Part II

WILD ENGLAND



CHAPTER I

SIR FELIX


On a bright May morning, the sunlight, at five o'clock, was pouring into
a room which face the east at the ancestral home of the Aquilas. In this
room Felix, the eldest of the three sons of the Baron, was sleeping. The
beams passed over his head, and lit up a square space on the opposite
whitewashed wall, where, in the midst of the brilliant light, hung an
ivory cross. There were only two panes of glass in the window, each no
more than two or three inches square, the rest of the window being
closed by strong oaken shutters, thick enough to withstand the stroke of
an arrow.

In the daytime one of these at least would have been thrown open to
admit air and light. They did not quite meet, and a streak of sunshine,
in addition to that which came through the tiny panes, entered at the
chink. Only one window in the house contained more than two such panes
(it was in the Baroness's sitting-room), and most of them had none at
all. The glass left by the ancients in their dwellings had long since