"When the De Breautés rise and are ennobled, all who serve them will rise too. The chaplain of Bedford Castle shall be no mean priest then. As one of the secular clergy I would then lord it over the regulars, and show the order that expelled me, Bertram de Concours, that they must needs bow before one who stands well with a rich and powerful Norman baron."
"If, then, the chaplaincy of the castle is all thou dearest, I can safely promise it shall be thine," replied De Breauté, laughing in his sleeve at the price the other had named. "But, certes, we must have the chapel swept out and the altar repaired. By my troth, there will be much ado with my sister and her women when they hear there will be mass sung again at home," he added, with a cynical laugh. "But say on now, Sir Priest or Sir Chaplain, as I may well call thee, how about the present work on hand?"
"Leave that to me," returned the other. "The Church shall open her doors, and the bird will hop out. See thou to it that thou secure her when she is beyond my care."
"And how so?" said William.
"Marry, that is your affair," replied the priest. "Mine ends at the chapel door."
"Pardie! shall I swing her up to my saddle-bow and be off with her? By St. Hubert, I might have done so this evening had I not bidden my varlets loose her. A curse on my hesitation! But counsel me, prithee."
"If it is my counsel you wish, I will not deny it. Methinks the damsel should be conveyed through the streets of Bedford town otherwise than swinging to a saddle like a market-wife's butter-basket. But, Sir Knight, thou knowest far better than I how to treat a fair lady."
"I have it!" exclaimed De Breauté. "There is the horse-litter of my sister, in the which she sometimes is graciously permitted to go abroad, when her ailments allow her not to mount her palfrey. She is ever sickly, the woman. I will send to Bedford for it. Nay, I would go myself, could I trust my men to guard."
"Go thyself, if thou art so minded," replied the priest. "I will so far stand, on my part, to my pledge, that I will answer for it that the bird be not uncaged till I hear from thee. Do not thou show thyself in the matter at all. Seest thou not that in that case thou canst anon tell the fair one a pretty tale, of how thou callest thy men off from chasing her, even as thou didst in the marshes, and that they captured her without thy knowledge or consent? See," he continued, "here is this small crucifix. Send it to me. When I receive it back from thy hands, I shall know that all is ready--that the litter waits anon." And as he spoke, the priest handed the soldier a small metal emblem of redemption, the pledge of his nefarious doings. "See, also, that the Lady Margaret's women prepare a suitable lodging for the lady. Thou wouldst, certes, see her well attended? I have thy knightly word that she is in honour treated, or I loose her not? Withdraw, then, thy men from guard here, and send others more seemly to escort a lady. I plight my word that, as I hope to be chaplain of thy brother's castle, I loose her not till I receive thy pledge."
"But," objected De Breauté, "how am I to warrant me she will be conveyed--"