. "Well, go, a-Mary's name, and may Heaven speed
you! Ye leave here a poor maid that loves you entirely, and another that
is most heartily your friend. Be wary, for their sakes, and make not
shipwreck of your safety."

"Ay," added Joanna, "go, Dick. Ye run no more peril, whether ye go or
stay. Go; ye take my heart with you; the saints defend you!"

Dick passed the first sentry with so assured a countenance that the
fellow merely figeted and stared; but at the second landing the man
carried his spear across and bade him name his business.

"_Pax vobiscum_," answered Dick. "I go to pray over the body of this
poor Rutter."

"Like enough," returned the sentry; "but to go alone is not permitted
you." He leaned over the oaken balusters and whistled shrill. "One
cometh!" he cried; and then motioned Dick to pass.

At the foot of the stair he found the guard afoot and awaiting his
arrival; and when he had once more repeated his story, the commander of
the post ordered four men out to accompany him to the church.

"Let him not slip, my lads," he said. "Bring him to Sir Oliver, on your
lives!"

The door was then opened; one of the men took Dick by either arm, another
marched ahead with a link, and the fourth, with bent bow and the arrow on
the string, brought up the rear. In this order they proceeded through
the garden, under the thick darkness of the night and the scattering
snow, and drew near to the dimly-illuminated windows of the abbey church.

At the western portal a picket of archers stood, taking what shelter they
could find in the hollow of the arched doorways, and all powdered with
the snow; and it was not until Dick's conductors had exchanged a word
with these, that they were suffered to pass forth and enter the nave of
the sacred edifice.

The church was doubtfully lighted by the tapers upon the great altar, and
by a lamp or two that swung from the arched roof before the private
chapels of illustrious families. In the midst of the choir the dead spy
lay, his limbs piously composed, upon a bier.

A hurried mutter of prayer sounded along the arches; cowled figures knelt
in the stalls of the choir, and on the steps of the high altar a priest
in pontifical vestments celebrated mass.

Upon this fresh entrance, one of the cowled figures arose, and, coming
down the steps which elevated the level of the choir above that of the
nave, demanded from the leader of the four men what business brought him
to t