ounds in the house -- a tumult of men's voices, the
clash of arms, cries and shouts, and the tread of many feet upon the stairs.

Joan's colour came and went as she listened. Yes, surely she heard a
voice -- a voice that sent thrills all through her -- and yet it was not
Raymond's voice; it was deeper, louder, more authoritative. But the
footsteps were approaching, were mounting the turret stair, and Joan,
with a hasty movement, flung over her shoulders a sweeping supertunic
lined with fur, which Peter Sanghurst had placed in the room for her
use, but which she had not hitherto deigned to wear. She had but just
secured the buckle and girdle, and concealed her boy's garb by the means
of these rich folds of velvet, before a hand was upon the latch of the
door, and the same thrilling voice was speaking through the panels in
urgent accents.

"Lady -- Mistress Joan -- art thou there?"

"I am within this turret -- I am here, fair sir," answered Joan, as
calmly as her beating heart would allow. "But I cannot open to thee, for
I am but a captive here -- the captive of Peter Sanghurst."

"Now a prisoner bound, and answering for his sins before the Prince and
some of the highest nobles of the land. Lady, I and my men have come to
set thee free. I come to thee the bearer of a message from my brother --
from Raymond de Brocas. Give my stout fellows but a moment's grace to
batter down this strong door, and we will set thee free, and take thee
to the Prince, to bear witness against the false traitor, who stands in
craven terror before him below!"

But these last words were quite lost upon Joan. She had sunk, trembling
and white, upon a couch, overcome by the excess of joy with which she
had heard her lover's name pronounced. She heard heavy blows dealt upon
the oaken panels of the door. She knew that her deliverance was at hand;
but a mist was before her eyes, and she could think of nothing but those
wonderful words just spoken, until the woodwork fell inwards with a loud
crash, and Gaston, springing across the threshold, knelt at her feet.

"Lady, it is many years since we met, and then we met but seldom; but I
come from him whom thou lovest and therefore I know myself welcome. Fair
mistress, my brother has been sorely sick -- sick unto death -- or he
would be here himself to claim this fair hand. He has been sick in body
and sick in mind -- sick with fear lest that traitor and villain who
robbed him of your token should make f