rt.

He gave his horse to the man-at-arms and walked into the house; in
the hall he found a drunken company and much ugly mirth. He surveyed
the scene awhile in disgust, for they cried out at first for him to
join them, till it came upon them who it was that looked upon them; so
they stumbled to their feet and did him obeisance, and slunk out one
by one upon some pretence of business, leaving him alone with the old
priest, who was heavier and grosser than before. But he had his wits
as well as he ever had, and would have told Robert how his father had
made a blessed end, with holy oil and sacraments and all due comfort
of Mother Church, but Robert cut him short; and after a lonely meal in
the great hall, turned to look at such few parchments that there were
in the house, and sent for the steward to see how his inheritance
stood. It was a miserable tale he had to tell of neglect and
thriftlessness; and Robert said very soon that he could only hope to
save his estate by living poorly and giving diligence--and that he had
no mind to do; so he resolved that if he could find a purchaser, he
would sell the home of his fathers, and himself set out into the world
he loved, to carve out a fortune, if he might, with his sword.

Among the parchments was one that was closely sealed; it bore a date
before his birth; he read it at first listlessly enough, but presently
he caught sight of words that made his heart beat faster. It seemed
from the script that his father, as a young man, had served for awhile
with a great Duke of Spain, the prince of a little kingdom, and that
he had even saved his life in battle, and would have been promoted to
high honour, but that he had been recalled home to take his
inheritance; but the Duke, so said the writing, had given him the iron
crown and dagger that the Lord of the Marches wore, and with them the
great ruby of the dukedom, that was worth a king's ransom. And the
parchment said that it was pledged by the Duke, by all the most sacred
relics of Spain, bones of saints and wood of the True Cross, that
should he or any of his heirs come before the Duke with these tokens,
the Duke would promote him to chief honour.

Here then was the secret of the iron door and his father's constant
fingering of the keys; and this was the plaything of his youth, _The
Wound_, as he had called it. Robert bowed his head upon his hands and
tried to recollect where he had thrust it last; but though he thought
of a sc