have not basely sold myself
to thee, thou art offended. Beware lest the endowment be wrested from
thy grasp, the glebe and manor pass away from thine inheritance."

"Thou hadst the privity and counsel of the deceased, and a whisper would
have made it mine," said the dean, with great dejection.

"Greedy and unblushing as thou art, know it was I who counselled him,
and the deed is in my keeping. I sent a secret message unto Halton with
the news, and Roger de Fitz-Eustace will be here anon!"

"Thou dreamest; he is in bondage, or slain at Ascalon."

"He will reappear," replied the hermit, "and the banner of the
Fitz-Eustace wave on yonder turret. Hence! ungrateful member of our holy
communion;--to thy house, and let an old man rest in peace."

The disappointed priest departed in great haste: terror, of which he
could not divest himself, and for which he could not account,
overpowered him in the presence of the hermit. He durst not provoke him
further; but as he crossed the courtyard again a glimpse of hope shot
suddenly on his soul.

"In thy keeping!" He spoke scarcely above his breath; but the walls
seemed to give back the sound. He started like some guilty thing at the
discovery of its crime.

Before morning light on the following day the castle bell began to toll.
Preparations were making for the conveyance of the last of the Ladies to
the Abbey of Kirkstall, a journey which would occupy the greater part of
two successive days. The pathway over the hills was narrow, and the mode
of conveyance difficult, if not dangerous. A sort of litter was made for
the corpse, and slung on a pole between two horses, covered, as in a
bier, with the pall and trappings. A sword of ceremony was carried in
front; the dean rode immediately before the body, the chanters
preceding, and a priest with the cross and censer. Behind came the male
domestics, and the seneschal of Halton with his train.

Psalms were sung at every halting-place, and in the villages through
which they passed, and torches were kept lighted during the greater part
of the journey. These were for the purpose of being extinguished in the
earth that should finally cover the body.

Thus attired, and thus attended, was this once powerful baron conveyed
to his narrow dwelling-house in the dust.

We will not follow them further, nor detail the pomp of the funeral
rites, that last mockery of greatness, but return to existing objects
and events--man's ever-gnawing ambit