or the meal which had been unusually deferred, and he had to
hurry away to remove certain marks, which were happily the result of
the sweetbrier weapons instead of that of Babington.

That a little blood had been shed was shown by the state of his sword
point, but Antony had disclaimed being hurt when the master of the
house came up, and in the heat of the rebuke the father and son had
hardly noticed that he had thrown a kerchief round his left hand ere he
moved away.

Before dinner was over, word was brought in from the door that Master
Will Cavendish wanted to speak to Master Humfrey. The ladies' hearts
were in their mouths, as it were, lest it should be to deliver a
cartel, and they looked to the father to interfere, but he sat still,
contenting himself with saying, as his son craved license to quit the
board, "Use discretion as well as honour."

They were glad that the next minute Humfrey came back to call his
father to the door, where Will Cavendish sat on horseback. He had come
by desire of Babington, who had fully intended that the encounter
should be kept secret, but some servant must have been aware of it
either from the garden or the park, and the Countess had got wind of
it. She had summoned Babington to her presence, before the castle
barber had finished dealing with the cut in his hand, and the messenger
reported that "my Lady was in one of her raging fits," and talked of
throwing young Humfrey into a dungeon, if not having him hung for his
insolence.

Babington, who had talked to his friends of a slip with his
hunting-knife while disembowelling a deer, was forced to tell the fact
in haste to Cavendish, the nearest at hand, begging him to hurry down
and advise Humfrey to set forth at once if he did not wish his journey
to be unpleasantly delayed.

"My Lord is unwilling to cross my mother at the present," said young
Cavendish with half a smile; "and though it be not likely that much
harm should come of the matter, yet if she laid hands on Humfrey at the
present moment, there might be hindrance and vexation, so it may be
well for him to set forth, in case Tony be unable to persuade my Lady
that it is nought."

Will Cavendish had been a friendly comrade of both Humfrey and Antony
in their boyish days, and his warning was fully to be trusted.

"I know not why I should creep off as though I had done aught that was
evil," said Humfrey, drawing himself up.

"Well," said Will, "my Lord is always wroth