They had to rise early
in the morning, as the landlord had some work to do in his fields, but
his wife would not be left in the house with the stranger who had
groaned so horribly during the night. Their footsteps seem to have
awakened the man, for suddenly they were terrified to see him rush
downstairs with a drawn sword in his hand, throw himself upon a man
standing in the yard, and kill him instantly. It was thought afterwards
that he must have mistaken his victim for a constable; but when he came
to his senses and found he had killed the groom to whom he had given
orders to meet him early in the morning, he turned his sword against
himself and fell--dead! And such was the tragic end of John Fitze.
[Illustration: LYDFORD CASTLE.]
There is a saying, "Like father, like son," which sometimes justifies
itself; but in the case of Fitze it applied not to a son, but to a
daughter, who seems to have followed his bad example and to have
inherited his wild nature, for it was said that she was married four
times--twice before she reached the age of sixteen! She afterwards
married Lord Charles Howard, son of the Duke of Suffolk, and after she
had disposed of him--for the country people believed she murdered all
her husbands--she married Sir Richard Granville, the cruel Governor of
Lydford Castle, but preferred to retain the title of Lady Howard.
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