She freed herself from his grasp with an extraordinary effort, and flung him from her, laughing loudly and wildly!
"Ha, ha, ha! Robert of Lester! Does my story please thee, my lord! my retainers! my domains!"
He looked at her for a moment with appalling calmness, and then, approaching her, said, in an even tone, but in a hollow voice that was horrible to hear,
"Woman or demon, tell me truly, who was this noble lady who gave birth to a son?"
"Elizabeth of Lester, the 'Dark Lady of the Rock,'" was the firm reply.
"Was this change of infants surely made?" he asked, in the same tone.
"I have said it."
"And what became of her child?"
"'Twas left with the fisherman."
"Does he now live?" he asked, with sudden interest.