North Tower," ventured
Eustace.

"Did he, indeed," sneeringly retorted the chamberlain. "You had better
be off or I will have you whipped;" and smarting under the rejoinder,
Eustace, who considered prudence the better part of valour, took the
hint so broadly given and retired.

An hour later, as Manners sat brooding in his deep and lonely dungeon,
he was startled by hearing the key turn slowly in the lock, and a
moment later Eustace slipped into the cell and the door was closed and
locked again.

"Oh, Master Manners," he cried, as he dropped on his knees, "this is
a shameful thing; what can I do, I would help thee if I might? I am
disgusted with my lord; I loathe him and I shall flee from him."

"'Tis no fault of thine, thou art young," kindly responded Manners,
"but canst thou tell me aught of Mistress Dorothy Vernon?"

"She is safe in the topmost room of the tower," he replied.

"Is she in danger yet?"

"Nay, she is safe, and will be treated well. Simon Greenwood's dame
says my lord left strange commands about her comfort, and she has
already rated Simon soundly for his rudeness to the maiden."

"Hist," whispered a voice through the keyhole, "Simon is coming."

Eustace threw up his hands in blank despair. "O, Master Manners," he
ejaculated, "I am lost; Simon, would kill me if he finds me here."

"Creep under there," replied the prisoner, quickly; "it is dark, and I
will befriend thee."

The page obeyed, and he was not a moment too soon; before he could
comfortably ensconce himself in the damp and fusty hole under the
stone bench, the door opened and the chamberlain entered.

He was flushed with wine, and not at all the same cool, calculated man
who had stood before the captive an hour before.

"Well, my hearty," he exclaimed, as he seated himself upon the stone
bench just over the gasping page, "things are rather bad, eh?"

"Begone," said Manners, curtly.

"Nay, now, that's hardly polite," he replied. "We will tame you down
with the chains; 'tis many a year since I saw them used, and it would
be quite a treat to see them on somebody once again," and he kicked
the rusty manacles which lay upon the ground.

"You dare not, and you know it," retorted Manners fiercely; and, drunk
as the man was, he cowered back beneath the glance.

"Ah, well, you are safe enough as you are, I reckon," he returned,
"and I am taking care of Doll for you," he added with a sickening
grin.

Dorothy's lover started forward