"Heaven and the blessed saints preserve you, my son! 'Tis a sad story! Why would you seek to know this now? Be calm; you are ill—very ill!"
"No, I am not. Answer me—where?"
"He took me prisoner, and bore me on horse-back—"
"Whither?" he cried, impatiently interrupting her.
"To his tower."
"And, ere thy husband rescued thee, I was born there?"
"Yes. But how heard you this? I knew not that it was known to you, though I had no motive, surely, in keeping the knowledge of it from you," she said, with surprise. "Is it this, then, that has so strangely excited you, my son?"
"Who attended on thee at that crisis?"
"Robert—boy!"
"Answer me, Lady Lester, I conjure thee! in the presence of this holy symbol of our religion!" he added, with stern solemnity, taking a small diamond crucifix from her worktable and holding it up before her.