ght, for I had seen him before when he came in
knightly harness into my master's shop to have two rivets put into
his hauberk. I liked not his face then, and should have remembered it
anywhere. I knew him at once when I saw him. He was a dark faced knight,
handsome, and yet with features which reminded me of a hawk."

Dame Vernon gave a little exclamation, which assured the lad that she
recognized the description.

"You may partly know, lady, whether it is he whom you suppose, for he
said that he would detain your boat so that it should not come along
until dark, and, moreover, he told them that they would know the boat
since you would be wrapt in a white mantle."

The lady sat for some time with her face hidden in her hands.

"It is as I feared," she said at last, "and it grieves me to the heart
to think that one who, although not so nearly related in blood, I
regarded as a brother, should have betrayed me to death. My mind is
troubled indeed, and I know not what course I shall take, whether to
reveal this dreadful secret or to conceal it."

"I may say, madam," Walter said earnestly, "that should you wish the
matter to remain a secret, you may rely upon it that I will tell no
more at the trial than I revealed yesterday; but I would remind you that
there is a danger that the leader of yon ruffians, who is probably alone
acquainted with the name of his employer, may, under the influence of
the torture, reveal it."

"That fear is for the present past, since a messenger arrived from
Kingston but a few minutes since, saying that yester-even, under the
threat of torture, the prisoners had pointed out the one among their
number who was their chief. This morning, however, it was found that the
warder who had charge of them had been bribed; he was missing from his
post, and the door of the cell wherein the principal villain had been
immured, apart from the others, was opened, and he had escaped."

"Then," Walter said, "it is now open to you to speak or be silent as you
will. You will pardon my forwardness if I say that my master, in talking
the matter over with me, suggested that this evil knight might be scared
from attempting any future enterprise against you were he informed that
it was known to several persons that he was the author of this outrage,
and that if any further attempts were at any time made against you, the
proofs of his crime would be laid before the king."

"Thanks, good lad," the lady said, "for your