about," let me briefly explain that the royal party desired
absolute personal rule, on the part of the king, unfettered by law
or counsellors. The barons desired that his counsellors should be
held responsible for his acts, and that his power should be
modified by the House of Lords or Barons, if not by the Commons as
well; the latter idea was but dawning. In short, they desired a
constitutional government, a limited monarchy, such as we now
enjoy.

The Pope had been called upon to mediate, and had decided in favour
of the King, and absolved him from his oath and obligations to his
subjects, especially those "Provisions of Oxford." Louis IX, King
of France (afterwards known as Saint Louis), had been appealed to,
but, though a very holy man, he was a staunch believer in the
divine right of kings; and he, too, decided against the barons.

What were they to do? Most of the barons were in submission, but
Earl Simon said:

"Though all should leave me, I and my four sons will uphold the
cause of justice, as I have sworn to do, for the honour of the
Church and the good of the realm of England."

They changed their standing point, and, to meet the condemnation
which both Pope and King of France had awarded to the "Provisions
of Oxford," took their stand upon Magna Carta instead.

But here they fared no better. In March 1264 a parliament had been
summoned to meet at Oxford by the king, that he might there undo
what the barons had done in 1258. At this period the action of our
tale recommences.

Drogo was still lord of the Castle of Walderne. No news had reached
England of Hubert these three long years, and hence no one disputed
the title of Drogo to present possession. His steps had been taken
with all the craft of a subtle fox. One by one he had removed all
the old dwellers in the castle, and, so far as was possible, the
outside tenantry also, and substituted creatures of his own--men
who would do his bidding, whatsoever it were, and who had no local
interests or attachment to the former family.

And, little by little, his rule had been growing as hard and cruel
as that of a medieval tyrant could be. The dungeons were reopened
which had long been closed; the torture chamber, long disused, was
refitted, as it had been in the dreadful days of King Stephen; the
defences had been looked to, the weapons furbished, for, as a war
horse sniffs battle afar off, so did Drogo.

Need I tell my readers which side Drogo took? He h