Bishop Kennedy answered not by word of mouth, but, clapping together his hands, summoned Zenas and bade him to fetch them a lighted torch. Then, leading the way through the rear door, he depressed the blazing rush-light till it revealed a great hole in that which had appeared to be a solid foundation of stone. Its rays discovered to Sir Richard a pair of broad and heavy wheels set firmly beneath the tavern sill.
"Let these clear away that mystery, sire," Kennedy said. "There are seven more similarly disposed beneath the building, which is parlous lightly set up. By the dual aid of long, dark nights, and a multitude of tugging horses, the Red Tavern became soon a weird and haunted thing; moving magically from place to place, discussed in lowered whispers by the yeomanry, and shunned by passing wayfarers. Thus, not alone was the lamented prince afforded a safe asylum, comparatively free from the dangers of discovery, but we were provided as well with a meeting place for the captains of our gathering hosts. It has served right happily its purpose, sire; and I would that my life had been as useful to those about me. Now its work is done. Eftsoons its blazing timbers shall proclaim a new light to a tyrant-darkened people."
After that he took his leave to join the army, which was stationed some nine miles to the eastward upon the shores of the sea.
By now the moon, a pallid disc, was sailing high in the greenish-blue heavens. Feeling the need of an hour or two of solitude wherein to meditate upon the wonders by which Sir Richard discovered himself to be surrounded, and, if possible, to reconcile his vacillating mind with the new complexion which the face of the world had turned upon him, he gathered his cloak about his shoulders and walked alone into the forest. Once there, he laid himself down upon the soft, dry carpet of pine needles, and resigned his thoughts to the ineffable delights of fantastical castle-building.
How long Sir Richard lay thus, with his face upturned to the sky, he had no means of knowing. It seemed that his eyes began playing a kind of game with the interwoven branches of the trees and the moon. Then he fell into a sort of doze, where everything withdrew into a haze of oblivion till the moment he became suddenly conscious that his ears were being ravished by the strains of a charming melody. For quite a space he remained like one dreaming; passively drinking in each sweet, pure and quivering note. He was dimly aware that this same glorious voice had been for days and days singing its wonderful song of love to him.
Then, like a flashing of intense light, it came upon Sir Richard that this was the voice which he had heard steal out upon the night at the moment when Tyrrell, Zenas, and he were burying the dead hound.
Cautiously getting to his feet, and dodging warily from tree to tree, he made his way in the direction whence the voice seemed to be coming.
As he ever after regarded it, all of the adventures through which he had passed, and which are here set down, were but the prelude to the vision of fair loveliness which suddenly presented itself to his dazzled eyes.
With her arm linked within that of the silvery-haired old lady, she was walking slowly along the forest road, her head uplifted in song. It seemed to Sir Richard that the soft moonlight enveloped her lovingly, imparting to her wondrous beauty an essence of unreality. The golden nimbus encompassing her head added immeasurably to the impression that he was but gazing upon an ephemeral picture,—fairy-painted—the which must become soon a floating radiance above the roadway and then blend insensibly with the air before his captive eyes.
Silently the young knight stood there, with the better part of him going out to vie with the silvery moonbeams in tenderly caressing her. That grosser portion of him stationed beneath the tree remained, as though hewn in stone and clutching deep into the rough bark, till the maiden turned to retrace her way into the tavern. When she had gone he rushed madly back, stealing furtively to the rear of the building, and tremblingly tore open the covering of Isabel's packet.