his head higher, for he
knew that the Welsh loyalists were ready to welcome him as King. Little
Roger innocently asked if he would be Prince of Wales when his brother
was King of England; because in that case, he would pull down some of
the big hills which it took so long to climb. At last only one day's
march lay between them and the Principality.

And on that morning Edward left them. Constance could not understand
why he did not go with them to Cardiff. He was determined not to do so;
and to the disappointment of every one, he induced his brother to
accompany him. Richard would rather have stayed; but he had been too
long accustomed to obey the stronger will of his brother to begin the
assertion of his own. The yielding character which he had inherited
from his father prevailed; and however unwillingly, he followed Edward.

On the morning of that last day's march, they had to traverse a narrow
rocky pass. The path, though rough and stony, was tolerably level; and
feeling themselves almost safe, they slackened their pace. They had
just been laughing at some remark of little Roger's, and they were all
in more or less good spirits, feeling so near the end of their perilous
journey; when all at once, in a turn of the pass, the leading horse came
to a sudden halt.

"Stand, in the King's name!"

Before them was a small, compact body of cavalry; and at their head,
resplendent in official ermine, Sir William Hankeford, Judge of the
King's Bench.

Resistance and flight were equally impossible. Constance addressed
herself to the old man whom she had cheated five years before, and who,
having subsequently discovered her craftiness, had by no means forgotten
it.

"Sir William, you will do your commission; but I pray you remember that
here be five of the King your master's cousins, and we claim to be used
as such."

The old Judge's eyes twinkled as he surveyed the royal lady.

"So, Madam! Your Ladyship hath the right: my commission I shall do, and
set the King my master's cousins in safe keeping--with a chimney-board
clapped to the louvre," [chimney].

Constance fairly laughed.

"Come, Sir, I should scantly play the same trick on you twice."

"No, Madam, I will have a care you no do."

"And for what look we, Sir William? May we know?"

"Madam," said Hankeford drily, "you may look for what you shall find,
and you may know so much as you be told."

"We may bid farewell, trow?"

"So it lie not over too