to concern himself with private affairs.  Let the youths then remain as they were for the present, serving under his banner, high in favour with the youthful Prince, and like to win fame and honour and wealth through the victorious war about to be waged in France.  When that war had triumphantly ended, and the King was rewarding those whose faithful service had gained him the day, then might the time come for the brothers of Basildene to make themselves known, and plead for their own again.”

“I trow he is in the right,” said John, “and I am glad that he knows all himself.  So would he take the more interest in you, good Raymond; and thus it was, I take it, that he brought you to England himself when he came hither.”

“Ay, truly his kindness was great; and after he knew all, I was moved to better quarters, and a prince could not have been better treated.  But it was long before I could stand upon my own feet, and save for the hope of seeing you once again, I would gladly have been spared the journey to England.  But the sea passage was favourable, and gave me strength, though the wind from the east blew so strong that we could not make the harbour of Dover, and were forced to beat westward along the coast till we reached the friendly port of Southampton.  Then we took horse and rode hither, and glad am I to be at the journey’s end.  But our uncle tells me that in a few short weeks I shall be sound and whole again, and before the winter ends I may hope to join my brother beneath the King’s banner.”

“I hope it will be so,” answered John; “and if rest is what thou needest for thy recovery, it will not be lacking to thee here.  It is well that the sword is not the only weapon thou lovest, but that the quill and the lore of the wise of the earth have attractions for thee likewise.”

It quickly seemed to Raymond as if the incidents of that stirring campaign had been but part and parcel of a fevered dream.  He was disposed to believe that he had never quitted the retreat of his uncle’s roof, and took up his old studies with John with the greatest zest.  John found him marvellously advanced since the days they had studied together before.  His two years with Father Paul in the Brotherhood had wonderfully enlarged his mind and extended his field of vision.  It was a delight to both cousins to exchange ideas, and learn from one another; and the time fled by only too fast, each day marked by a steady though imperceptible improvement in Raymond’s state of health, as his fine constitution triumphed over the serious nature of the injury received.

Although he often thought of Basildene, he made no attempt to see the place.  The winter cold had set in with severity; John had little disposition to face it, and quiet and rest were far more congenial to him than any form of activity or amusement.  John believed that the Sanghursts were still there, engaged in their mysterious experiments that savoured so strongly of magic.  But after hearing of Raymond’s