ed late, and were now warming
themselves at a bonfire in a corner of the shed. A mixed crowd
surrounded them--jugglers, mountebanks, and soldiers: and with these the
elder of the two had soon engaged so brisk a conversation, and exchanged
so many loud guffaws and country witticisms that the group momentarily
increased in number.

The younger companion, in whom the reader has already recognised Dick
Shelton, sat from the first somewhat backward, and gradually drew
himself away. He listened, indeed, closely, but he opened not his mouth;
and by the grave expression of his countenance he made but little
account of his companion's pleasantries.

At last his eye, which travelled continually to and fro, and kept a
guard upon all the entrances of the house, lit upon a little procession
entering by the main gate and crossing the court in an oblique
direction. Two ladies, muffled in thick furs, led the way, and were
followed by a pair of waiting-women and four stout men-at-arms. The next
moment they had disappeared within the house; and Dick, slipping through
the crowd of loiterers in the shed, was already giving hot pursuit.

"The taller of these twain was Lady Brackley," he thought; "and where
Lady Brackley is, Joan will not be far."

At the door of the house the four men-at-arms had ceased to follow, and
the ladies were now mounting the stairway of polished oak, under no
better escort than that of the two waiting-women. Dick followed close
behind. It was already the dusk of the day; and in the house the
darkness of the night had almost come. On the stair-landings torches
flared in iron holders; down the long tapestried corridors a lamp burned
by every door. And where the door stood open, Dick could look in upon
arras-covered walls, and rush-bescattered floors, glowing in the light
of the wood-fires.

Two floors were passed, and at every landing the younger and shorter of
the two ladies had looked back keenly at the monk. He, keeping his eyes
lowered, and affecting the demure manners that suited his disguise, had
but seen her once, and was unaware that he had attracted her attention.
And now, on the third floor, the party separated, the younger lady
continuing to ascend alone, the other, followed by the waiting-maids,
descending the corridor to the right.

Dick mounted with a swift foot, and holding to the corner, thrust forth
his head and followed the three women with his eyes. Without turning or
looking behind them, th