most barnlike and unhospitable appearance.

In one corner was a huge bed, and across the room a smaller cot; a
cupboard, a table, and two benches completed the furnishings. These
articles De Vac had purchased for the room against the time when he should
occupy it with his little prisoner.

On the table were a loaf of black bread, an earthenware jar containing
honey, a pitcher of milk and two drinking horns. To these, De Vac
immediately gave his attention, commanding the child to partake of what he
wished.

Hunger for the moment overcame the little Prince's fears, and he set to
with avidity upon the strange, rough fare, made doubly coarse by the rude
utensils and the bare surroundings, so unlike the royal magnificence of his
palace apartments.

While the child ate, De Vac hastened to the lower floor of the building in
search of Til, whom he now thoroughly mistrusted and feared. The words of
De Montfort, which he had overheard at the dock, convinced him that here
was one more obstacle to the fulfillment of his revenge which must be
removed as had the Lady Maud; but in this instance there was neither youth
nor beauty to plead the cause of the intended victim, or to cause the grim
executioner a pang of remorse.

When he found the old hag, she was already dressed to go upon the street,
in fact he intercepted her at the very door of the building. Still clad as
he was in the mantle and wimple of an old woman, Til did not, at first,
recognize him, and when he spoke, she burst into a nervous, cackling laugh,
as one caught in the perpetration of some questionable act, nor did her