“I wish she had been younger,” Sir Baldwin said.  “At fifteen she is not by custom fairly marriageable; but men can strain these points when they choose; and I fear that the news of your coming will hasten both the prince and Sir Rudolph in their determination to strengthen the claim of this usurper by marriage with the heiress of Evesham.  The Lady Margaret and her friends can of course claim that she is a royal ward, and that as such the king alone can dispose of her person and estates.  But unfortunately force overrides argument.”

“But surely,” Cuthbert said, “they will never venture to take her by force from the convent?”

“They venture a great many strange things in England now,” Sir Baldwin said; “and Worcester is perilously near to Evesham.  With a clump of twenty spears, Sir Rudolph might break into the convent and carry off the young lady, and marry her by force; and although the Church might cry out, crying would be of little avail when the deed was done; and a handsome present on the part of Sir Rudolph might go far to shut the mouths of many of the complainants, especially as he will be able to say that he has the king’s sanction for what he did.”

“Methinks,” Cuthbert said, “that if such be the case it would be perilous indeed to wait for King Richard’s return.  Assuredly Sir Rudolph would not tarry until she attained the age of seventeen, and it may well be that two years may yet pass before King Richard comes back.  It seems to me the wiser part will be that I should give Prince John no notice that I am in England.  As you say, such notice would be of no avail in recovering my lands and title, but it would put the prince upon his guard; and assuredly he and his minions would press forward their measures to obtain possession of the person of the Lady Margaret; while, on the other hand, no harm can come of my maintaining silence.”

“I think that you are right, Sir Cuthbert.  It were indeed best that your enemies should suppose you either dead or in some dungeon in the Tyrol.  What would you then do?”

“I would return to my old home,” Cuthbert said.  “My lady mother is, I trust, still alive.  But I will not appear at her house, but will take refuge in the forest there.  Cnut, and the archers with him, were all at one time outlaws living there, and I doubt not that there are many good men and true still to be found in the woods.  Others will assuredly join when they learn that Cnut is there, and that they are wanted to strike a blow for my rights.  I shall then bide my time.  I will keep a strict watch over the castle and over the convent.  As the abbess is a friend and relative of Lady Margaret’s, I may obtain an interview with her, and warn her of the dangers that await her, and ask if she be willing to fulfill the promise of her father and King Richard’s will, in accepting me as her husband when due time shall arrive, and whether she will be willing that I should take such steps as I may to deliver her from