u wilt have enough to
thank that stubborn will of thine for," interrupted the baroness,
impatiently.

There was a sound of footsteps just outside, and they all paused to
listen.

"'Tis Edward bringing Manners back," said Sir Thomas quietly. "Here
they come."

The tapestry was quickly pushed aside, and the ruddy face of Sir
Edward Stanley insinuated itself between, the fringes and the screen,
but it was not the face of a contented man, for it wore a disappointed
look.

"Bring him in," commanded the baron.

"Nay, I have not caught him yet," he ruefully replied. "Come and help
us, he has hidden himself amid the woodsmen's huts."

"You go," said the baron, addressing Sir Thomas. "I will stay with
Dorothy"; and without waiting to be bidden a second time Sir Thomas
Stanley left his untasted supper on the table and joined in the search
for Dorothy's forbidden lover.

Meanwhile, the subject of all this commotion sat innocently gazing
at the burning embers, watching the logs as they blazed up and then
gradually disappeared into powder to be blown away by the first slight
breath of wind. Surely, he reflected, 'tis so with the baron's will;
he is in the height of his determined fury now. But soon--and as the
door opened, another puff of wind blew away the airy ashes of a once
stout log--aye, surely, his opposition will vanish like as that.

"Never a soul came in here, your lordship, for a long time back,"
said Roger, deferentially doffing his cap. "Your lordship must be
mistaken."

Manners turned round and beheld, with a feeling akin to dismay, Sir
Thomas Stanley and his brother just within the threshold of the door.

"Tut, tut, man," replied the knight, "I say he came in here; he was
seen to enter, and no one has passed out since then."

Sir Thomas appealed to the others, but they were all unanimous in
supporting their master, and replied in one chorus of surprise.
Manners had not been seen for weeks, and not a soul among them had any
idea of his whereabouts.

"I suppose no one entered, then?" sneered the knight.

"No," replied Roger complacently, "not for a long time back."

"Did he not come in here?" appealed Sir Thomas to those outside.

"Aye, aye," came the answer, "he did."

"Then where is he?" demanded the knight fiercely.

"Nay, I swear by the Holy Virgin I saw him not," replied the sturdy
forester, in perfect truth, for he had not noticed his arrival.

"Hugh came in last," said Lettice's lover, Wil