"Have you not put him on the rack to learn who bought him?"
"I could not. It is as if my own son had proved false. We all loved him."
"Yet he was not of noble birth, I think."
"No. Do you not remember the hunt in which you took part when my lord first found him? Well, the boy, for he was a mere lad of sixteen then, exercised a wonderful glamour over us all; and, as Alain well knows, he rose rapidly to be my lord's favourite squire, and would soon have won his spurs, for he was brave—was Osric."
"Lady, may I see him? He knows me well; and I trust to learn the secret," said Alain.
"Take this ring; it will ope the doors of his cell to thee."
"And take care thou dost not make use of it to empty Brian's Close," said Milo ironically.
Alain laughed, and proceeded on his mission.
"Osric, my fellow-page and brother, what is the meaning of this? why art thou here?"