hat passed," interposed Nicholas Clamp,
stepping forward, "for I was with the damsel at the time. He came upon
us suddenly from behind a great tree, and ordered her to accompany him
to her grandsire."

"Ha!" exclaimed the king.

"But he had no authority for what he said, I am well convinced," pursued
Clamp. "Mabel disbelieved him and refused to go, and I should have
captured him if the fiend he serves had not lent him a helping hand."

"What says the prisoner himself to this?" observed the king. "Didst thou
send Fenwolf on the errand?"

"I did," replied Tristram. "I sent him to prevent her from going to the
castle."

Mabel sobbed audibly.

"Thou art condemned by thy own confession, caitiff," said the king,
"and thou knowest upon what terms alone thou canst save thyself from the
hangman, and thy grand-daughter from the stake."

"Oh, mercy, sire, mercy!" shrieked Mabel.

"Your fate rests with your grandsire," said the king sternly. "If he
chooses to be your executioner he will remain silent."

"Oh, speak, grandsire, speak!" cried Mabel. "What matters the violation
of an unholy vow?"

"Give me till to-morrow for consideration, sire," said the old man.

"Thou shalt have till midnight," replied the king; "and till then Mabel
shall remain with thee."

"I would rather be left alone," said Tristram.

"I doubt it not," replied the king; "but it shall not be." And without
bestowing a look at Mabel, whose supplications he feared might shake
his purpose, he quitted the vault with his attendants, leaving her alone
with her grandsire.

"I shall return at midnight," he said to the arquebusier stationed at
the door; "and meanwhile let no one enter the dungeon--not even the Duke
of Suffolk--unless," he added, holding forth his hand to display a ring,
"he shall bring this signet."

X.

Of the Brief Advantage gained by the Queen and the Cardinal.

As the king, wholly unattended--for he had left the archers at the
Curfew Tower--was passing at the back of Saint George's Chapel, near the
north transept, he paused for a moment to look at the embattled entrance
to the New Commons--a structure erected in the eleventh year of his own
reign by James Denton, a canon, and afterwards Dean of Lichfield, for
the accommodation of such chantry priests and choristers as had no place
in the college. Over the doorway, surmounted by a niche, ran (and still
runs) the inscription--

"AEDES PRO SACELLANORUM CHORISTARUM COVI