"Ay, moping like a pair of owls at noontide, had I not come hither to bear ye company," Lady Mabel continued, "till, perchance, ye had been driven to make two holes for yourselves in the stream yonder. By my troth," she added, with very little of the reverence for elders which was such a characteristic of the age, "I intend to stir my father into life again ere I leave Eaton; and as for thee, Cousin Ralph," touching him lightly on the shoulder, "I command thee to be of good cheer, and no longer to look down on that vile cold water as though thou lovest it!"
Ralph turned to her again, though still sulky under her apparently meaningless gaiety.
"Now hearken to me, Ralph, and I will tell thee much of the Lady Aliva that thou wottest not of."
And Lady Mabel went on to relate the story of the second suitor's visit to Bletsoe, and of his reception, which had not penetrated to Ralph's ears, shut up hermit-fashion at Eaton.
As she continued, the light gradually broke in on Ralph's mind, and the gloom vanished from his face; and when she described the blow inflicted by Aliva upon William de Breauté, his eyes positively sparkled with delight.
Scarcely had the Lady Mabel finished her recital ere her hearer had rushed from her. Such broken exclamations as "My brave girl!" "Still my own!" escaping from him, he ran headlong down the steps, across the bailey yard, and abruptly disturbed his elders' conversation round the board in the hall.
Hardly giving himself time to pay the usual salutation of respect which the period demanded from juniors to elders of their house, he broke in upon them with these words:--
"By thy leave, my revered uncle, and with thine, my noble kinsman, I leave thy castle at once, tarrying but to give thee my best thanks for thy hospitality of the last few weeks."
In a moment, ere De Beauchamp could recover from his surprise, Ralph was out of the hall again, and shouting eagerly in the yard for his groom, his squire, or any one, to assist him in getting ready his horse.
Meanwhile the guests streamed out of the hall behind him, headed by their host and William de Beauchamp. Lady Mabel, who had followed her cousin in his headlong career as fast as she was able, rushed to her father.