has been perplexing me this long while. I would fain hear from thy
story how it comes about."

"That is soon told, young sir. Thou dost not, probably, remember
the name of Warbel as that of some of the retainers of thy
grandsire, but--"

"I have heard the name," said the boy. "I have heard my father
speak of them. But I knew not that there were any of that name now
living."

"I am a Warbel--I trow the last of my race. I was born beyond the
seas; but I was early brought to England, and I heard munch of the
strife that encompassed Chad, because my father and grandfather
both knew the place well, and would fain have gone back and lived
in the old country had not fortune otherwise decreed it. To make a
long story short, they never returned to the place. But when I was
grown to man's estate, I was offered a post in the household of the
Lord of Mortimer, and as it was the best thing that had fallen in
my way, I accepted it very gladly; for I knew that name, too, and I
knew naught against the haughty lord, albeit my father and
grandsire had not loved the lords of that name who lived before
him.

"For many years I have been in his service, and for a while all
went well with me. I was made one of his gentlemen, and he seemed
to favour me. But of late there has been a change towards me--I
know not how or why. I have offended him without intending it, and
he has sometimes provoked me almost beyond endurance by his proud
insolence. But that I might have borne, for he was my master, had