bearing towards your betters, ere long, if you learn it not yourself."

"That were fitly ordered," said Edouard; "it is even thus in the great world, that well-meaning, witless fools are sport for the dark workings of a knave's prowess. I conned that lesson but a short while bygone, when De Senlis learnt the jeopardy of De Rossenville from his generous guest;" and ere the flushing of blended rage and consciousness which flew to the brow of De Lacy had yet faded, he was alone.

CHAP. IV.

"Though many an hour of love and mirth
May cheer man's spirit here on earth,
And friends may meet in moments gay,
And the dancing heart keep holiday;
Yet, oh! far oftener must it bear
Its solitary load of care,

Aching in anguish, deep and lone,
For many a lov'd and loving one."

A breaking Heurt.

WHEN the lord De Senlis entered the apartment of the king, to impart the arri val and purpose of De Lacy's presence at court, the Norman William was seated in all the listless inaction so peculiar to energetic minds, when they are bereft of a powerful and exciting stimulus to exertion; and the princess Agatha, with her pale and wasting cheek pillowed on her almost transparent hand, sat near her royal

father, while her dim, but still beautiful eyes, were veiled by their heavy lids, as she appeared lost in the melancholy musing; and little did William of England dream, that at that moment the thoughts of his favourite daughter were with his enemy.

The prince royal, who had been silently pacing the apartment, paused in his progress as the noble entered; and as at intervals he glanced at the scarcely-tangible form of his fading sister, his own musings dwelt on the Saxon Hereward, while at times he marvelled at her love, and at others tacitly acknowledged to his own heart how worthy was its object. Near the uncomplaining princess, the eye fell on the lord archbishop of Canterbury, whose downcast look and silent mood were alike free from the lowering frown of moroseness, or the obsequious humility of lip-deep subserviency.

The quick clear eye of De Senlis proclaimed somewhat of import, even as he entered the royal apartment; and the mo

narch, with all the eagerness for new impulse and action which characterized him, exclaimed-" Marry, my brave Gaul, your look tells of vast advisement-what are your tidings ?".

"The lord De Lacy is returned to court, my liege," said the favourite.

The brow of the prince royal contracted into a deep and fearful frown; and the archbishop of Canterbury withdrew his eyes from the floor, and fixed them on the courtier.

66

Now, by the mass! he is a bold youth and a reckless!" exclaimed William; "but we must pardon him his past errors, if he seeks to make atonement for them, in the memory of his good prowess: but how words he his contrition, my lord ?"

"In good verity, my liege, he phrases it right powerfully, for he comes to yield a rebel into your royal keeping as atonement-even the doughty Morcar of Hereward"

"How say you, De Senlis ?" exclaimed the monarch, starting to his feet; "Morcar of Hereward !-now by my good sword, Gualtier De Lacy hath won himself a broad barony and a proud name."

The Norman William, absorbed in the tidings he had just learnt, was unconscious of all which was passing around him he listened eagerly to the words of De Senlis, and as they stood in the recess of a window, forgot that any were in the apartment, save himself and the noble who had taught him, that ere long Morcar of Hereward would be his captive. But there were indeed others who had heard the words of the Gallic noble-she -the fond, heart-stricken mistress of the Saxon-she too had heard them-she uttered no phrensied cry-she shed nó tear, when she learnt that all which she had most dreaded had overtaken her: hers was a grief too utter for the groan of suffering, or the tear of sorrow. When she heard the words of De Senlis, she raised her eyes convulsively, and her cheek and