Christopher made as though he would push on, for he was in no mood to chat with cattle-reeves. But Emlyn, who had been eyeing the man, called out—
“Come here, Thomas, and I will answer you myself, who always have a few sins to spare for a priest’s wallet, and need a blessing or two to warm me.”
He strode forward, and, taking her horse by the bridle, led it a little way apart, and as soon as they were out of earshot fell into an eager conversation with its rider. A minute or so later Cicely, looking round—for they had ridden forward at a slow pace—saw Thomas Bolle leap through the other fence of the roadway and vanish at a run into the falling snow, while Emlyn spurred her horse after them.
“Stop,” she said to Christopher; “I have tidings for you. The Abbot, with all his men-at-arms and servants, to the number of forty or more, waits for us under shelter of Blossholme Grove yonder, purposing to take the Lady Cicely by force. Some spy has told him of this journey.”
“I see no one,” said Christopher, staring at the Grove, which lay below them about a quarter of a mile away, for they were on the top of a rise. “Still, the matter is not hard to prove,” and he called to the two best mounted of his men and bade them ride forward and make report if any lurked behind that wood.
So the men went off, while they remained where they were, silent, but anxious enough. Ten minutes or so later, before they could see them, for the snow was now falling quickly, they heard the sound of many horses galloping. Then the two men appeared, calling out as they came—
“The Abbot and all his folk are after us. Back to Cranwell, ere you be taken!”
Christopher thought for a moment, then, remembering that with but four men and cumbered by two women it was not possible to cut his way through so great a force, and admonished by that sound of advancing hoofs, he gave a sudden order. They turned about, and not too soon, for as they did so, scarce two hundred yards away, the first of the Abbot’s horsemen appeared plunging towards them up the slope. Then the race began, and well for them was it that their horses were good and fresh, since before ever they came in sight of Cranwell Towers the pursuers were not ninety yards behind. But here on the flat their beasts, scenting home, answered nobly to whip and spur, and drew ahead a little. Moreover, those who watched within the house saw them, and ran to the drawbridge. When they were within fifty yards of the moat Cicely’s horse stumbled, slipped, and fell, throwing her into the snow, then recovered itself and galloped on alone. Christopher reined up alongside of her, and, as she rose, frightened but unharmed, put out his long arm, and, lifting her to the saddle in front of him, plunged forward, while those behind shouted “Yield!”
Under this double burden his horse went but slowly. Still they reached the bridge before any could lay hands upon them, and thundered over it.
“Wind up,” shouted Christopher, and all there, even the womenfolk, laid hands upon the cranks. The bridge began to rise, but now five or six of the Abbot’s folk, dismounting, sprang at it, catching the end of it with their hands when it was about six feet in the air, and holding on so that it could not be lifted, but remained, moving neither up nor down.
“Leave go, you knaves,” shouted Christopher; but by way of answer one of them, with the help of his fellows, scrambled on to the end of the bridge, and stood there, hanging to the chains.
Then Christopher snatched a bow from the hand of a serving-man, and the arrow being already on the string, again shouted—
“Get off at your peril!”
In answer the man called out something about the commands of the Lord Abbot.
Christopher, looking past him, saw that others of the company had dismounted and were running towards the bridge. If they reached it he knew well that the game was played. So he hesitated no longer, but, aiming swiftly, drew and loosed the bow. At that distance he could not miss. The arrow struck the man where his steel cap joined the mail beneath, and pierced him through the throat, so that he fell back dead. The others, scared by his fate, loosed their hold, so that now the bridge, relieved of the weight upon it, instantly rose up beyond their reach, and presently came home and was made fast.
As they afterwards discovered, this man, it may here be said, was a captain of the Abbot’s guard. Moreover, it was he who had shot the arrow that killed Sir John Foterell some forty hours before, striking him through the throat, as it was fated that he himself should be struck. Thus, then, one of that good knight’s murderers reaped his just reward.
Now the men ran back out of range, for they feared more arrows, while Christopher watched them go in silence. Cicely, who stood by his side, her hands held before her face to shut out the sight of death, let them fall suddenly, and, turning to her husband, said, as she pointed to the corpse that lay upon the blood-stained snow of the roadway—
“How many more will follow him, I wonder? I think that is but the first throw of a long game, husband.”
“Nay, sweet,” he answered, “the second; the first was cast two nights gone by King’s Grave Mount in the forest yonder, and blood ever calls for blood.”
“Aye,” she answered, “blood calls for blood.” Then, remembering that she was orphaned and what sort of a honeymoon hers was like to be, she turned and sought her chamber, weeping.
Now, while Christopher still stood irresolute, for he was oppressed by the sense of this man-slaying, and knew not what he should do next, he saw three men separate from the knot of soldiers and ride towards the Towers, one of whom held a white cloth above his head in token of parley. Then Christopher went up into the little gateway turret, followed by Emlyn, who crouched down behind the brick battlement, so that she could see and hear without being seen. Having reached the further side of the moat, he who held the white cloth threw back the hood of his long cape, and they saw that it was the Abbot of Blossholme himself, also that his dark eyes flashed and that his olive-hued face was almost white with rage.
“Why do you hunt me across my own park and come knocking so rudely at my doors, my Lord Abbot?” asked Christopher, leaning on the parapet of the gateway.
“Why do you work murder on my servant, Christopher Harflete?” answered the Abbot, pointing to the dead man in the snow. “Know you not that whoso sheds blood, by man shall his blood be shed, and that under our ancient charters, here I have the right to execute justice on you, as, by God’s holy Name, I swear that I will do?” he added in a choked voice.
“Aye,” repeated Christopher reflectively, “by man shall his blood be shed. Perhaps that is why this fellow died. Tell me, Abbot, was he not one of those who rode by moonlight round King’s Grave lately, and there chanced to meet Sir John Foterell?”
The shot was a random one, yet it seemed that it went home; at least, the Abbot’s jaw dropped, and some words that were on his lips never passed them.
“I know naught of the meaning of your talk,” he said presently in a quieter voice, “or of how my late friend and neighbour, Sir John—may God rest his soul—came to his end. Yet it is of him, or rather of his, that we must speak. It seems that you have stolen his daughter, a woman under age, and by pretence of a false marriage, as I fear, brought her to shame—a crime even fouler than this murder.”
“Nay, by means of a true marriage I have brought her to such small honour as may be the share of Christopher Harflete’s lawful wife. If there be any virtue in the rites of Holy Church, then God’s own hand has bound us fast as man can be tied to woman, and death is the only pope who can loose that knot.”
“Death!”
