, eagle-like
eyes, beneath which the group of servants manifestly quailed.

"Is the Lady's bower ready?" he asked, addressing the foremost of the
women--the one who had so roughly insisted on Alina's return.

"It is so, an't like your noble Lordship," answered she with