When she entered the apartment in which the two knights were awaiting her, she quivered with apprehension as she saw their grave faces. Sir Hoël's kindly visage was white as his silver hair, and even Sir Alain's inflamed countenance was a shade less purple-red than usual, while his expression was distinctly anxious. They both hesitated to speak, but the countess broke the pause. 'Tell me the worst, gentle sirs, I pray you. Suspense is ever hardest to bear, and I see you have ill news.' Sir Hoël advanced and took her hand in both his own, a little forgetting the ceremony due to her rank, in his huge pity for her youth and the forlorn fate that he feared too surely had befallen her. 'Alas, dear lady, the news is ill indeed! Sir Walter Deresfort, and the Saxon thegn, Alfnoth of Walsham, with some dozen men-at-arms, have ridden in from Cambridgeshire, and confirm'--a sob broke his voice--'in every item the dire tidings brought by poor Stephen le Hareau.' 'Do they say, then, that I am a widow?' asked Emma in a strange, hard voice, with so awful a calm in it, that the thick-skinned Sir Alain, who was little wont to heed the tears or shrieks of women, or to spare them in any respect if they stood in his way, shuddered as he heard it. He thought the countess was going mad. 'I fear,' answered Sir Hoël, 'there is no doubt the earl is slain, St. Nicholas rest his soul!' 'Then, gentlemen,' asked Emma in the same strange tone, 'what is to be done?' 'God knows!' exclaimed Sir Hoël, the great tears running down his furrowed face, and dripping upon his hauberk. 'Noble lady,' said Sir Alain eagerly, speaking for the first time, 'it is well known that the wrath of the Primate, and of his master, William the Norman, is principally enkindled against the countrymen of the late earl. Thy safety, most noble countess, is, of course, what every man in the garrison would give his life to insure, therefore my humble counsel, for what it may be worth, is that thou shouldest at once take ship with the trusty Bretons under my command, and make for Bretagne, and thy late husband's estates of Guader and Montfort.' 'What is thy counsel, Sir Hoël?' demanded Emma, still with the same unnatural calm. 'Dear lady, I would advise thee as doth Sir Alain.' 'But would not the garrison, thus bereft of half their numbers, fall an instant prey to the enemy?' asked Emma. 'It is not William's policy to provoke the Saxons, and to his own countrymen he is ever complacent,' urged De Gourin, with the same eagerness. 'Therefore my meaning is, that the castle be surrendered at once, in which case the garrison would probably be softly dealt with, we Bretons being out of the way; whereas further resistance will be useless, and will but further provoke their vengeance, the style of which we have seen.' 'Art thou of this advice also, Sir Hoël?' demanded Emma.