, and will give thee
his aid to rise in the world. So, as I said, to-morrow morning thou
shalt set forth with Diccon Bowman, and shall go to Castle Devlen, and
there deliver this letter which prayeth him to give thee a place in his
household. Thou mayst have this afternoon to thyself to make read such
things as thou shalt take with thee. And bid me Diccon to take the gray
horse to the village and have it shod."

Prior Edward had been standing looking out of the window. As Lord
Falworth ended he turned.

"And, Myles," said he, "thou wilt need some money, so I will give thee
as a loan forty shillings, which some day thou mayst return to me an
thou wilt. For this know, Myles, a man cannot do in the world without
money. Thy father hath it ready for thee in the chest, and will give it
thee to-morrow ere thou goest."

Lord Falworth had the grim strength of manhood's hard sense to upbear
him in sending his son into the world, but the poor lady mother had
nothing of that to uphold her. No doubt it was as hard then as it is
now for the mother to see the nestling thrust from the nest to shift for
itself. What tears were shed, what words of love were spoken to the only
man-child, none but the mother and the son ever knew.

The next morning Myles and the old bowman rode away, and no doubt to
the boy himself the dark shadows of leave-taking were lost in the golden
light of hope as he rode out into the great world to seek his fortune.

CHAPTER 3

WHAT MYLES remembered of Falworth loomed great and grand and big, as
things do in the memory of childhood, but even memory could not make
Falworth the equal of Devlen Castle, when, as he and Diccon Bowman rode
out of Devlentown across the great, rude stone bridge that spanned the
river, he first saw, rising above the crowns of the trees, those
huge hoary walls, and the steep roofs and chimneys clustered thickly
together, like the roofs and chimneys of a town.

The castle was built upon a plateau-like rise of ground, which was
enclosed by the outer wall. It was surrounded on three sides by a
loop-like bend of the river, and on the fourth was protected by a deep,
broad, artificial moat, almost as wide as the stream from which it was
fed. The road from the town wound for a little distance along by the
edge of this moat. As Myles and the old bowman galloped by, with the
answering echo of their horses' hoof-beats rattling back from the smooth
stone face of the walls, the lad looked up