had bare time to rush to my room, don a dress that would not excite
inquiry if I had to lie hid in the forest a few days. I did not
think flight would be so difficult a matter, but I knew that every
moment spent in Mortimer's Keep was at peril of my life; and I had
but just made my escape through a small postern door before I heard
the alarm bell ring, the drawbridge go up, and knew that the edict
had gone forth for my instant apprehension."

He paused with a slight shudder, and seemed to be listening
intently.

"There is naught to fear here," said Bertram. "Tell me more of thy
flight."

"It was terrible," answered the man. "I had not looked to be hunted
like the wild beasts of the forest; and yet an hour had not gone by
before I heard, by the baying of the fierce hounds that are kept at
Mortimer, that a hunting party had sallied forth; and I knew that I
was the quarry. I doubled and ran like any hare. I knew the tricks
of the wild things that have skill in baffling the dogs, and at
last I reached the shelter of these walls, and ran there for
protection. I had thrown off the dogs at the last piece of water;
and in the marshy ground the scent did not lie, and could not be
picked up. For a brief moment I was safe; but I was exhausted
almost to death. I could go no further. I lay down beneath the
shadow of some arbour within the sheltering precincts of Chad, and
wondered what would become of me."

"Yes, yes! and then--?"