CONTENTS
| CHAP. | PAGE | |
| I. | The Lord of the Castle | [1] |
| II. | The Chase | [8] |
| III. | Who Struck the Stag? | [16] |
| IV. | In the Greenwood | [24] |
| V. | Cwichelm's Hlawe | [32] |
| VI. | On the Downs | [40] |
| VII. | Dorchester Abbey | [48] |
| VIII. | The Baron and his Prisoners | [56] |
| IX. | The Lepers | [64] |
| X. | The New Novice | [72] |
| XI. | Osric's first Ride | [79] |
| XII. | The Hermitage | [87] |
| XIII. | Osric at Home | [95] |
| XIV. | The Hermitage | [104] |
| XV. | The Escape from Oxford Castle | [117] |
| XVI. | After the Escape | [131] |
| XVII. | Life at Wallingford Castle | [141] |
| XVIII. | Brother Alphege | [150] |
| XIX. | In the Lowest Depths | [158] |
| XX. | Meinhold and his Pupils | [170] |
| XXI. | A Deathbed Disclosure | [178] |
| XXII. | The Outlaws | [189] |
| XXIII. | The Pestilence (at Byfield) | [200] |
| XXIV. | The Opening of the Prison House | [206] |
| XXV. | The Sanctuary | [216] |
| XXVI. | Sweet Sister Death | [226] |
| XXVII. | Frustrated | [234] |
| XXVIII. | Father and Son | [244] |
| XXIX. | In the Holy Land | [257] |
CHAPTER I THE LORD OF THE CASTLE
It was the evening of the 30th of September in the year of grace 1139; the day had been bright and clear, but the moon, arising, was rapidly overpowering the waning light of the sun.
Brian Fitz-Count, Lord of Wallingford Castle by marriage with the Lady Maude (Matildis Domina de Walingfort), the widow of the doughty Baron Milo Crispin, who died in 1107, without issue—was pacing the ramparts of his castle, which overlooked the Thames. Stern and stark was this mediæval baron, and large were his possessions. He was the son of Count Alain of Brittany[1]—a nephew of Hamelin de Baladin, of Abergavenny Castle, from whom he inherited large possessions in Wales: a nephew also of Brian, lord of a manor in Cornwall, which he also inherited.
"Great his houses, lands, and castles,