ere caught by the rest of the tymbesteres,
striking their timbrels, the crew formed themselves into a semicircle,
and commenced their dance. Their movements, though wanton and fantastic,
were not without a certain wild grace; and the address with which,
from time to time, they cast up their instruments and caught them
in descending, joined to the surprising agility with which, in the
evolutions of the dance, one seemed now to chase, now to fly from, the
other, darting to and fro through the ranks of her companions, winding
and wheeling,--the chain now seemingly broken in disorder, now
united link to link, as the whole force of the instruments clashed in
chorus,--made an exhibition inexpressibly attractive to the vulgar.

The tymbesteres, however, as may well be supposed, failed to draw
Sibyll or Warner to the window; and they exchanged glances of spite and
disappointment.

"Marry," quoth the landlord, after a hearty laugh at the diversion, "I
do wrong to be so gay, when so many good friends perhaps are lying stark
and cold. But what then? Life is short,--laugh while we can!"

"Hist!" whispered his housekeeper; "art wode, Ned? Wouldst thou have
it discovered that thou hast such quality birds in the cage--noble
Yorkists--at the very time when Lord Hastings himself may be riding this
way after the victory?"

"Always right, Meg,--and I'm an ass!" answered the host, in the same
undertone. "But my good nature will be the death of me some day. Poor
gentlefolks, they must be unked dull, yonder!"

"If the Yorkists come hither,--which we shall soon know by the
scouts,--we must shift Sir John and the damsel to the back of the house,
over thy tap-room."

"Manage it as thou wilt, Meg; but thou seest they keep quiet and snug.
Ho, ho, ho! that tall tymbestere is supple enough to make an owl hold
his sides with laughing. Ah! hollo, there, tymbesteres, ribaudes,
tramps, the devil's chickens,--down, down!"

The host was too late in his order. With a sudden spring, Graul, who had
long fixed her eye on the open lattice of the prisoners, had wreathed
herself round one of the pillars that supported the stairs, swung
lightly over the balustrade; and with a faint shriek the startled Sibyll
beheld the tymbestere's hard, fierce eyes, glaring upon her through the
lattice, as her long arm extended the timbrel for largess. But no sooner
had Sibyll raised her face than she was recognized.

"Ho, the wizard and the wizard's daughter! Ho, the