As soon as he could recover from the fit of passion, Master Baldock exclaimed, "Now they will send her back to the Abbess at Greenwich, and we may not be able to release her from that convent, even with the Cardinal to help us."
"Then let us follow and overtake her at once," said Miles, springing up as he spoke, and calling to the ostler to saddle his horse without delay.
But Master Baldock countermanded the order. "We must go to work warily in this matter," he said, "and fortunately I left a man to watch the convent gates and inform us what took place in the night, for I mistrusted that she-wolf, though I did not think she would try to cheat us twice in the same way. By our Lady, she must think we are a pair of fools, Master Paton!" he exclaimed, angrily. And then he picked up the short sword he had thrown on the table, and said, "I will go in search of my messenger near the convent and see what he can tell us. It may be they have not started with Cicely yet. They would need horses and an escort for a journey to Greenwich, and they are but a household of women."
Miles was only too thankful to follow his friend; and the two were soon in the street, and hastening towards the other end of the town. But Miles was too impatient to wait for his companion; and the well-known cry of the students in a Town and Gown row, which was evidently being fought out close at hand, fired his blood, and he tucked up his cloak and ran much as he did in the old student days, his knowledge of the city enabling him to take several short cuts, so as to avoid the thronging streets, and bring him more quickly to the convent, which he was now anxious to reach before the nun who had gone with them to the hostelry should get back to tell her tale.
But presently his way was blocked, for he came face to face with the main body of the combatants, the students slowly driving the town lads and apprentices before them; and Miles saw to his chagrin that it would be the wisest course for him to turn and fly too, unless he would take part in the melee; and he was just about to do this, when a woman laid her hand upon his shoulder and panted, "Oh sir, for the love of our Blessed Lady, come and help me. A poor girl has fallen down, and will be trampled to death by the mob," and, as she spoke, the woman dragged him to the side of the road, and pointed to the prostrate figure of a girl which was almost unseen in the gathering gloom of evening; and, by the fact, that she was closely enveloped in the thick folds of a black cloak.
There was no time to ask questions. He could only snatch up the girl, swing her across his shoulders, and fly before the crowd that came surging down the street, and would have trampled the girl to death the next minute if he had not been at hand to rescue her.
"Come, sir, come, I live close by," said the woman, when Miles began to falter with his burden.
The next minute a stalwart, burly man appeared. "What ho, dame! who have we here? Come indoors, sir, and rest a minute," and he led the way down a gloomy entry, but into a comfortable cottage that seemed to have fastened itself on to the walls of some large building.
Miles deposited his burden on the earth-trodden floor, and then turned to look at the man who had greeted him, for something in the tone of his voice sounded familiar; and the next minute he held out both hands, exclaiming, "What, Rankin! is it you, my friend?"
"Master Miles! Master Miles! Bless the saints for giving me a sight of you once more. Molly! Molly! it is our Master Miles Paton, who made our fortune a year or two ago," said Rankin, shaking his wife by the shoulder in the exuberance of his joy, while she, breathless, and panting still from her run, could only curtsey and smile, and glance at the black bundle on the floor.