Upon ringing the bell, Cuthbert told the porteress, as had been arranged, that he had called on a message from Dame Editha, and he was immediately ushered into the parlour of the convent, where, a minute or two later, he was joined by the lady abbess.  He had when young been frequently to the convent, and had always been kindly received.

“I am indeed glad to see you, Sir Cuthbert,” she said, “though I certainly should not have recognized the lad who used to come here with my cousin, in the stalwart young knight I see before me.  You are indeed changed and improved.  Who would think that my gossip Editha’s son would come to be the Earl of Evesham!  The Lady Margaret is eager to see you; but I think that you exaggerate the dangers of her residence here.  I cannot think that even a minion of Prince John would dare to violate the sanctity of a convent.”

“I fear, good mother,” Cuthbert said, “that when ambition and greed are in one scale, reverence for the holy church will not weigh much in the other.  Had King Richard been killed upon his way home, or so long as nothing was heard of him, Sir Rudolph might have been content to allow matters to remain as they were, until at least Lady Margaret attained an age which would justify him in demanding that the espousal should be carried out.  But the news which has now positively been ascertained, that the king is in the hands of the emperor, and the knowledge that sooner or later his freedom will be obtained, will hasten the friends of the usurper to make the most of their advantage.  He knows that the king would at once upon his return annul the nomination of Sir Rudolph to the earldom which had previously been bestowed upon me.  But he may well think that if before that time he can secure in marriage the person of the late earl’s daughter, no small share of the domains may be allotted to him as her dowry, even if he be obliged to lay by his borrowed honours.  You will, unless I am greatly mistaken, hear from him before long.”

The abbess looked grave.

“There is much in what you say, Sir Cuthbert; and indeed a certain confirmation is given to it by the fact that only yesterday I received a letter from Sir Rudolph, urging that now the Lady Margaret is past the age of fifteen, and may therefore be considered marriageable, the will of the prince should be carried into effect, and that she should for the present be committed to the charge of the Lady Clara Boulger, who is the wife of a friend and associate of Sir Rudolph.  He says that he should not wish to press the marriage until she attains the age of sixteen, but that it were well that his future wife should become accustomed to the outside world, so as to take her place as Castellan of Evesham with a dignity befitting the position.  I wrote at once to him saying, that in another year it would, in my poor judgment, be quite time to think about such worldly matters; that at the present the Lady Margaret was receiving an education suitable to her rank; that she was happy here; and that unless constrained by force—­of which, I said, I could not suppose that any possibility existed—­I should not surrender the Lady Margaret into any hands whatsoever, unless, indeed, I received the commands of her lawful guardian, King Richard.”