dozen of them, wife. Long Tom and his comrades will take good care that
none come near enough for speech."

The day passed away in perfect quiet. From time to time word came down
from the look-out that the scattered soldiers were returning laden with a
great quantity of young trees, wattles, and doors. Dame Margaret kept
watch in her room, and allowed no messengers to enter her husband's
apartments.

"If there be need, I will wake him," she said; "but he knows well enough
what the French have gone for, and there is naught to do until they
advance to the attack."

Guy slept but a short time, and as he frequently started up under the
impression that the horn was sounding an alarm, in the afternoon he got up
and went down into the courtyard. For some time he wandered about in the
quarters occupied by the tenants. These had now settled down; the children
were playing about as unconcernedly as if they had been on their fathers'
farms; women were washing clothes or preparing the evening meal over
little charcoal fires. A certain quantity of meat had been served out to
each family, and they were therefore doing better than in their own
houses, for meat was a luxury seldom touched by the French peasantry.

Almost all who had entered the castle had brought with them a supply of
herbs and vegetables; these, with a handful or two of coarsely-ground meal
boiled into broth, constituted their usual fare, and the addition of a
portion of meat afforded them great satisfaction. Some of the men were
still asleep, in preparation for a long night's work; others were standing
about talking in little groups; some were on the walls watching with
gloomy faces the smoke wreaths that still rose from what had been their