to the shrine of St. Dunstan, which lay at
the edge of the forest, to thank him for her recovery from illness, and
to pray for the safety of her son. She would be carried thither in a
litter, and her journey would excite no comment whatever. She would take
with her four of her most trusted retainers, and would on her arrival at
the shrine send them to a distance, in order to pay her devotions
undisturbed. Cuthbert was to be near, and the moment he saw them depart,
to enter.

This arrangement was carried out, and the joy of Dame Editha at again
meeting her son was deep indeed. He had left her a lad of fifteen. He
now returned a youth of nearly eighteen, stout and strong beyond his
age, and looking far older than he was, from the effect of the hot sun
of Syria and of the hardships through which he had gone. That he should
win his spurs upon the first opportunity the earl had promised her, and
she doubted not that he would soon attain the rank which his father had
held. But that he should return to her a belted earl was beyond her
wildest thoughts. This, however, was but little in her mind then. It was
her son, and not the Earl of Evesham, whom she clasped in her arms.

As the interview must necessarily be a short one, Cuthbert gave her but
a slight outline of what had happened since they parted, and the
conversation then turned upon the present position, and upon the steps
which had best be taken.

"Your peril is, I fear, as great here as when you were fighting the
infidels in the Holy Land," she said. "Sir Rudolph has not been here
long; but he has proved himself a cruel and ruthless master. He has
driven forth many of the old tenants and bestowed their lands upon his
own servants and retainers. The forest laws he carries out to the
fullest severity, and has hung several men who were caught infringing
them. He has laid such heavy burdens on all the tenants that remain that
they are fairly ruined, and if he stay here long he will rule over a
desert. Did he dream of your presence here, he would carry fire and
sword through the forest. It is sad indeed to think that so worthless a
knave as this should be a favorite of the ruler of England. But all men
say that he is so. Thus were you to attack him, even did you conquer and
kill him, you would have the enmity of Prince John to contend with; and
he spareth none, man or woman, who stand in his way. It will be a bad
day indeed for England should our good King Richard not retu