terior wall was a deep moat, supplied with water from a neighboring rivulet. Front-de-Boeuf, whose character placed him often at feud with his enemies, had made considerable additions to the strength of his castle by building towers upon the outward wall, so as to flank it at every angle. The access, as usual in castles of the period, lay through an arched barbican,1 or outwork, which was terminated and defended by a small turret at each

corner.

Cedric no sooner saw the turrets of Front-de-Bouf's castle raise their gray and moss-grown battlements, glimmering in the morning sun, above the woods by which they were surrounded, than he instantly augured more truly concerning the cause of his misfortune.

"I did injustice," he said, "to the thieves and outlaws of these woods, when I supposed such banditti to belong to their bands. I might as justly have confounded the foxes of these brakes 2 with the ravening wolves of France. Tell me, dogs, is it my life, or my wealth, that your master aims at? Is it too much that two Saxons, myself and the noble Athelstane, should hold land in the country which was once the patrimony of our race? Put us, then, to death, and complete your tyranny by taking our lives, as you began with our liberties. If the Saxon Cedric cannot rescue England, he is willing to die for her. Tell your tyrannical master I do only beseech him to dismiss the Lady Rowena in safety. She is a woman, and he need not dread her; and with us will die all who dare fight in her cause."

The attendants remained as mute to this address as to the former, and they now stood before the gate of the castle. De Bracy winded his horn three times, and the archers and crossbow-men, who had manned the wall upon seeing their approach, hastened to lower the drawbridge and admit them. The prisoners were compelled by their guards to alight, and were conducted to

1 An outwork or out-tower defending the entrance of a castle, commanding its approach over a drawbridge usually.

2 Thick underbrush.

an apartment where a hasty repast was offered them, of which none but Athelstane felt any inclination to partake. Neither had the descendant of the Confessor much time to do justice to the good cheer placed before them, for their guards gave him and Cedric to understand that they were to be imprisoned in a chamber apart from Rowena. Resistance was vain; and they were compelled to follow to a large room, which, rising on clumsy Saxon pillars, resembled those refectories1 and chapter-houses 2 which may be still seen in the most ancient parts of our most ancient monasteries.

The Lady Rowena was next separated from her train, and conducted, with courtesy indeed, but still without consulting her inclination, to a distant apartment. The same distinction was conferred on Rebecca, in spite of her father's entreaties, who offered even money, in this extremity of distress, that she might be permitted to abide with him. Base unbeliever," answered one of his guards, “when thou hast seen thy lair, thou wilt not wish thy daughter to partake it." And without further discussion the old Jew was forcibly dragged off in a different direction from the other prisoners. The domestics, after being carefully searched and disarmed, were confined in another part of the castle; and Rowena was refused even the comfort she might have derived from the attendance of her handmaiden Elgitha.

The apartment in which the Saxon chiefs were confined, although at present used as a sort of guard-room, had formerly been the great hall of the castle. It was now abandoned to meaner purposes, because the present lord, among other additions to the convenience, security, and beauty of his baronial residence, had erected a new and noble hall, whose vaulted roof was supported by lighter and more elegant pillars, and fitted up with that higher degree of ornament which the Normans had already introduced into architecture.

1 The dining apartments in a monastery.

2 Buildings connected with cathedrals or religious houses in which the chapters or assemblies of monks or other clergy held council.

Cedric paced the apartment, filled with indignant reflections. on the past and on the present, while the apathy of his companion served, instead of patience and philosophy, to defend him against everything save the inconvenience of the present moment; and so little did he feel even this last, that he was only from time to time roused to a reply by Cedric's animated and impassioned appeal to him.

"Yes," said Cedric, half speaking to himself and half addressing himself to Athelstane, "it was in this very hall that my ancestor feasted with Torquil Wolfganger, when he entertained the valiant and unfortunate Harold,1 then advancing against the Norwegians, who had united themselves to the rebel Tosti.2 It was in this hall that Harold returned the magnanimous answer to the ambassador of his rebel brother. Oft have I heard my father kindle as he told the tale. Who would have thought that you, noble Athelstane that you, descended of Harold's blood, and that I, whose father was not the worst defender of the Saxon crown, should be prisoners to a vile Norman, in the very hall in which our ancestors held such high festival?"

While the Saxon was plunged in painful reflections, the door of their prison opened, and gave entrance to a sewer,3 holding his white rod of office. This important person advanced into the chamber with a grave pace, followed by four attendants bearing in a table covered with dishes, the sight and smell of which seemed to be an instant compensation to Athelstane for all the inconvenience he had undergone. The persons who attended on the feast were masked and cloaked.

1 The Saxon king defeated at Hastings by William the Conqueror, Oct. 14, 1066, and killed in the battle.

2 The battle alluded to, fought and won by King Harold over his brother, the rebellious Tosti, and an auxiliary force of Danes or Norsemen, took place in 1066 at Stamford, Strangford, or Staneford, -a ford upon the river Derwent, seven miles from York, and situated in that large and opulent county.

3 A steward.

are ignorant whose prisoners we are, when we are in the castle of your master? Tell him," he continued, willing to use this opportunity to open a negotiation for his freedom" tell your master, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, that we know no reason he can have for withholding our liberty, excepting his unlawful desire to enrich himself at our expense. Tell him that we yield to his rapacity as in similar circumstances we should do to that of a literal robber. Let him name the ransom at which he rates our liberty, and it shall be paid, providing the exaction is suited to our means." The sewer made no answer, but bowed his head.

And tell Sir Reginald Front-de-Bœuf," said Athelstane," that I send him my mortal defiance, and challenge him to combat with me, on foot or horseback, at any secure place, within eight days after our liberation; which, if he be a true knight, he will not, under these circumstances, venture to refuse or to delay." "I shall deliver to the knight your defiance," answered the meanwhile I leave you to your food."

sewer;

The challenge of Athelstane was delivered with no good grace; for a large mouthful, which required the exercise of both jaws. at once, added to a natural hesitation, considerably damped the effect of the bold defiance it contained. Still, however, his speech was hailed by Cedric as an incontestable token of reviving spirit in his companion, whose previous indifference had begun, notwithstanding his respect for Athelstane's descent, to wear out his patience. But he now cordially shook hands with him in token of his approbation, and was somewhat grieved when Athelstane observed that he would fight a dozen such men as Front-deBœuf, if by so doing he could hasten his departure from a dungeon where they put so much garlic into their pottage. Notwithstanding this intimation of a relapse into apathy, Cedric placed himself opposite to Athelstane, and soon showed, that, if the distresses of his country could banish the recollection of food while the table was uncovered, yet no sooner were the victuals put there than he proved that the appetite of his Saxon ancestors had descended to him along with their other qualities.

The captives had not long enjoyed their refreshment, however, ere their attention was disturbed, even from this most serious occupation, by the blast of a horn winded before the gate. It was repeated three times, with as much violence as if it had been blown before an enchanted castle by the destined knight at whose summons halls and towers, barbican and battlement, were to roll off like a morning vapor. The Saxons started from the table, and hastened to the window, but their curiosity was disappointed; for these outlets only looked upon the court of the castle, and the sound came from beyond its precincts. The summons, however, seemed of importance, for a considerable degree of bustle instantly took place in the castle.

L

CHAPTER XXII.

EAVING the Saxon chiefs to return to their banquet, we have to look in upon the yet more severe imprisonment of Isaac of York. The poor Jew had been hastily thrust into a dungeon-vault of the castle, the floor of which was deep beneath the level of the ground, and very damp, being lower than even the moat itself. The only light was received through one or two loop-holes far above the reach of the captive's hand. These apertures admitted, even at midday, only a dim and uncertain light, which was changed for utter darkness long before the rest of the castle had lost the blessing of day. Chains and shackles, which had been the portion of former captives from whom active exertions to escape had been apprehended, hung, rusted and empty, on the walls of the prison; and in the rings of one of those sets of fetters there remained two moldering bones, which seemed to have been once those of the human leg, as if the prisoner had been left not only to perish there, but to be consumed to a skeleton.

At one end of this ghastly apartment was a large fire-grate,