CHAP. VII. "Come on! he who bends not to fate, will never quail A Captive. WHEN the knight of Rossenville quitted the apartment of the lord of Hereward, he hastily assembled the few vassals who were within the castle, for unsuspicious of the treachery of De Lacy, and confiding in the apparent tranquillity which had succeeded the lately-subdued rebellion, the knight of Sarum suffered his retainers to reside in their own habitations, keeping but a slender guard, and even that less for protection than convenience. At this perilous moment, sir Eguilard felt, but too late, the danger to which he had thus unwarily subjected himself; but his was not a soul to quail beneath peril, and with the desperate valour of one who had ever looked to a bloody mantle as his deathcouch, he opposed, with his small but resolute band, the entrance of the royal soldiery. The imperious voice of De Lacy, summoning him to yield up the rebel whom he had sheltered, but rendered his resolves doubly desperate; and as he upbraided the lord Gualtier for his dishonourable treachery, he vowed to yield up his guest but with his life. "Save that life, sir knight, by obedience to your liege lord," shouted De Lacy, as a momentary thrill of compunction smote on his heart. 66 "Insult me not by thy counsellings, false lord!" replied the unbending De Rossenville. Thy first foot-print within my threshold shall be dyed in my heart's blood, and every step towards the noble Saxon, over the fallen corses of my brave followers!" "Nay, be it even as thou wilt," again shouted the impatient Gaul-" my lord of Touars, our conference is ended!" "Yet reflect, brave knight,” cried the firm but gentle voice of the lord Amaury, your desperate courage will avail you nothing." 66 "It will save my honour," retorted sir Eguilard; " and of my life, I reck little in a just cause." The young noble had no time given him for expostulation; but he could not suppress a sigh, as he reflected on the undoubted fate of the generous knight and his faithful adherents, when, at the close of each succeeding effort, the overpowering numbers of the royal soldiery rendered their ultimate success more certain. At length De Lacy forced his entrance to the hall of Sarum-that hall in which he had so lately pledged, with the lip-deep smile of revelry, the unsuspicious master of the feast! Its lord met him, as he had premised, even on its very threshold; and the Gaul smiled as he looked on the warworn brow and slender band of the vete ran. De Rossenville replied to the haughty gaze, by one as stern as that which Marius cast on the ruins of Carthage; and met the weapon-blow of De Lacy with calm and steady courage. Hot was the combat, for sir Eguilard fought in the cause of honour, and the lord Gualtier from the mingled impulse of ambition, rashness, and revenge, which can yield its powerful though transient excitement to breasts unconscious of a purer stimulus. But the combat between De Lacy and his veteran foeman was unequal, as that which was waged between the overpowering numbers of the royal soldiery and the scanty band of the knight. The failing strength of De Rossenville was no match for the nervous force and well-tutored skill of the lord Gualtier; the keen blade of the Gaul pierced the heart of his illfated antagonist, and he fell indeed upon his very threshold, to be a mark for the first foot-print of his conqueror, But a blow so dire as that which rent the foundation of the house of De Ros senville, passed not unheeded or unavenged: Leolind, the trusty follower of the knight, smote at his enemy, and his weapon-blade pierced the thigh of De Lacy. The cry which proclaimed a momentary anguish too powerful for silent endurance, and the sound of the heavy blow which terminated the prowess of the heartstricken Leolind, fell on the ear together; and in the next instant the faithful adherent of sir Eguilard covered with his own reeking corse that of his murdered lord. As De Lacy sank into the arms of one of his followers, he faintly exclaimed "My lord De Touars, our foes are conquered-now to the southern chamber!" The young and ardent noble read all which the sickening De Lacy sought to imply, in those few but impressive words; he rushed from the scene of blood, and, followed by a party of his swordsmen, gained the southern chamber; but he paused for a moment ere he entered-his young heart beat with a confused emotion, which lent a brighter fire to his eye, and |