some years since I have seen you and I did not know the old fox Richard de

Tany kept such a package as this hid in his grimy old castle."

"Then you refuse to release us ?" said Joan de Tany.

"Let us not put it thus harshly," countered the Earl. "Rather let us say

that it be so late in the day, and the way so beset with dangers that the

Earl of Buckingham could not bring himself to expose the beautiful daughter

of his old friend to the perils of the road, and so -- "

"Let us have an end to such foolishness," cried the girl. "I might have

expected naught better from a turncoat foreign knave such as thee, who once

joined in the councils of De Montfort, and then betrayed his friends to

curry favor with the King."

The Earl paled with rage, and pressed forward as though to strike the girl,

but thinking better of it, he turned to one of the soldiers, saying:

"Bring the prisoner with you. If the man lives bring him also. I would

learn more of this fellow who masquerades in the countenance of a crown

prince."

And turning, he spurred on towards the neighboring castle of a rebel baron

which had been captured by the royalists, and was now used as headquarters

by De Fulm.

CHAPTER XIII

When Norman of Torn regained his senses, he found himself in a small tower

room in a strange castle. His head ached horribly, and he felt sick and

sore; but he managed to crawl from the cot on which he lay, and by

steadying his swaying body with hands pressed against the wall, he was able

to reach the door. To his disappointment, he found this locked from

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