the fire! Deliver thy
letter thyself, good fellow!"

So spoke Gascoyne, yet after all he ended, as he usually did, by
yielding to Myles's superior will and persistence. So the letter was
written and one day the good-natured Gascoyne carried it with him to the
house, and the opportunity offering, gave it to one of the young ladies
attendant upon the Countess's family--a lass with whom he had friendly
intimacy--to be delivered to Lady Alice.

But if Myles congratulated himself upon the success of this new
adventure, it was not for long. That night, as the crowd of pages and
squires were making themselves ready for bed, the call came through the
uproar for "Myles Falworth! Myles Falworth!"

"Here I be," cried Myles, standing up on his cot. "Who calleth me?"

It was the groom of the Earl's bedchamber, and seeing Myles standing
thus raised above the others, he came walking down the length of the
room towards him, the wonted hubbub gradually silencing as he advanced
and the youngsters turning, staring, and wondering.

"My Lord would speak with thee, Myles Falworth," said the groom, when he
had come close enough to where Myles stood. "Busk thee and make ready;
he is at livery even now."

The groom's words fell upon Myles like a blow. He stood for a while
staring wide-eyed. "My Lord speak with me, sayst thou!" he ejaculated at
last.

"Aye," said the other, impatiently; "get thee ready quickly. I must
return anon."

Myles's head was in a whirl as he hastily changed his clothes for a
better suit, Gascoyne helping him. What could the Earl want with him at
this hour? He knew in his heart what it was; the interview could concern
nothing but the letter that he had sent to Lady Alice that day. As he
followed the groom through the now dark and silent courts, and across
the corner of the great quadrangle, and so to the Earl's house, he tried
to brace his failing courage to meet the coming interview. Nevertheless,
his heart beat tumultuously as he followed the other down the long
corridor, lit only by a flaring link set in a wrought-iron bracket. Then
his conductor lifted the arras at the door of the bedchamber, whence
came the murmuring sound of many voices, and holding it aside, beckoned
him to enter, and Myles passed within. At the first, he was conscious
of nothing but a crowd of people, and of the brightness of many lighted
candles; then he saw that he stood in a great airy room spread with a
woven mat of rushes. On three