for all he was so proud of his skill and strength. And
the good brothers spoke to him seriously of his evil courses, and I
know not what besides. So the end was that he ran away once more
and joined himself to the Robbers of Black Notley, and was taken in
such favour by the captain of the band that he is half a captain
himself; and many is the time he has ridden through our village,
robbing his old neighbours, and doing more harm in a night than
months of hard work will put right; and often when I have chanced
to meet him he has given me a look that has frozen the blood in my
veins. I have always lived in fear of him all my life; but I was
never in such peril before today."

"Peril enough, in all sooth," said the traveller. "How came it,
pretty maiden, that you chanced to be all alone in the wood so near
to the haunts of the robbers?"

"Nay, I was far enough away from their regular haunts. I had but
come a short cut through the wood to see a sick neighbour, and I
tarried beside her longer than I well knew. I will never do the
like again, but I have been used from childhood to roam these
forest paths unharmed. The wood is thick, and if I hear the sound
of horse or man I always slip aside and hide myself. But today,
methinks, they must have tracked me and were lying in wait; for the
wood was silent as the church till I reached the clearing, and then
the whole four sprang up from behind the pile of felled trees and
set upon me. Had you not been at hand, by good providence; I should
ere this have been their helpless captive;" and again the girl
shuddered strongly.

By this time the trees were growing somewhat thinner, and lights
began to twinkle here and there, showing that some village was nigh
at hand. A bell for vespers began to ring forth, and the traveller
was glad enough to think his toilsome journey nearly at an end.
Hardy as he was, and well inured to fatigues and hardship of all
kinds, he was growing exhausted from his day's travel and his sharp
fighting. He was wounded, too, and although there was no great
effusion of blood, his hurt was becoming painful, and his left arm,
which was undoubtedly broken, required some skilled attention.

"Is it here that you live, fair maid?" he asked. "I know not how
you are named; but I gather that you are directing our course to
your own home."

"My name is Joan Devenish," she answered, "and the lights you see
yonder are those of Much Waltham, and it is our church bell th