The alleged priest was dressed in the wildest extravagance of the current fashion; he had deep hanging sleeves, “purfled” with fur, and the toes of his Cordovan boots were a foot and a half long. “_N’est-ce pas que ce garçon là ressemblait beaucoup à Madame?_” Monsieur Jean shook off his apathy, like a true Frenchman, at the mention of a lady’s looks. He bowed graciously, and showed a splendid set of teeth, as he replied, “_Mais, parbleu! est-ce que je n’aie pas déjà dit, qu’il était fort joli garçon?_” “I believe you are speaking of my own son, gentlemen,” was the quiet reply of Lady Alice, who understood a little French. “He left home at daybreak; on what errand, or in what company, I know not.” She looked a third time at her husband, who shuffled his long limbs under his chair uneasily. “Then he is a son to be proud of!” said Mowbray heartily. “But to end my story. He advanced, cap in hand, to answer our inquiry; and, with mock politeness, which made us all laugh, told us, that if we would turn down a certain lane in the forest, some two miles off, we would find ourselves ‘in face of our ultimate destination.’ We were well amused at the lad’s pedantic speech, but, never doubting his good faith, we turned down the lane as directed. At the end of a few paces, we found ourselves in an open space in the wood, where there was--_a Gallows!_ This was ‘our ultimate destination.’ We laughed good twenty minutes at the urchin’s roguery--for which Maître Jean here gave him absolution on the spot--and have scarcely ceased laughing since. Our ultimate destination! _Eh, Jean? Nous allons tous finir par là?_” “_Possible!_” said Jean, shrugging his shoulders. Lady Alice, in spite of the thoughtfulness that seemed to have possessed her, laughed till her bonny fat sides shook again. Sir Gilbert looked wrathfully at her. “The young villain! Believe me, Sir Thomas, he shall be soundly whipped for this, if, indeed, it was our son, as I hope not. To pass so insolent a jest on a gentleman of your standing! It is like you, wife, to, treat so grave a matter lightly.” “Nay, if the boy come to any harm through my betrayal,” said Mowbray, kindly, “I shall consider myself cut out of all good fellowship for evermore. Besides, had he not led us astray, we had never caught sight of your splendid tower, as we did from an opening in the woods, and so should have lost your kind entertainment. This must have been a rare fortress in its day, Sir Gilbert.” “Held its own, Sir,--held its own,--and that indifferently. We are a fallen house. But be seated, Sirs, I pray you. Here comes our humble fare.” “On what errand did that boy leave home this morning?” Lady Alice asked her husband, in a fierce whisper. “Gentlemen, pray Heaven you are all too sharp-set to be dainty,” said the knight, evading his wife’s question. His face was deadly pale, and his hand trembled as he clutched the carving-knife, to do mischief on a smoking pig’s head.