The effect which this short narration produced upon the knight was not so violent as might have been expected. He made no answer, and seemed deeply sunk in thought.
"What a calamity! is it not?" added Maria at last.
"O God!" exclaimed Adolf, "what felicity hast thou then in store for Guy of Flanders, that he must reach it through such miseries and humiliations? But tell me, Maria, is our Lion also a prisoner?"
"Yes, my brother. Lord Robert de Bethune is in prison at Bourges, and Lord William at Rouen. Of all the nobles that were with the Count, one alone has escaped this unhappy lot—the cunning Diederik."
"Now I understand the unfinished sentence and the constant tears of the unhappy Matilda. Without father, without family, the daughter of the Count of Flanders has to seek shelter with strangers."
And as he spoke, his eyes lighted up, and a glow of indignation passed over his countenance. After a short pause, he went on:
"The precious child of my prince and master has watched over me as a guardian-angel! She is deserted—unhappy—and exposed to persecution; but I will remember what I owe to the Lion, and watch over her as the apple of mine eye. Oh, what a great and glorious mission is it which has fallen to my lot! How precious to me now is the life which I can devote to her service!"
Then, after a short moment of deep meditation, a cloud suddenly passed over his countenance; he cast a look of supplication on his physician, and said:
"O heavens, how grievous are my wounds to me now! how intolerable this confinement! My worthy friend. Master Roger, do, for the love of God, hasten my recovery all you can, that I may be able to do something for her who has so lovingly tended me on my bed of pain. Spare no expense—whatever drugs are costliest, procure them, if only I may the sooner rise from my bed; for now I feel as if I could rest no longer."
"But, Sir Adolf," answered Roger, "there is no possibility of hastening your recovery from such a wound; nature must have time to unite the severed parts. Patience and rest will do more for you than all the drugs in the world. But this is not all that we had to say to you. You must know that the French are masters throughout the land, and are strengthening themselves in it every day. Hitherto we have succeeded in concealing our young Lady Matilda from them; but we dread every day lest she should be discovered; and then she too might fall into the hands of the wicked Queen of France."
"Truly you are right, Master Roger," exclaimed Adolf; "they would have no pity upon her. But what shall we do? Oh, what a misery, to lie stretched out here, when all the strength I have, all the help I can give, is so much wanted!"
"I know a place," observed Roger, "where Matilda would be safe enough."
"Your words relieve me. But where, then, is this place? quick, tell me!"
"Think you not, Sir Adolf, that she would be safe and in peace with her cousin William, in the country of Juliers?"
The knight was evidently not a little dismayed at this question. Must he let Matilda depart for a foreign land? Shall he render it Impossible for himself to aid and defend her? To that he could by no means bring his mind; for he had already in his heart charged himself with the task of restoring Matilda to her father, and preserving her from every wrong and insult.
He strained, therefore, all his powers of invention to devise some other plan which would not remove her so far from him; and thinking he had hit upon such a one, he answered, with an expression of joy lighting up his countenance:
"Certainly, Master Roger, there could not be a safer retreat for her; but, according to what I hear from you, there are bodies of French troops dispersed in different garrisons throughout the whole of Flanders, which seems to me to render the journey a dangerous one for her. It would be impossible to furnish her with a proper escort, for that would only make the matter worse; and I can not possibly allow Robert de Bethune's daughter to set out alone, accompanied only by a few servants. No! I must watch over her as over my soul's salvation, that I may not be ashamed to appear before my Lord Count Robert when he demands his daughter at my hands."
"But, Sir Adolf, bethink you! you expose her to still greater danger by keeping her in Flanders. Who is there to protect her here? Not you, for you have not the power. The city magistrates will not; they are all body and soul given up to France. The French may easily get scent of her; and what would become of the poor girl then?"
"I have bethought me of a protector for her," answered Adolf. "Maria, send a servant to the Dean of the Clothworkers, and pray of him to come and see me here. Master Roger, what think you if we place our young lady under the protection of the commons? Is not that a happy thought?"
"Well enough, indeed, if only it were practicable; but the people are to the last degree embittered against all that calls itself noble, and will have nothing to do with any such. And in good truth. Sir Adolf, one can not blame them for it; for most part of the
