Edward's side, and the slaughter
among the ordinary fighting men was greater than usual.

Hitherto in the battles that had been fought during the civil war; while
the leaders taken on the field were frequently executed, the common
soldiers were permitted to return to their homes, as they had only
been acting under the orders of their feudal superiors, and were not
considered responsible for their acts. At Barnet, however, Edward,
smarting from the humiliation he had suffered by his enforced flight
from England, owing to the whole country declaring for his rival, gave
orders that no quarter was to be granted. It was an anxious day at St.
Albans, where many ladies whose husbands were with Warwick's army had,
like Dame Tresham, taken up their quarters. It was but a few miles from
the field of battle. In the event of victory they could at once join
their husbands, while in case of defeat they could take refuge in the
sanctuary of the abbey. Messengers the night before had brought the news
that the battle would begin at the dawn of day, and with intense anxiety
they waited for the news.

Dame Tresham and her son attended early mass at the abbey, and had
returned to their lodgings, when Sir Thomas rode up at full speed.
His armour was dinted and his plume shorn away from his helmet. As he
entered the house he was met by his wife, who had run downstairs as she
heard his horse stop at the door. A glance at his face was sufficient to
tell the news.

"We have lost the day," he said. "Warwick and Montague are both killed.
All is lost here for the present. Which will you do, my love, ride with
me to the West, where Queen Margaret will speedily land, if indeed she
has not landed already, or take sanctuary here with the boy?"

"I will go with you," she said. "I would vastly rather do so."

"I will tell you more on the road," he said. "There is no time to be
lost now."

The woman of the house was called, and at once set her son to saddle
the other horse and to give a feed to that of the knight. Dame Tresham
busied herself with packing the saddlebags while her husband partook of
a hasty meal; and ten minutes after his arrival they set off, Gervaise
riding behind his father, while the latter led the horse on which his
wife was mounted. A thick mist hung over the country.

"This mist told against us in the battle, wife, for as we advanced our
forces fell into confusion, and more than once friend attacked friend,
believing that h