'I might have helped it. I might have refused to marry against the king's command, and gone into a convent, and then the bride-ale would never have been, nor its direful following.' 'Perchance it had been better,' said Eadgyth thoughtfully. 'No, it would not have been better!' cried Emma, starting up, impatient at Eadgyth's acquiescence; she had given her scruples voice that they might be combated, not confirmed. 'I would go through it all again and more to be Ralph's wife, and I am a contemptible coward, a _noding_, to be puling here because my roses are not thornless, when I might be helping to keep my hero's castle for him!' She sprang from the bed, and insisted on going to the spital to leech the day's wounded, though Eadgyth told her that she needed leeching far more sorely herself. Yet in all her self-abandonment she had spared Eadgyth, and had not told her that they were to be imprisoned in the keep from that day forth, nor that her cousin Leofric Ealdredsson was dead or in the hands of the enemy. CHAPTER XXIV. FAMINE. When the besiegers attacked the walls of Blauncheflour on the morning following, they found them undefended, and took possession with shouts and jubilation. The besieged, sheltered behind the strong ramparts of the keep, felt much as shipwrecked mariners, who, from the present safety of some rocky islet, watch the rising of the tide, knowing that their lives depend upon the height to which the shining water will attain,--unless indeed some friendly vessel come to the rescue and carry them off. The hope of the imprisoned garrison was in the coming of the earl, and as Earl Warrenne and Robert Malet rode round the keep, and saw how strong and flawless was the masonry, they had a shrewd fear that De Guader would yet bring the Danes and Bretons upon them before they had time to complete their victory, and that, after all their hard fighting and expenditure of lives and time and money, the quarry would escape them. So they determined to call a parley, and endeavour to cajole the countess into resigning the fortress. Needless to say, their summons was eagerly responded to by the garrison. Emma trembled with hope that was almost pain, as she inquired what terms the envoy was empowered to grant. 'Safe-conduct to herself, her ladies, and a reasonable escort, if she would give her parole to leave the country within a month--no more.' She realised then that her hope had been despair; that she had not had courage to hope at all. 'Safe-conduct for myself, my ladies, and every soul in the garrison,' replied the countess proudly. 'I will yield for no less.' The envoy was not empowered to grant it. 'Dear lady, it were better to accept the terms. We cannot insure the safety even of thyself and thy ladies in the end,' advised Sir Hoël privately. 'Nought lies before us but quick starvation; the provisions are very short.'