grandsire had been in the thick of the press at Hastings, with William
of Normandy, wherefore he had received the lands and lordship of Stoke
Regis in Hertfordshire; and his name is on Battle Abbey Roll to this
day.

During ten years Stephen of Blois had reigned over England with varying
fortune, alternately victor and vanquished, now holding his great
enemy, Robert of Gloucester, a prisoner and hostage, now himself in the
Empress's power, loaded with chains and languishing in the keep of
Bristol Castle. Yet of late the tide had turned in his favour; and
though Gloucester still kept up the show of warfare for his half-
sister's sake,--as indeed he fought for her so long as he had breath,--
the worst of the civil war was over; the partisans of the Empress had
lost faith in her sovereignty, and her cause was but lingering in the
shadow of death. The nobles of England had judged Stephen's character
from the hour in which King Henry died, and they knew him to be a brave
soldier, a desperate fighter, an indulgent man, and a weak ruler.

Finding themselves confronted by a usurper who had no great talent to
recommend him, nor much political strength behind his brilliant
personal courage, their first instinct was to refuse submission to his
authority, and to drive him out as an impostor. It was not until they
had been chilled and disappointed by the scornful coldness of the
Empress Queen's imperious bearing that they saw how much pleasanter it
would be to rule Stephen than to serve Maud. Yet Gloucester was
powerful, and with his feudal retainers and devoted followers and a
handful of loyal independent knights, he was still able to hold Oxford,
Gloucester, and the northernmost part of Berkshire for his sister.

Now, in the early spring of this present year, the great earl had gone