that the
captive was not there; for the song had to be sung on each side.
Sometimes they would cheat themselves with the thought that they heard
an answering voice; but it was not until the end of the fourth week,
when singing outside the castle of Diernstein, that a full rich voice,
when Blondel ceased, sang out the second stanza of the poem. With
difficulty Blondel and Cuthbert restrained themselves from an
extravagant exhibition of joy. They knew, however, that men on the
prison wall were watching them as they sat singing, and Blondel, with a
final strain taken from a ballad of a knight who, having discovered the
hiding-place of his lady love, prepared to free her from her oppressors,
shouldered his lute, and they started on their homeward journey.

There was no delay now. At times they sang indeed at castles; but only
when their store was exhausted, for upon these occasions Blondel would
be presented with a handsome goblet or other solid token of the owner's
approval, and the sale of this at the next city would take them far on
their way. They thought it better not to pass through France, as Philip,
they knew, was on the watch to prevent any news of King Richard reaching
England. They therefore again passed through Brabant, and so by ship to
England.

Hearing that Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, one of Richard's vicegerents, was
over in Normandy, and rightly deeming him the most earnest of his
adherents, they at once recrossed the sea, and found the warlike prelate
at Rouen. Greatly delighted was he at hearing that Richard's
hiding-place had been discovered. He at once sent across the news to
England, and ordered it to be published far and wide, and himself
announced it to the barons of Normandy. Then with a gorgeous retinue,
including Cuthbert and Blondel, he started for Vienna, and arriving
there demanded an interview with the emperor.

The news that it was now certain that Richard was imprisoned in a castle
of the emperor had already spread through Europe, and the bishop had
been received everywhere with tokens of sympathy; and so great was the
feeling shown by the counts and barons of the empire that the Emperor
Henry felt that he could no longer refuse to treat for the surrender of
his captive. Therefore he granted the interview which Longchamp
demanded. The English envoy was received by the emperor surrounded by
his nobles. The prelate advanced with great dignity.

"I come," he said, "in the name of the people o