proof? What more do you require? What
have you to disprove these things? Why should you doubt me?" and he
looked round in triumph, feeling sure that his reply was perfectly
unanswerable.

"He speaks the truth, Sir Thomas," said the old knight. "We owe a debt
of gratitude to thee, Sir Henry."

"I found this knife where De la Zouch was lying," said Stanley
bluntly. "I thought it was his, and so I brought it for him."

De la Zouch gazed with horror upon the tell-tale weapon, but in an
instant he decided how to parry the thrust.

"'Tis mine," he cried, hastily snatching it away. "The villains
wrested it from my grasp."

"And part of the blade was buried in the horse's flank," pursued Sir
Thomas. "I discovered it there when the horse dashed into the yard
covered with blood and foam."

"The wretches!" interjected De la Zouch.

"And yet, Sir Henry, methought the struggle took place at Cromford,
and that would be nigh three miles from where I found the knife."

Sir Henry turned livid with anger, and was at a loss how to reply,
when Lady Vernon fortunately came to the rescue.

"You struggled worthily, sir knight," said she, "and I would that the
cause had been more worthy of thy mettle. We cannot doubt thee more."

"I cannot contradict thee," went on Margaret's lover, "but you will
show us the exact scene of the fray, Sir Henry, of course?"

"Assuredly I will, to-morrow--if I am well enough," he added
carefully.

Sir George Vernon noted the answer with displeasure. He was not very
strong in his belief of Sir Henry's innocence as yet, though the
evidence in De la Zouch's favour would have been decisive enough for
him had not Stanley shaken it so.

"Has thy Dorothy forsaken thee, then, Sir George?" asked Crowleigh
pertinently.

"Why no, Sir Everard--yes; that is--I cannot say," he hopelessly
replied. "It must be so, and yet, no! I cannot believe it either."

De la Zouch ground his teeth in ill-suppressed rage. Matters had taken
a decidedly unfavourable turn; he was being sorely worsted, and he
wished himself far away. The suspicions of Sir Thomas Stanley were
pressing uncomfortably near him, and he found himself in a quandary
how to evade them.

"I am doubted, Sir George, I see," he said angrily. "Lady Vernon
is the only one who does me justice. I will go. Your deed shall be
blazoned to the world. Is this the boasted hospitality of the King of
the Peak?--then I disdain it. I shall shake the dust off my feet an