own.

Yet he was loath to let Darby out of his own grasp and, for an instant,
he was minded to stake all on one throw. He was firmly persuaded that
Darby could disclose the Countess' whereabouts, if she were still of
this world. Why not put him to the torture and wring the truth from
him? Success would excuse, nay, approve such measures. . . But to
fail! Mon Dieu! No; decidedly, no! It would be folly pure and
childish. Only the long strain and his stress of feeling would have
suggested it. Then he thought of sending Darby to Pontefract and, on
the authority of the King's ring, place him in confinement there until
a more favorable period. But this, too, was dismissed, and he came
back to the original problem: whether himself to hurry to Lincoln or to
send a message.

There was but one wise choice, however, as he had appreciated all
along, though he had fought against it; and now he took it but with
sore reluctance. Wrapping his cloak about him, he motioned for the
landlord to unbar the door and plunged out into the storm. In the face
of the gale and pounding rain, through mud and water, he presently
regained the house where he had left his men.

Drawing the squire aside he related the host's story and his own
purpose of hastening on to warn the King. To Dauvrey he gave command
of the party and full instructions as to the custody of the prisoner
and the course to pursue when Lincoln was, reached. Then directing
that one of the men be sent to the inn at daybreak to attend him, he
returned once more to his lodgings and retired.

Morning brought no change in the weather; and when he rode off, at the
first touch of light, the rain was still falling with a monotonous
regularity that gave small hope for betterment.

Save a shirt of Italian steel, worn beneath his doublet, De Lacy was
without armor, only a thick cloak being thrown over his ordinary
clothes. It was a long ride to Lincoln ere nightfall, even in the best
of weather; but to make it now was possible only with the very lightest
weight in the saddle and good horse-flesh between the knees. No one
horse--not even Selim--could do the journey over such roads without a
rest, so he left him for Dauvrey to bring; depending upon being able to
requisition fresh mounts from the royal post that had been established
lately along this highway. Nor was he disappointed. The Boar and his
own name, for he was known now throughout England as one high in the
House