"What mean you by 'not in the engagement'? Surely he, of all men, would not stand aloof on such an occasion?" "Alas! lady, I fear to tell you why." "Speak, man! is he dead? or why was he absent?" "It is too true, lady, that he can no longer fight in defence of his King." "Then he is dead!" cried Lady Clifford, in an agony of despair. "He fell, my lady, on the eve of the battle, after a glorious act of valour, by a random shot. Heaven rest his soul!" "Heaven help my poor children!" cried Lady Clifford, and fell to the floor in a swoon, the mother's instinctive love for her offspring prevailing over her grief for her own loss. And truly, she had reason to fear for them. Her husband, "Black-faced Clifford," as he was called, had an inveterate hatred for the House of York; he had murdered, in cold blood, the young Duke of Rutland, brother of Edward of York; had cut off the head of Richard, Duke of York; and had caused the Earl of Salisbury, father of Warwick, to be executed at Pontefract; and it was tolerably certain that York, the future King, and Warwick, his General, would seek to take vengeance on the children of him who had committed those atrocities. The Dukes of York and Warwick marched triumphantly to York, and were submissively received by the authorities, and there they celebrated the festival of Easter with great splendour. Hastings, Stafford, and others had been made Knights-Bannerets on the field; Devon and Wilts were decapitated by martial law, and their heads placed on the bar gate of York, whence those of Richard of York and the Earl of Salisbury, the fathers of York and Warwick, had been removed; and, after settling affairs in the north, the victors marched to London, and were welcomed by the citizens with loud demonstrations of joy, the Londoners being staunch Yorkists. Lady Clifford prepared to meet her untoward fate, and took measures for the safety of her children. Her old friend, the venerable Prior of Bolton, who had made himself acquainted with all that had taken place since the battle of Towton, so far as could be learnt in that remote spot, mounted his mule and rode over to the Castle. He was received courteously and with dutiful reverence by Lady Clifford, and, moreover, with joy, as she wished to consult him, above all others, as to her future line of conduct. "I am at a loss, holy father, to think what I can do. I suppose there is no hope of retrieval on the part of Queen Margaret?" "I am afraid not. The Queen is endeavouring to raise another army in the north, but I fear with little chance of success." "What, then, will be the effect upon the adherents of the House of Lancaster? I suppose executions, attainders, and confiscations?" "Precisely so; and Lord Clifford, one of the most bitter foes of the House of York, will certainly be included in the first list, his title extinguished, and his estates confiscated."