e her for
himself. In another minute a casement opened above, and the abbess
herself appeared.

"Rash man," she said to Sir Rudolph, "I warn you against committing the
sin of sacrilege. Neither the orders of Prince John nor of any other
potentate can override the rights of the holy church; and should you
venture to lay the hand of force upon this convent you will be placed
under the anathema of the church, and its spiritual terrors will be
directed against you."

"I am prepared to risk that, holy mother," Sir Rudolph said, with a
laugh. "So long as I am obeying the orders of my prince, I care naught
for those of any foreign potentate, be he pope or be he emperor. Three
minutes of the time I gave you have elapsed, and unless within two more
the Lady Margaret appears at the gate I will batter it down; and you may
think yourself lucky if I do not order my men to set light to it and to
smoke you out of your hole."

The abbess closed the window, and as she did so the long row of
casements in the house of Master Nicholas were opened from top to
bottom, and a volley of sixty clothyard arrows was poured into the group
closely standing round the gate. Many fell, killed outright, and shouts
of rage and pain were heard arising.

Furious at this unexpected attack, Sir Rudolph turned and commanded
those with him to attack the house whence this volley of missiles had
come. But even while he spoke another flight of arrows, even more deadly
than the last, was poured forth. One of the knights standing by the side
of Sir Rudolph fell, shot through the brain. Very many of the common
men, undefended by harness, fell shot through and through; and an arrow
piercing the joint of the armor of Sir Rudolph wounded him in the
shoulder. In vain the knight stormed and raged and ordered his men to
advance. The suddenness of the attack seemed to his superstitious
followers a direct answer from heaven to the words of the abbess. Their
number was already seriously lessened, and those who were in case to do
so at once took flight and scattered through the city, making for the
gate, which had already been seized by Sir Rudolph's men.

Finding himself alone with only a few of his knights and principal
men-at-arms remaining, while the storm of arrows continued unabated, Sir
Rudolph was forced to order his men to retreat with many fierce threats
of the vengeance which he would hereafter take.

CHAPTER XXII.

A DASTARDLY STRATAGEM.

The re