and uttered many lamentable exclamations.  The present Lord of Saut was terribly feared throughout the neighbourhood in which he dwelt.  His fierce and cruel temper had broken forth again and again in acts of brutality or oppression from which there was practically no redress.  Free as the Gascon peasant was from much or the serfdom and feudal servitude of other lands, he was in some ways worse off than the serf, when he chanced to have roused the anger of some great man of the neighbourhood.  The power of the nobles and barons —­ the irresponsible power they too often held —­ was one of the crying evils of the age, one which was being gradually extinguished by the growing independence of the middle classes.  But such changes were slow of growth, and long in penetrating beyond great centres; and it was a terrible thing for a brace of lads, unprotected and powerless as these twin brothers, to have brought upon themselves the hostility and perchance the jealousy of a man like the Sieur de Navailles.  If he wished to discover their hiding place, he would have small difficulty in doing so; and let him but once find that out, and the lives of the boys would not be safe either by night or day.  The retainers of the proud baron might swoop down at any moment upon the peaceful mill, and carry off the prey without let or hindrance; and this was why the secret of their birth and name had been so jealously kept from all (save a few who loved the house of De Brocas) by the devoted miller and his wife.

But Gaston little recked of the threatened peril.  The fearless nature of his race was in him, and he would have scorned himself had he failed to speak out boldly when questioned by the haughty foe of his house.  If the De Brocas had been ruined in all else, they had their fearless honour left them still.

But the priest’s face was grave as he let the boys lead him into the narrow bedchamber where they slept —­ a room bare indeed of such things as our eyes would seek, but which for the times was commodious and comfortable enough.  He was pondering in his mind what step must now be taken, for it seemed to him as though the place of safety in the mill in which their mother had left her sons could hide them no longer.  Go they must, of that he felt well assured; but where?  That was a question less easily answered offhand.

“Father,” began Gaston eagerly, so soon as the door had closed behind the three, and Raymond had coaxed the dim taper into its feeble flicker —­ “Father, we have come to thee for counsel —­ for help.  Father, chide us not, nor call us ingrate; but it has come to this with us —­ we can no longer brook this tame and idle life.  We are not of the peasant stock; why must we live the peasant life?  Father, we long to be up and doing —­ to spread our wings for a wider flight.  We know that those who bear our name are not hiding their heads in lowly cots; we know that our sires have been soldiers and statesmen in the days that are past.