part in the struggle that I see approaching?"

"I will follow you right willingly, my lord," replied Ralph Harland,

"though I cannot well go with you. I must not forget, in my selfish

sorrow, that I have a father who loves me; and whose life and happiness

rests upon mine, as I have seen an old wall held up by the ivy which it

first raised from the ground. I must speak with him before I go--must

bid him adieu, and do what I can to comfort and console him. He will

not seek to make me stay, and I will soon follow you; but it shall not

be alone, for I can bring you many a heart right willing to fight under

the same banner with yourself. Where shall I find you, my good lord?"

"As soon as I have taken this fair lady's orders," said Hugh de

Monthermer, "and conducted her whither she is pleased to go, I shall

turn my steps direct to Hereford by the way of Gloucester, hoping to

overtake my uncle and the good Earl of Ashby, and should I find with

him his cousin Richard, he shall render to me no light account of more

than one base act."

"Nay, my lord, nay," replied the young franklin, "I do beseech you,

quarrel not for me. I know, or at least guess, what dear interests you

may peril. But, moreover, though I be neither knight nor noble, there

are some wrongs that set aside all vain distinctions, and I do not

despair of the time coming when I shall find that base traitor alone to

give me an answer. When that moment arrives, it will be a solemn one;

but I would not part with the hope thereof for a king's crown. But now,

my lord, let me not keep you from the lady of your love. Go to her; let

her know she is free to come and go, as far as I at least am concerned;

but tell her, my lord, I charge you, why she was brought here, that she

may be aware of what a serpent her father and her brother cherish."

"Ay, tell her--tell her," said Robin Hood--"tell her, for her own sake;

for there is something that makes me fear--I know not why--that the day

will come when that knowledge may be to her a safeguard and a shield

against one who now seems powerless. Scoff not at it, my lord, as if he

were too pitiful to give cause for alarm. The scorpion is a small,

petty-looking insect, but yet there is death in his sting. And now,

good night; when you have spent another hour in the sweet dreams that

lovers like, betake you to repose, and early to-morrow you shall have

some one to guide you on your way."