“Why, how?”

“The Ashby estates were forfeited to the De la Zouches, but King Henry granted them back before he died, and I hear they are like to go at last.”

“It were a pity for Sir Henry, but in truth, Maude, I like him not.”

“Pooh, nonsense!  He wants none of our pity, but I tell thee Dorothy is too good a match to throw away upon him.”

“Perhaps so, Maude,” replied the baron; “it may be so, but I shall be much mistaken if, after the tournament, he is able to ask for her again, but if he does I will refer him to you.”

“That will do, Lettice,” said Dorothy.  “I have heard quite sufficient.  Shut the window; I will go now and see how they are faring on the bowling green.  I have a lighter heart now.”  And followed by a “God speed you” from her maid, she opened the door and passed out of the room.

CHAPTER VIII.

A tournament.  The combat.

  At this the challenger, with fierce defy,
  His trumpet sounds; the challenged makes reply.

  Dryden.

Grass did not grow beneath the feet of the good people of Haddon during the week which ensued.  Inside the Hall everything was in confusion and disorder.  Rooms were being emptied of hangings which had lain undisturbed repose for many a long year, and everybody was eager to bring to light such old relics of previous tourneys which had ever taken place there as could be discovered outside, and the stir was not one whit less.  The level sward through which the Wye rippled on its way to join the Derwent, having once been selected as the battle ground, was immediately transformed from a scene of lovely rustic peacefulness to a very pandemonium of noisy workmen, out of which slowly evolved tents and pavilions for the accommodation of the numerous visitors who were expected to witness the struggle.

The news had spread far and wide, and a large number of persons, attracted by the well-known splendour and hospitality of the King of the Peak, as well as by the desire to witness the rare exhibition of a tournament, which was now about extinct, assembled at Haddon as the time appointed for the fray drew nigh.

At length the eventful morning dawned.  Everything was fully prepared.  The white tents, with their fluttering pennons of many lines, occupied one side of the ground; the balconies, decked with their brightly coloured hangings, faced them from the other side, and a slightly elevated platform, upon which was the throne for the queen of the tourney, filled one end, while the other was left open for such of the neighbouring villagers as liked to come.