quadrangle, represented the double character of its owner, one side
being occupied by barns and a considerable range of stabling, while
cows, oxen, and ragged colts grouped amicably together in a space
railed off in the centre of the yard. At another side ran a large
wooden staircase, with an open gallery, propped on wooden columns,
conducting to numerous chambers, after the fashion of the Tabard in
Southwark, immortalized by Chaucer. Over the archway, on entrance,
ran a labyrinth of sleeping lofts for foot passengers and muleteers;
and the side facing the entrance was nearly occupied by a vast
kitchen, the common hall, and the bar, with the private parlour of the
host, and two or three chambers in the second story. The whirlicote
jolted and rattled into the yard. Sibyll and her father were assisted
out of the vehicle, and, after a few words interchanged with the host,
conducted by Master Porpustone himself up the spacious stairs into a
chamber, well furnished and fresh littered, with repeated assurances
of safety, provided they maintained silence, and attempted no escape.

"Ye are in time," said Ned Porpustone to the captain. "Lord Hastings
made proclamation at daybreak that he gave the rebels two hours to
disperse."

"Pest! I like not those proclamations. And the fellows stood their
ground?"

"No; for Sir Geoffrey, like a wise soldier, mended the ground by
retreating a mile to the left, and placing the wood between the
Yorkists and himself. Hastings, by this, must have remarshalled his
men. But to pass the wood is slow work, and Sir Geoffrey's crossbows
are no doubt doing damage in the covert. Come in, while your fellows
snatch a morsel without; five minutes are not thrown away on filling