giva spoke
impatiently to the nearest soldier.

"Why does it become more crowded when two paths open before us? Why does
it not happen that some of these cattle turn down the old way?"

The man shook his head. "I do not think there is much likelihood of
that, lady; since the Bridge was built, no one has wanted to use the
ford; and there is little else to take that way for, unless you are
going to service in the West Minster or to the Monastery."

"Wanted!" the Lady of Northampton repeated in the extremity of scorn.
"Bid them turn into that road at once. They stand some chance of their
faces getting clean if they take the ford,--if they also get drowned
matters very little. Tell them, seek what they may seek, to take that
way instantly, or the King shall punish them for interfering with their
betters."

The man pushed up his leather cap to scratch his head. He was not
unacquainted with her custom of sweeping the Northamptonshire serfs off
any road she wished to possess, but that struck him as being somewhat
easier than dispersing a Coronation mob at the gates of London; and
yet to defy her--that was harder than either of them! It was an
interposition of his good angel that at this moment provided a
diversion.

Randalin broke from her silence with an exclamation: "Thorkel! Yonder!"

Less than fifty paces ahead of them, the grizzled head of the King's
foster-father rose steeple-like above the crowd, while the mighty
shoulders of the King's foster-brother made a bulwark beside it, and
the gilded helms of the King's guard formed a palisade around them. The
obstacle in the way was nothing less than a royal detachment drawn up in
waiting beside the road.

Elfgiva's frown relaxed; for the first time in many days she let the
liquid music of her laughter trickle forth. "Be blithesome in your
minds, maidens!" she called gayly over her shoulder. "Friends are at
hand to take charge of us."

Taking into consideration what they had expected, the attention was so
flattering that at first they scarcely dared believe it; but its truth
was proved the moment Thorkel turned his head and saw them coming. At
his command, the line of gilded helms quickly drew out across the road
in a barrier which once more dammed the human stream to overflowing. A
break in the middle allowed the party from Gloucester to filter through;
then the opening closed behind them; the line bent at either end, and
they moved as between walls, guarded against