ecious pair of priestly scoundrels!" De Wilton exclaimed,
when he and De Lacy had mounted and were trotting toward the gate.

"They will be the first knocked on the head if Raynor Royk has located
the Countess," said Aymer.

"By the saintly Benedict! why not do the knocking now and then hear
Raynor's report?" De Wilton laughed.

"It would give me great pleasure and doubtless be altogether proper as
a matter of abstract justice; but I fear rather impolitic. Best wait
for Royk."

But Royk's search was barren; and so the Abbot Aldam and Sir
Christopher Urswicke were left to their plotting, while Sir Aymer De
Lacy and Sir Ralph De Wilton rode Westward, seeking vainly for a clue
to the lost Lady of Clare.

XVIII

THE HOUSE IN SHEFFIELD

Three weeks later, toward evening, Sir Aymer de Lacy with a dozen weary
and travel-stained men-at-arms rode into Sheffield and drew up before
the Inn of the Red Lion. In fog and rain and sunshine, by day and by
night, they had kept to the search, and all in vain.

The morning after leaving Kirkstall Abbey, De Lacy and De Wilton had
separated. It was useless to hold so many men together when there was
no immediate prospect of a fight or even a hard stern chase; and there
would be much more profit in dividing them into small bodies and so
spreading over a wider stretch of country. De Wilton with half of the
force turned Northward to cover the section beyond the Wharfe, while De
Lacy with the others kept on toward Lancaster; and these he further
divided and subdivided until there was scarce a hamlet or bridle-path
in the West Riding that had not been visited.

As the days passed with no fortune for him, and no word from the King
of success elsewhere, he went from fierce anger to stern determination
and from headlong haste to dogged persistency. He had refused to
entertain for an instant the notion that the Countess of Clare was
dead, though he knew that such had become the prevailing view at Court,
and that even Richard himself was growing fearful lest murder had
followed the abduction.

To the hasty and obsequious greetings of the landlord De Lacy gave only
a short nod and ordered lodging for himself and men. Choosing a small
table in the farthest corner and in the shadow of the big chimney, he
slowly sipped his wine. There were eight others in the room, but
Flat-Nose was not of them. Three were merchants, traveling in company,
possibly for protection on the road, and