"
"But he has," said the baron, "he has done both, and I will maintain it
with my glove."
"It shall not need," said Sir Ralph; "I will concede any thing in honour."
"And I," said the baron, "will concede nothing in honour:
I will concede nothing in honour to any man."
"Neither will I, Lord Fitzwater," said Sir Ralph, "in that sense:
but hear me. I was commissioned by the king to apprehend
the Earl of Huntingdon. I brought with me a party of soldiers,
picked and tried men, knowing that he would not lightly yield.
I sent my lieutenant with a detachment to surprise the earl's
castle in his absence, and laid my measures for intercepting
him on the way to his intended nuptials; but he seems to
have had intimation of this part of my plan, for he brought
with him a large armed retinue, and took a circuitous route,
which made him, I believe, somewhat later than his appointed hour.
When the lapse of time showed me that he had taken another track,
I pursued him to the chapel; and I would have awaited the close
of the ceremony, if I had thought that either yourself or your
daughter would have felt desirous that she should have been
the bride of an outlaw."
"Who said, sir," cried the baron, "that we were desirous of any such thing?
But truly, sir, if I had a mind to the devil for a son-in-law, I would fain
see the man that should venture to interfere.
Pages:
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42