ered a shrill, unearthly
scream, and fled from the spot, leaping over the carcasses, and doubling
and winding, till they had vanished into the darkness of the wood.

"Provost!" said a commanding voice, "hang me up those sentinels at
day-break!"

"My son! my boy! speak, Hal,--speak to me. He is here, he is found!"
exclaimed the old soldier, kneeling beside the corpse at Sibyll's feet.

"My lord! my beloved! my Hastings!" And Sibyll fell insensible before
the chief.

CHAPTER VI. THE SUBTLE CRAFT OF RICHARD OF GLOUCESTER.

It was some weeks after the defeat of Sir Geoffrey Gates, and Edward
was at Shene, with his gay court. Reclined at length within a pavilion
placed before a cool fountain, in the royal gardens, and surrounded
by his favourites, the king listened indolently to the music of his
minstrels, and sleeked the plumage of his favourite falcon, perched upon
his wrist. And scarcely would it have been possible to recognize in
that lazy voluptuary the dauntless soldier, before whose lance, as deer
before the hound, had so lately fled, at bloody Erpingham, the chivalry
of the Lancastrian Rose; but remote from the pavilion, and in one of the
deserted bowling alleys, Prince Richard and Lord Montagu walked apart,
in earnest conversation. The last of these noble personages had remained
inactive during these disturbances, and Edward had not seemed to
entertain any suspicion of his participation in the anger and revenge
of Warwick. The king took from him, it is true, the lands and earldom of
Northumberland, and restored them to the Percy, but he had accompanied
this act with gracious excuses, alleging the necessity of conciliating
the head of an illustrious House, which had formally entered into
allegiance to the dynasty of York, and bestowed upon his early
favourite, in compensation, the dignity of marquis. [Montagu said
bitterly of this new dignity, "He takes from me the Earldom and domains
of Northumberland, and makes me a Marquis, with a pie's nest to maintain
it withal."--STOWE: Edward IV.--Warkworth Chronicle.] The politic king,
in thus depriving Montagu of the wealth and the retainers of the
Percy, reduced him, as a younger brother, to a comparative poverty
and insignificance, which left him dependent on Edward's favour, and
deprived him, as he thought, of the power of active mischief; at the
same time more than ever he insisted on Montagu's society, and
summoning his attendance at the court, kept his movem