At last his eye, which travelled continually to and fro, and kept a guard

upon all the entrances of the house, lit upon a little procession

entering by the main gate and crossing the court in an oblique direction.

Two ladies, muffled in thick furs, led the way, and were followed by a

pair of waiting-women and four stout men-at-arms. The next moment they

had disappeared within the house; and Dick, slipping through the crowd of

loiterers in the shed, was already giving hot pursuit.

The taller of these twain was Lady Brackley," he thought; "and where

Lady Brackley is, Joan will not be far."

At the door of the house the four men-at-arms had ceased to follow, and

the ladies were now mounting the stairway of polished oak, under no

better escort than that of the two waiting-women. Dick followed close

behind. It was already the dusk of the day; and in the house the

darkness of the night had almost come. On the stair-landings, torches

flared in iron holders; down the long, tapestried corridors, a lamp

burned by every door. And where the door stood open, Dick could look in

upon arras-covered walls and rush-bescattered floors, glowing in the

light of the wood fires.

Two floors were passed, and at every landing the younger and shorter of

the two ladies had looked back keenly at the monk. He, keeping his eyes

lowered, and affecting the demure manners that suited his disguise, had

but seen her once, and was unaware that he had attracted her attention.

And now, on the third floor, the party separated, the younger lady

The Black Arrow