"But he is not of gentle blood."
"Who knows?"
"If it were you or I?"
"Hanging would be too good for us."
In the courtyard the party of captors awaited the orders of the Lady Maude, now regent in her stern husband's absence. They soon came.
"Confine him strictly, but treat him well."
So he was placed in the prison reserved for the captives of gentle birth, or entitled to special distinction, in the new buildings of Brian's Close; and Tustain gnashed his teeth, for he longed to have the torturing of him.
Unexpected guests arrived at the castle that night—that is, unexpected by those who were not in the secret of the letters Osric had written and the Baron had sent out when Osric last played his part of secretary—Milo, Earl of Hereford, and Sir Alain of St. Maur, some time page at Wallingford.
At the banquet the Lady Maude, sorely distressed, confided her griefs to her guests.
"We all trusted him. That he should betray us is past bearing."