them, they were calm again, and smiled, and they asked him whether he
had lost his way. Raymond said nothing of what had happened to him,
fearing to startle the delicate nerves of his lady; but late on the
following night, when Sir Arnold was alone in his bedchamber, a man
ghastly white from loss of blood lifted the heavy curtain and told his
story in a low voice.




CHAPTER II


Now Raymond and his son had gone over into Berkshire, to the building
of the great castle at Faringdon, as has been said; and for a while Sir
Arnold remained in his hold, and very often he rode over alone to
Stoke, and spent many hours with the Lady Goda, both in the hall and in
the small garden by the moat. The priest, and the steward, and the men-
at-arms, and the porter, were all used to see him there often enough,
when Sir Raymond was at home, and they thought no evil because he came
now to bear the lonely lady company; for the manners of those days were
simple.

But on a morning at the end of April, there came a messenger from King
Stephen, bidding all earls, barons, bannerets, and knights, upon their
oath of fealty, join him with their fighting men in Oxford. For form's
sake, the messenger came to Stoke Regis, as not admitting that any
Norman knight should not be on the king's side; and the drawbridge
being down, he rode under the gateway, and when the trumpeter who was
with him had blown three blasts, he delivered his message. Then the