getting out of doors, and again to the left, through the covered passage
between the steward's store and the kitchen. Then crossing the waggon
yard, they paused a moment to glance in at the forge, where two men were
repairing part of a plough.

Oliver must also look for a moment at his mare, after which they
directed their steps to the South Gate. The massive oaken door was open,
the bolts having been drawn back at hornblow. There was a guard-room on
one side of the gate under the platform in the corner, where there was
always supposed to be a watch.

But in times of peace, and when there were no apprehensions of attack,
the men whose turn it was to watch there were often called away for a
time to assist in some labour going forward, and at that moment were
helping to move the woolpacks farther into the warehouse. Still they
were close at hand, and had the day watchman or warder, who was now on
the roof, blown his horn, would have rushed direct to the gate. Felix
did not like this relaxation of discipline. His precise ideas were upset
at the absence of the guard; method, organization, and precision, were
the characteristics of his mind, and this kind of uncertainty irritated
him.

"I wish Sir Constans would insist on the guard being kept," he remarked.
Children, in speaking of their parents, invariably gave them their
titles. Now their father's title was properly "my lord," as he was a
baron, and one of the most ancient. But he had so long abnegated the
exercise of his rights and privileges, sinking the noble in the
mechanician, that men had forgotten the proper style in which they
should address him. "Sir" was applied to all nobles, whether they
possessed estates or not. The brothers were invariably addressed as Sir