“Perhaps you know that they murdered my father years ago, and now they have slain my brother. We were the Dales of Woodmere, and the Lord of Troy was our enemy. Why am I here? Why was my brother in Gawdy Town? Perhaps you can guess, if you are a man as well as a priest. We wanted our home and the lands that had been ours; we wanted revenge, we wanted a new king.”
She looked at him challengingly in the darkness.
“Now you know all. We were traitors to Richard Hunchback. We serve Henry Tudor. Now you can go to Troy Castle—if it pleases you—and tell the truth.”
His voice began to sound a deeper note.
“God’s curse be upon me if I do any such thing.”
He walked up and down, and then came back to her.
“Will you not sit down, Mistress Dale?”
“I have not the heart to feel weary.”
“It is very still and calm by the great cross up yonder. I will spread a cloak for you. We must speak of certain things, you and I.”
A new manhood spoke in him. She seemed to question it, and to wonder at the change in him.