rian, thou shalt hang! We go!
we go! We have friends amongst the mailed men of York. We go,--we will
return! Woe to thee, if thou harbourest the wizard and the succuba!"

With that Graul moved slowly to the door. Host and housekeeper, varlet,
groom, and scullion made way for her in terror; and still, as she moved,
she kept her eyes on Sibyll, till her sisters, following in successive
file, shut out the hideous aspect: and Meg, ordering away her gaping
train, closed the door.

The host and the housekeeper then gazed gravely at each other. Sibyll
lay in her father's arms breathing hard and convulsively. The old man's
face bent over her in silence. Meg drew aside her master. "You must rid
the house at once of these folks. I have heard talk of yon tymbesteres;
they are awsome in spite and malice. Every man to himself!"

"But the poor old gentleman, so mild, and the maid, so winsome!"

The last remark did not over-please the comely Meg. She advanced at once
to Adam, and said shortly,--

"Master, whether wizard or not is no affair of a poor landlord, whose
house is open to all; but ye have had food and wine,--please to pay the
reckoning, and God speed ye; ye are free to depart."

"We can pay you, mistress!" exclaimed Sibyll, springing up. "We have
moneys yet. Here, here!" and she took from her gipsire the broad pieces
which poor Madge's precaution had placed therein, and which the bravoes
had fortunately spared.

The sight of the gold somewhat softened the housewife. "Lord Hastings is
known to us," continued Sibyll, perceiving the impression she had
made; "suffer us to rest here till he pass this way, and ye will find
yourselves repaid for the kindness."

"By my troth," said the landlord, "ye are most welcome to all my poor
house containeth; and as for these tymbesteres, I value them not a
straw. No one can say Ned Porpustone is an ill man or inhospitable.
Whoever can pay reasonably is sure of good wine and civility at the
Talbot."

With these and many similar protestations and assurances, which were
less heartily re-echoed by the housewife, the landlord begged to conduct
them to an apartment not so liable to molestation; and after having led
them down the principal stairs, through the bar, and thence up a narrow
flight of steps, deposited them in a chamber at the back of the house,
and lighted a sconce therein, for it was now near the twilight. He
then insisted on seeing after their evening meal, and vanished with