onsent
of her parents," answered De la Zouch. "But I doubt not, that when
once again you have spoken to her, I shall speedily be rewarded with
success."

"Ay," exclaimed Sir George, "Doll was ever a dutiful child."

"She would bow to our will, anyway," replied Lady Vernon, "but I think
she has another suitor. We must think the matter well over ere we
settle anything."

"Another suitor," laughed the baron; "why there are scores of them."

"Ah, you see, Sir Henry, the baron has not the quick, discerning eye
of a mother--or a love either," she added shyly. "Bless his innocence,
he knows naught of it yet. Sir George, I trust Master Manners is a
trusty young man?"

"John Manners is goodly enough, forsooth, for aught I trow," returned
the King of the Peak, reflectively. "Aye, and a likely enough young
man, too!"

"But Manners cannot seek the hand of so guileless a maiden as sweet
Dorothy," interrupted the dismayed lover. "His hands are stained with
blood."

"A soldier should do his duty," quickly returned Sir George."

"But he is a murderer!"

"That is a bold statement, De la Zouch, to make against a guest of
mine," exclaimed the baron quickly, "and I fear an thou persist in it
that it will prove awkward for thee if thou canst not prove it, and
worse still for him if it be true."

"Are you certain of it?" asked Lady Maude.

"I have a witness," was the calm reply.

"Then by my halidame," quoth the irate knight, "as I'm a justice
o' the peace, he shall be faced with the offence. When was it
perpetrated?"

"At the hawking party."

"What, here at Haddon?"

"You don't mean the pedlar, surely?" inquired Lady Vernon.

"Aye, but I do; he was murdered in the wood."

"Tut," angrily exclaimed Sir George, "'tis all a tale, and I for one
don't believe a word of it. The witch killed him, and was punished for
it too."

"But I saw it," stubbornly returned Sir Henry, "and I have a witness;
one who saw it done."

"We tried Dame Durden by the ordeal, an she was found guilty and
hanged," persisted the baron. "And, beshrew me, that's enough for any
man"; and the Lord of Haddon reverently crossed himself to show that
the trial had had the approval of his conscience.

"But," urged De le Zouch, "I tell you I saw it done myself, and I am
ready to prove it any way you choose."

"Come now, Sir George," interrupted Lady Vernon, "the trial may for
once have led us astray, as it did in the case of Thomas Bayford
sixteen year