the persecution of Sir Rudolph.  If, as I trust, she assents to this, I will keep a watch over the convent as well as the castle, and can then either attack the latter or carry her off from the former, as the occasion may appear to warrant.  There are plenty of snug cottages round the forest, where she can remain in concealment in the care of some good farmer’s wife for months, and we shall be close at hand to watch over her.  With the aid of the forest men, Sir Walter took the castle of Sir John of Wortham; and although Evesham is a far grander pile than that, yet methinks it could be carried by a sudden assault; and we know more of war now than we did then.  Prince John may deny me the right of being the Earl of Evesham; but methinks before many months I can, if I choose, become its master.”

“Be not too hasty in that matter,” Sir Baldwin said.  “You might capture the castle with the aid of your outlaws; but you could scarcely hold it.  The prince has, ere now, with the aid of those faithful to him and his foreign mercenaries, captured stronger holds than that of Evesham; and if you turn his favorite out, you would have a swarm of hornets around you such as the walls of Evesham could not keep out.  It would therefore be worse than useless for you to attempt what would be something like an act of rebellion against Prince John’s authority, and would give him what now he has no excuse for, a ground for putting a price upon your head—­and cutting it off if he got the opportunity.  You might now present yourself boldly at court, and although he might refuse to recognize your title of earl, yet, as a knight and a Crusader who has distinguished himself greatly in the Holy Land, he dare not interfere with your person, for this would be resented by the whole of the chivalry of England.  Still, I agree with you that your best course is to keep your return a secret.  You will then be unwatched and unnoticed, and your enemies will take their time in carrying their designs into effect.”

Two days later Cuthbert, attended by his faithful retainers, left Sir Baldwin’s castle, and traveled by easy stages through Wiltshire and the confines of Gloucestershire up to Worcester.  He had been supplied by Sir Baldwin with suitable attire for himself and his followers, and now rode as a simple knight, without arms or cognizance, journeying from one part to another.  All the crosses and other crusading signs were laid aside, and there was nothing to attract any attention to him upon his passage.  Cuthbert had at first thought of going direct to the convent of Worcester, and asking for an interview with Lady Margaret; but he reflected that it might be possible that some of the myrmidons of Sir Rudolph might be keeping a watch over that building to see that Lady Margaret was not secretly removed to some other place of refuge, and that the appearance of a knight before its doors would excite comment and suspicion.  He therefore avoided the town, and journeyed straight to the forest, where he had so often roamed with Cnut and the outlaws.