ing that she had received another missive from Sir Rudolph,
authoritatively demanding in the king's name the instant surrender of
Lady Margaret to him. That night forty archers stole, one by one,
quietly into Worcester, entering the town before the gates were shut,
and so mingling with the citizens that they were unobserved. When it was
quite dark they quietly took their way, one by one, to the square in
which stood the convent, and were admitted into the shop of Master
Nicholas, the silk mercer.

The house was a large one, with its floors overhanging each the one
beneath it, as was the custom of the time, and with large casements
running the whole width of the house.

The mercer had laid by a goodly store of provisions, and for three days
the troop, large as it was, was accommodated there. Cuthbert himself was
with them, Cnut remaining at the grange with the ten men originally sent
there.

On the third day Sir Rudolph, with a number of knights and men-at-arms,
arrived in the town, giving out that he was passing northward, but he
would abide that night at the hostelry. A great many of his men-at-arms
did, as those on the watch observed, enter one by one into the town. The
people of Worcester were somewhat surprised at this large accompaniment
of the earl, but thought no harm. The Abbess of St. Anne's, however, was
greatly terrified, as she feared that some evil design might be intended
against her. She was, however, reassured in the evening by a message
brought by a boy, to the effect that succor would be near, whatsoever
happened.

At midnight a sudden uproar was heard in the streets of Worcester.

A party of men fell upon the burgesses guarding the gate of the town,
disarmed them, and took possession of it. At the same time those who had
put up at the hostelry with Sir Rudolph suddenly mounted their horses,
and with a great clatter rode down the streets to the convent of St.
Anne. Numbers of men on foot also joined, and some sixty in all suddenly
appeared before the great gate of the convent. With a thundering noise
they knocked at the door, and upon the grating being opened Sir Rudolph
himself told the porteress who looked through it that she was to go at
once to the abbess and order her to surrender the body of the Lady
Margaret to him, in accordance with the order of Prince John; adding,
that if within the space of five minutes the order was not complied
with, he would burst in the gates of the convent and tak