the eyes of every Lollard, to follow Lord Cobham was
equivalent to following Christ.

Weaker and weaker she grew now; always confined to bed; worse from day
to day.

And at last, on the 28th of November, 1416, the ominous horn sounded
without the moat, and the Sheriff of the county, armed with all the
power of the law, entered the Castle of Cardiff, to call the Lady Le
Despenser to account for her repeated and contumacious neglect of the
royal command.

"Lady mine," said Maude, tenderly, kneeling by her, "the Sheriff is
here."

"It is come, then!" replied Constance very quietly. "Bring my little
maids to me. Let me kiss them once more ere they tear them away from
me. God help me to bear the rest!"

She kissed them both, and blessed them fervently, bidding them "be good
maids and serve God." Then she lay back again in the bed, and softly
turned her face to the wall so that the intruders would not see it.

"The Sheriff may enter in," she said in a low voice. "Lord, I have left
all, and have followed Thee!"

Does it seem a small matter for which to sacrifice all? The balances of
the Sanctuary are not used with weights of earth.

The Sheriff came in. Maude stood up boldly, indignantly, and demanded
to know wherefore he had come. The answer was what she expected.

"To seize the persons of the Lady Le Despenser and her daughters,
accused of disobedience to the law, and perverse contumacy, in that she
did deny to aid with money and men the search for one John Oldcastle, a
prison-breaker convict of heresy and sedition."

"Is he taken?" said Bertram almost involuntarily.

"Nay, not so yet; but the good Lord Powys is now a-hunting after him.
He that shall take him shall net a thousand marks thereby, and twenty
marks by the year further."

Maude drew a long sigh.

"Much good do they him!" exclaimed Bertram ironically.

Maude went back to the bed and spoke to her mistress.

"Lady, heard you what he said?"

There was no answer, and Maude spoke again. Still the silence was
unbroken. She touched the shoulder, and yet no response.

"An' it like you, Madam, you must arise and come with me," said the
Sheriff bluntly, as Maude bent over the sufferer. Then, with a low
moan, she sank on her knees by the bedside, and a cry which was not all
bitterness broke from her.

"`And thus hath Christ unwemmed kept Custance'!"

"What matter, wife?" said Bertram in a tone of sudden apprehension.

"No matter any more!