There stood the grand old castle, his home from childhood —­ the place around which all the associations of a lifetime gathered.  It was to him the ideal of all that was beautiful and strong and even holy —­ the massive walls of the fortress rising grandly from the rocky platform, with the dark background of trees now burning with the rich hues of autumn.  The fair valley stretched before their eyes, every winding of which was familiar to them, as was also every individual tree or crag or stretch of moorland fell as far as eye could see.  The very heart strings of Wendot and Griffeth seemed bound round these homelike and familiar things; and there was something strangely wistful in the glances thrown around him by the young Lord of Dynevor as he reined in his horse, and motioning to the armed followers to pass him, stood with Griffeth for a few brief moments alone and silent, whilst the cavalcade was lost to sight in the windings of the road.

“Is it a last farewell?” murmured the younger of the brothers beneath his breath.  “Shall I ever see this fair scene again?”

And Wendot answered not, for he had no words in which to do so.  He had been fully occupied all these last days —­ too much occupied to have had time for regretful thought; but Griffeth had been visiting every haunt of his boyhood with strange feelings of impending trouble, and his cheek was pale with the stress of his emotion, and his voice was husky with the intensity of the strain he was putting upon himself.

“Griffeth, Griffeth!” cried Wendot suddenly, “have I done wrong in this thing?  I asked not thy gentle counsel, yet thou didst not bid me hold back.  But tell me, have I been wrong?  Could I have done other than I have?”

“I think not that thou couldst.  This seems like a call from our country, to which no son of hers may be deaf.  And it is true that our brothers have undone thee, and that even wert thou not willing to take up arms against them and thy countrymen, the rupture with Edward is inevitable.  No, I am with thee in what thou hast done.  The Lord of Dynevor must show himself strong in defence of his country’s rights.

“Yet my heart is heavy as I look around me.  For we are going forth to danger and death, and who knows what may betide ere we see these fair lands again, or whether we may ever return to see them more?”

Wendot would fain have replied with cheerful assurance, but a strange rush of emotion came over him as he gazed at his childhood’s home, together with a sudden strong presentiment that there was something prophetic in his brother’s words.  He gazed upon the gray battlements and the brawling river with a passionate ardour in his glance, and then turning quickly upon Griffeth, he said: 

“Brother, why shouldst thou leave it? thou art more fit for the safe shelter of home than for the strife of a winter war.  Why shouldst thou come forth with us?  Let us leave thee here in safety —­”