“There is much in what you say, Sir Cuthbert; and indeed a certain confirmation is given to it by the fact that only yesterday I received a letter from Sir Rudolph, urging that now the Lady Margaret is past the age of fifteen, and may therefore be considered marriageable, the will of the prince should be carried into effect, and that she should for the present be committed to the charge of the Lady Clara Boulger, who is the wife of a friend and associate of Sir Rudolph.  He says that he should not wish to press the marriage until she attains the age of sixteen, but that it were well that his future wife should become accustomed to the outside world, so as to take her place as Castellan of Evesham with a dignity befitting the position.  I wrote at once to him saying that in another year it would, in my poor judgment, be quite time to think about such worldly matters; that at the present the Lady Margaret was receiving an education suitable to her rank; that she was happy here; and that unless constrained by force—­of which, I said, I could not suppose that any possibility existed—­I should not surrender the Lady Margaret into any hands whatsoever, unless, indeed, I received the commands of her lawful guardian, King Richard.”

“You said well, holy mother,” Sir Cuthbert said.  “But you see the hawks scent the danger from afar, and are moving uneasily already.  Whether they consider it so pressing that they will dare to profane the convent, I know not.  But I am sure that should they do so, they will not hesitate a moment at the thought of the anger of the church.  Prince John has already shown that he is ready, if need be, to oppose the authority of the holy father, and he may well, therefore, despise any local wrath that might be excited by an action which he can himself disavow, and for which, even at the worst, he need only inflict some nominal punishment upon his vassal.  Bethink thee, lady, whether it would not be safer to send the Lady Margaret to the care of some person, where she may be concealed from the search of Sir Rudolph.”

“I would gladly do so,” the abbess said, “did I know of such a person or such a place.  But it is difficult indeed, for a young lady of rank to be concealed from such sharp searchers as Sir Rudolph would be certain to place upon her track.  Your proposal that she should take refuge in the house of some small franklin near the forest, I cannot agree to.  In the first place, it would demean her to be so placed; and in the second, we could never be sure that the report of her residence there might not reach the ears of Sir Rudolph.  As a last resource, of course, such a step would be justifiable, but not until at least overt outrages have been attempted.  Now I will call Lady Margaret in.”

The young girl entered with an air of frank gladness, but was startled at the alteration which had taken place in her former playfellow, and paused and looked at the abbess, as if inquiring whether this could be really the Cuthbert she had known.  Lady Margaret was fifteen in years; but she looked much younger.  The quiet seclusion in which she had lived in the convent had kept her from approaching that maturity which as an earl’s daughter, brought up in the stir and bustle of a castle, she would doubtless have attained.