you without
delay, and in time to prevent mischief."_

When the messenger, fully equipped for his journey, was brought before
the Bishop by Brother Philip, this letter lay ready, sealed, and
addressed to Sir Hugh d'Argent, at Warwick Castle in the first place,
but failing there, to each successive stopping place upon the northward
road, including Castle Norelle, which, the Bishop had gathered, was to
be reached on the seventh day after leaving Warwick.

So presently the messenger swung into the saddle, and rode out through
the great gates. In a leathern wallet at his belt, was the letter, and
a good sum of money for his needs on the journey; and in his somewhat
stolid mind, the Bishop's very simple instructions--simple, yet given
with so keen a look, transfixing the man, that it seemed to the honest
fellow he had received them from the point of a blue steel blade.

He was to ride to Warwick, without drawing rein; to wake the porter at
the gate, and the seneschal within, no matter at what hour he arrived.
If the Knight were still at the Castle, the letter must be placed in
his hands so soon as he left his chamber in the morning. But had he
already gone from Warwick, the messenger, after food and rest for
himself and his horse, was to ride on to the next stage and, if
needful, to the next, until he overtook Sir Hugh and delivered into his
own hands, with as much secrecy as possible, the letter.

The Bishop passed along the gallery, after the messenger had left the
library, mounted to the banqueting hall and watched him ride away, from
that casement, overlooking the courtyard, from which Hugh had looked
down upon the arrival of Roger de Berchelai, bringing the letter from
Rome.

A great relief filled the mind of the Bishop as he heard the clattering
hoofs of the fastest nag in his stables, ring on the paving stones
without, and die away in the distance.

A serious danger would be averted, if the Knight were warned in time.

The Bishop prayed that his letter might reach Hugh's hands before Mora
was moved to speak to him of Mary Antony's vision.

He blamed himself bitterly for not having sooner recalled that
conversation on the lawn. How easy it would have been, after hearing
Mora's story in the arbour, to have given Hugh a word of caution before
leaving Warwick.

Just after sunset, one of the Bishop's men, who had remained behind at
Warwick, reached the Palace, bringing news that the Knight, his Lady,
and