"Fret not, Sir Dick," said de Claverlok encouragingly, "these mysteries will clear away soon enough. But you had better betake yourself now whence you came. 'Twill eftsoons be time for them to bring me my bread and sour tipple. Ug-gh! Such food as I've been bestowing within my belly, Sir Dick. 'Tis unfit for swine, ... eh! But, get you gone, boy, and deliver me from this dank hole when you can do it in safety to yourself. There must be two passageways hither, as yon door through which you came has not before been used. 'Tis through this other that they bear me food. Good-bye and good luck to you, Sir Dick."
Upon the grizzled knight's reaffirmation of his assurances that he would possess himself in patience till Sir Richard could hit upon a safe means of bringing him again into the daylight of freedom, and his belief that his young friend was as much a prisoner as was he, the young knight parted from him, secure in the belief that no harm could befall the veteran till the return of Douglas, before which time, he swore to himself, he would contrive to have him free.
Once Sir Richard had emerged into the upper and outer gallery he made everything secure, observing the precaution of counting the number of griffins' heads intervening between the sliding panel and the door, whereupon he hurried down to the inner bailey and commanded an equerry to saddle and bring him his stallion.
"God!" the hostler exclaimed, reddening to the line of his stubby hair, "an' 'a canna do such for 'e, Sir Richard. Snip, snap! would 'a head go ... here," touching his neck, "an' 'a did. 'Tis the lord's orders, worshipful knight, ... the lord's orders. Anything else would 'a do for 'e, sir knight. God wot, an' 'a——"
Sir Richard did not wait to hear the conclusion of the hostler's apologies, but tossed him a coin and took his way back into the castle. De Claverlok had been right, after all. The young knight was, like his friend, a prisoner in Yewe.
Without stopping to plan out a wise course of action, he rushed straightway into the presence of Lady Anna and impetuously claimed his right to know the reason for his forcible detention.
"How doth the moth flutter," said she, laughing gaily, "when the glittering, golden home doth suddenly become a cage! Marry—marry!" she added, changing her tone, and bestowing upon Sir Richard the most languishing of glances, "are you tired of my company, dear Richard?" she asked.
If it had not been for the picture of the fair-haired youth impressed indelibly upon the young knight's mind, she would doubtless soon have won him over to her again. As it was, however——
"'Tis not that, Lady Anna," he answered firmly; "but I am dooms weary of playing the wooden pawn upon the squared board—with no kind of conception of where or why I am being moved this and that way about! Yea—or even the kind of game in which I am playing such a stupid and involuntary part."
"Say not thus, Sir Richard," Lady Anna murmured softly, laying her warm hand upon his. "Tell me, I pray you, and what becomes of the pawn after it be advanced from square to square above the breadth of the board to the farther rank? Tell me, what becomes of it, I say?"