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"
"
How say ye now?" asked the tall man, frowningly, of Dick.
Sir," replied Dick, "I am here in sanctuary, is it not so? Well, sir, I
see by your bearing that ye are high in station, and I read in your
countenance the marks of piety and justice. To you, then, I will yield
me prisoner, and that blithely, foregoing the advantage of this holy
place. But rather than to be yielded into the discretion of that
man--whom I do here accuse with a loud voice to be the murderer of my
natural father and the unjust retainer of my lands and revenues--rather
than that, I would beseech you, under favour, with your own gentle hand,
to despatch me on the spot. Your own ears have heard him, how before
that I was proven guilty he did threaten me with torments. It standeth
not with your own honour to deliver me to my sworn enemy and old
oppressor, but to try me fairly by the way of law, and, if that I be
guilty indeed, to slay me mercifully."
"My lord," cried Sir Daniel, "ye will not hearken to this wolf? His
bloody dagger reeks him the lie into his face."
"Nay, but suffer me, good knight," returned the tall stranger; "your own
vehemence doth somewhat tell against yourself."
And here the bride, who had come to herself some minutes past and looked
wildly on upon this scene, broke loose from those that held her, and fell
upon her knees before the last speaker.
"My Lord of Risingham," she cried, "hear me, in justice. I am here in
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