“Tush! you have the glory,-and the sword,--and the chance, if you will do my bidding, of being called by all ladies a true and gentle knight, who cared not for his own pleasure, but for deeds of chivalry. Go to my betrothed,--to Waterford over the sea. Take him this ring, and tell him by that token to come and claim me soon, lest he run the danger of losing me a second time, and lose me then forever; for I am in hard case here, and were it not for my father’s sake, perhaps I might be weak enough, in spite of what men might say, to flee with you to your kinsman across the sea.” “Trust me and come,” said Hereward, whose young blood kindled with a sudden nobleness,--“trust me, and I will treat you like my sister, like my queen. By the holy rood above I will swear to be true to you.” “I do trust you, but it cannot be. Here is money for you in plenty to hire a passage if you need: it is no shame to take it from me. And now one thing more. Here is a cord,--you must bind the hands and feet of the old priest inside, and then you must bind mine likewise.” “Never,” quoth Hereward. “It must be. How else can I explain your having got the key? I made them give me the key on the pretence that with one who had most cause to hate you, it would be safe; and when they come and find us in the morning I shall tell them how I came here to stab you with my own hands,--you must lay the dagger by me,--and how you and your man fell upon us and bound us, and you escaped. Ah! Mary Mother,” continued the maiden with a sigh, “when shall we poor weak women have no more need of lying?” She lay down, and Hereward, in spite of himself, gently bound her hands and feet, kissing them as he bound them. “I shall do well here upon the altar steps,” said she. “How can I spend my time better till the morning light than to lie here and pray?” The old priest, who was plainly in the plot, submitted meekly to the same fate; and Hereward and Martin Lightfoot stole out, locking the door, but leaving the key in it outside. To scramble over the old earthwork was an easy matter; and in a few minutes they were hurrying down the valley to the sea, with a fresh breeze blowing behind them from the north. “Did I not tell you, my lord,” said Martin Lightfoot, “to keep your curses till you had seen the end of this adventure?”