date to be assigned to this royal
visit to the More,--a date we have here adopted, not, as Sharon Turner
and others place (namely, upon the authority of Hearne's Fragm., 302,
which subsequent events disprove), after the open rebellion of Warwick,
but just before it; that is, not after Easter, but before Lent.] one of
the king's retinue, and in waiting on his person, entered the chamber,
pale and trembling.

"My liege," he said, in a whisper, "I fear some deadly treason awaits
you. I have seen, amongst the trees below this tower, the gleam of
steel; I have crept through the foliage, and counted no less than a
hundred armed men,--their leader is Sir Marmaduke Nevile, Earl Warwick's
kinsman!"

"Ha!" muttered the king, and his bold face fell, "comes the earl's
revenge so soon?"

"And," continued Ratcliffe, "I overheard Sir Marmaduke say, 'The door of
the Garden Tower is unguarded,--wait the signal!' Fly, my liege! Hark!
even now I hear the rattling of arms!"

The king stole to the casement; the day was closing; the foliage grew
thick and dark around the wall; he saw an armed man emerge from the
shade,--a second, and a third.

"You are right, Ratcliffe! Flight--but how?"

"This way, my liege. By the passage I entered, a stair winds to a door
on the inner court; there I have already a steed in waiting. Deign, for
precaution, to use my hat and manteline."

The king hastily adopted the suggestion, followed the noiseless steps
of Ratcliffe, gained the door, sprang upon his steed, and dashing
right through a crowd assembled by the gate, galloped alone and fast,
untracked by human enemy, but goaded by the foe that mounts the rider's
steed, over field, over fell, over dyke, through hedge, and in the dead
of night reined in at last before the royal towers of Windsor.

CHAPTER II. MANY THINGS BRIEFLY TOLD.

The events that followed the king's escape were rapid and startling. The
barons assembled at the More, enraged at Edward's seeming distrust of
them, separated in loud anger. The archbishop learned the cause from one
of his servitors, who detected Marmaduke's ambush, but he was too wary
to make known a circumstance suspicious to himself. He flew to London,
and engaged the mediation of the Duchess of York to assist his own.
[Lingard. See for the dates, Fabyan, 657.]

The earl received their joint overtures with stern and ominous coldness,
and abruptly repaired to Warwick, taking with him the Lady Anne. There
he w