"Master Breydel!" he exclaimed; "what is this you are doing? For God's sake, hold! Surely you are taking a dishonorable revenge!"
"Let me alone," answered Breydel; "you do not know that these are some of the very rascals who struck me on the cheek! But listen! what is that? Don't you hear yonder among the ruins the sound as of a woman's cries? The thought is distraction ; but it was by this very road that the villains carried off the Lady Matilda!"
With these words he leaped from his horse; and, without even stopping to secure it, started off at full speed toward the ruins. His friend proceeded to follow him without delay; but so much more deliberately that Breydel was already within the castle yard before Deconinck had dismounted and fastened the horses to the roadside. The nearer Breydel drew to the ruins, the more distinctly he heard the lamentations of a female voice; but finding, as he advanced, all further access barred, and unable at the instant to discern any entrance, he hastily mounted upon a heap of rubbish, and so obtained a view into the interior of the chamber from which, as he imagined, the sounds proceeded. At the first glance he recognized Matilda; but the black knight who forcibly held her in his arms, and whom with such desperate energy she sought to repulse (for she was again endeavoring to leave the couch, upon which exhaustion rather than slumber had for a while retained her), was altogether unknown to him, and could therefore appear to him only in the light of an assailant. Instantly he drew forth his ax from under his garment, climbed upon the window-sill, and dropped like a stone into the chamber.
"Villain!" he cried, advancing upon the knight, ''base Frenchman! you have lived your time; you shall not have laid hands unpunished upon the daughter of the Lion, my lord and prince."
The knight stood amazed at the sudden apparition, not having in the instant perceived the manner of the Butcher's entrance, and for a moment he made no answer to his threats; quickly recovering himself, however, he replied:
"You are mistaken. Master Breydel; I am a true son of Flanders. Be calm; the Lion's daughter is already avenged."
Breydel knew not what to think: his excited feelings had hardly yet subsided. Nevertheless, the knight's words, spoken in the Flemish tongue, and by one who seemed to know him well, were not without their effect. Matilda, meanwhile, still in her delirium, and accounting the black knight her enemy, welcomed the newcomer with joy as her deliverer.
"Kill him!" she cried, with a laugh of triumph; "kill him! He has shut up my father in prison, and now, false caitiff that he is, he is carrying me away to deliver me to the wicked Joanna of Navarre. Fleming, why do you not avenge the child of your ancient lords?"
The black knight looked upon the maiden with sorrowful compassion. "Unhappy girl!" he sighed, while tears filled his eyes.
"I see that you love and pity the Lion's daughter," said Breydel, pressing the knight's hand; "forgive me, sir; I did not know you for a friend."
At this moment Deconinck appeared at the entrance of the chamber; but no sooner had his eye fallen upon the scene which presented itself before him, than throwing up his hands above his head with astonishment, and then casting himself upon his knees at the feet of the black knight, he exclaimed:
“Oh heavens! our lord and prince, the Lion!"
"Our lord! our prince! the Lion!" repeated Breydel, hastily following Deconinck's example, and kneeling by his side; "my God, what have I done?"
"Rise, my faithful subjects," responded Robert; "I have heard of all your noble efforts in your Prince's service." Then raising them, he proceeded:
"Look here upon the daughter of your Count, and think how a father's heart must be torn at such a sight. And yet I have nothing wherewith to supply her needs—nothing save the shelter of these shattered walls, and the cold water of the brook. The Lord is indeed laying heavy trials upon me."
"Be pleased, noble Count," interposed Breydel, "to give me your commands; I will procure you all that you require. Accept, I pray, the humble services of your liege subject."
He was already on his way toward the door, when a gesture of command from the Count suddenly arrested him.
"Go," said Robert, "and seek a physician; but let it be no Lilyard, and exact from him an oath that he will reveal nothing of what he may see or hear.”
"My lord," replied Breydel, with exultation, "I know precisely the man you want. There is a friend of mine, as warm a Claward as any in Flanders, who lives hard by, at Wardamme; I will bring him hither immediately."
"Go; but take heed not to utter my name to him; let my presence here remain a secret to all but yourselves."
Breydel hastened away on his errand, and the Count took the opportunity of questioning the Dean of the Clothworkers at some length concerning the state of affairs in Flanders. Then he said:
"Yes, Master Deconinck, I have heard in my prison, from Sir Diederik die Vos and Sir Adolf of Nieuwland, of your loyal though as yet fruitless endeavors. It is a great satisfaction to me to find that, although most of our nobles have forsaken us, we still have subjects such as you."
"It is true, illustrious sir," answered the Dean, "that only too many of the nobles have taken part against their country; nevertheless, they who
