sely of a kind to captivate the good old knight; besides the
convenience which he found in having a friend to appeal to when his
own memory, as frequently happened, proved infirm and played him false
concerning names and dates, which, and all similar deficiencies, Master
Michael Mumblazen supplied with due brevity and discretion. And,
indeed, in matters concerning the modern world, he often gave, in his
enigmatical and heraldic phrase, advice which was well worth attending
to, or, in Will Badger's language, started the game while others beat
the bush.

"We have had an unhappy time of it with the good knight, Master Edmund,"
said the curate. "I have not suffered so much since I was torn away from
my beloved flock, and compelled to abandon them to the Romish wolves."

"That was in TERTIO MARIAE," said Master Mumblazen.

"In the name of Heaven," continued the curate, "tell us, has your
time been better spent than ours, or have you any news of that
unhappy maiden, who, being for so many years the principal joy of this
broken-down house, is now proved our greatest unhappiness? Have you not
at least discovered her place of residence?"

"I have," replied Tressilian. "Know you Cumnor Place, near Oxford?"

"Surely," said the clergyman; "it was a house of removal for the monks
of Abingdon."

"Whose arms," said Master Michael, "I have seen over a stone chimney in
the hall,--a cross patonce betwixt four martlets."

"There," said Tressilian, "this unhappy maiden resides, in company with
the villain Varney. But for a strange mishap, my sword had revenged all
our injuries, as well as hers, on his worthless head."

"Thank God, that kept thine hand from blood-guiltiness, rash young man!"
answered the curate. "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I will
repay it. It were better study to free her from the villain's nets of
infamy."

"They are called, in heraldry, LAQUEI AMORIS, or LACS D'AMOUR," said
Mumblazen.

"It is in that I require your aid, my friends," said Tressilian. "I
am resolved to accuse this villain, at the very foot of the throne, of
falsehood, seduction, and breach of hospitable laws. The Queen shall
hear me, though the Earl of Leicester, the villain's patron, stood at
her right hand."

"Her Grace," said the curate, "hath set a comely example of continence
to her subjects, and will doubtless do justice on this inhospitable
robber. But wert thou not better apply to the Earl of Leicester, in the
first place,