flakes, which narrowed the vision so that our friends could hardly
see across the moat, but the fire crackled on the great hearth
where five or six logs fizzed and spluttered out their juices.

"My journey is indeed delayed," said the earl, "yet I am most
anxious to reach London and present myself to the king."

"The weather is in God's hands; we may pray for a change, but
meanwhile we must be patient and thankful that we have a roof over
our heads, my lord."

"And it gives me full time to hear particulars about the boy whom I
left in your care--a wilful, petted urchin, ten years of age he was
then."

"The lad is docile; he has scant inclination towards the Church,
but he shows the signs of his high lineage in a hundred different
ways."

"High lineage?" said the earl, with a smile and a look of inquiry.

"We had supposed him of thy kindred; he bears every sign of
noblesse and does not disgrace it," said the prior, himself of the
kindred of the "lords of the eagle."

"He is the son of a brother crusader."

"The father is not living?"

"No, he fell in Palestine, within sight of the earthly Jerusalem,