"My lord! My lord!" cried the man, grovelling in terror on the floor. "I swear there is some mistake. With mine own eyes at dawn this morning I saw Sir John, bound and helpless, lying at the bottom of a wagon. I rode straight hither, and he who fought with thee must be some other. My lord, it must be so." "Bah! Scoundrel! That is but a tale--another lie--to save thy wretched neck from the gallows." "It is not--it is not!" almost shrieked the man. "Didst not mark--but thou wert senseless--has not, then, thine esquire told thee that he who fought as Sir John did not drop his vizor even when he saluted the earl?" "Say’st thou so?" cried the knight, startled. "Strange!" he went on, muttering to himself. "I seemed to feel a difference as he entered the lists. Both horse and man seemed doubly full of fire, while Sir John always rode heavily." "Yes, yes," cried the man eagerly. "It was noticed by others. I heard two men say that Sir John was riding lighter in the saddle than he used to." "Can this be the explanation?" went on De Maupas, still speaking half to himself. "I never thought of such a daring ruse being played upon me. Who can the man be? Doubtless one of Sir John’s friends--but who? ’Twill be the worse for him an I find out the truth," he ended darkly, clenching his teeth with suppressed rage. "Give me leave to find out the knight’s name, my lord," interrupted Baulch in an eager voice. Sir Gervaise for a minute or two made no reply, but gazed at his accomplice with so gloomy and menacing a look that the man literally shook with fear. "Very well, Baulch," he said sternly after a pause, "thy neck may rest at peace on thy shoulders for a space, while thou art finding out who it was that masqueraded as Sir John. Find out, I say, find out! Dare to bungle a second time, and the gallows that gape for thee shall have thee fast!" With trembling lips the man hastily promised to find out the truth. Nodding carelessly, Sir Gervaise went on to talk of other matters. There could be no doubt that his confidence in the ascendancy he had obtained over the man was not misjudged. The man was obviously under a spell, mastered by a hidden terror so great that all else was completely swallowed up. * * * * * It was noon the following day when the man again made his appearance and requested Arnaud to tell Sir Gervaise that James Baulch craved a few minutes’ further speech. Arnaud complied, though from the expression of his face it might have been inferred that the desire to kick the man was the feeling uppermost in his mind. "Well, Baulch?" growled the knight, who still reclined upon a couch, and whose temper seemed in no way improved by his night’s rest. "Hast news to tell? If not ’twill be the worse for thee." "I have news, my lord--strange news. Whether ’twill please thee or not, I cannot say, but----" "Peace, knave! Tell thy news and madden me not with thy thoughts of what pleases me."