uld escape without
being made a party in the contest, and rest secure until hotter heads
and lighter brains had fought the battles that would leave him in
possession of the spoil. If the king's party were triumphant, he fancied
that, by seeming to take little or no part in the hostilities then
abroad, his house might be spared in the general wreck that would ensue;
but all these schemes of deep-laid policy and ambition were in a moment
dissipated. No time was to be lost. The whole country would instantly be
in array, and the beacon-light of Pendle proclaim Paslew as the source
and instigator of this second rebellion. It would be in vain to stay the
rising. Some enemy of his house, or some desperate adventurer, wishful
to further his own schemes at another's expense, was doubtless the
author of this mischief. The whole was but the discovery of a moment.
Almost before the dark thought was visible on the brow he cried out--

"Bring forward the traitor!"

But Ralph, on the first hearing of this accusation, strode forward, even
to the table, where sat the awful conclave astonished at his temerity.
He stood calmly erect, surveying his judges with a countenance scarcely
moved from its usually hard and stolid expression.

"If it be true," cried he, "as these idlers do aver, I am here to
answer. If it be false, they must look to it."

The abbot frowned at this presumptuous speech.

"Who art thou?"

"Marry, an ass ridden by fools."

"Knave, see thou be discreet and respectful in thine answers. There be
whipping-posts for knaves, and stocks for the correction of fools."

"Why, if it be for the matter of my name, I trow, 'tis of an honest
Christian-like and well-conditioned flavour; comes out of the mouth
sharp as a beer-spigot. Men call me Ralph."

"And from whence?" said the abbot, impatiently.

"These knaves of thy breeding can tell best. 'Tis a road I never before
travelled; and, by your grace's favour, I do not mean to jog on it
again."

"He is servant to the stranger yeoman whom your worship entertained a
few hours back, on some private errand," said one of the auditors.

A sharp guess at the truth raised a slight quiver on the abbot's lip.
The conversation of the stranger, the anxiety he displayed, with that of
his brother of Kirkstall, seemed to point out the source and cause of
his disaster.

"Now, varlet, answer truly, or thou diest," said Paslew, with a
significant shake of the finger. "At whose instigati