The Lady of Blossholme

ith woods, border it east and south, and to the west by the rolling uplands, merging at last into purple moor, and, far away, the sombre eternal hills! Probably the scene has not changed very much sin

ideousness

readily fall down. The folk of that generation walked in and out of the doorways of many of them, although the roofs for the most part are now covered with tiles or rough slates in place of reeds from the dike. The pa

orted on rough, oaken pillars, and surmounted by a weathercock which the monkish fancy has fashioned to the shape of the archangel blowing the last trump. His clarion or coach-horn, or whatever instrument of music it was he blew, has vanished. The parish book records that in the time of George I a boy broke it off, melted it down, and was publicly flogged in consequence, the last time, appa

they always stood. The glorious tower of the Abbey still points upwards to the sky, although bells and roof are gone, while half-a-mile away the parish church that was there before it-having been rebuilt indeed upon Saxon foundations in the days of William Rufus-yet lies

in a day bygone, and especially of that fair and persecuted woman who

n brought to him from Blossholme Abbey. He mastered it at length, and when it was done any one who had been there to look might have seen a knight and gentleman of large estate in a rage remarkable even for the time of the eighth Henry. He dashed the document to the ground;

randfather for no good consideration, but under fear and threats. Now, writes he, this Secretary Cromwell, whom they call Vicar-General, has declared that the said transfer was wi

to walking up and down the hall. Presently he halted in fr

King had not faced the Pope, would be more. But you forget yourself at times, for the Southern blood is hot, and when the wine is in, the truth is out. There were certain words you spoke not a year ago before me and

that he bellowed like a bull. It opened after a while, and a serving-man

Stokes?" he asked. "Must I wait

could, master. Why, t

w? Do it again and I will have

in his gruff voice. "There be some men who never know when they are well served, and such are apt to

as though to strike him

re gently, "and that was ever your nature. Take it

hough, as a monk came from the Abbey b

. Hark; I ride to yonder crows'-nes

. I'll saddle

can I ride a pair at o

ist, with chaplains and pages, and ten stout men-at-arms, of whom he keeps more of late than a priest would seem to need about him. When S

ooked at h

one except in looks. Do as you will, Jeffrey

weet face at the window but now staring out at th

stands over six feet high, has a jolly face, and a pair of arms well made for

hard. Ghost-laying is a priest's job, and when

roared Sir John,

te, while the monks within ran to and fro like startled ants, for the times were rough, and they were not sure who threatened them. When

costly tapestry, whereon were worked scenes from the Scriptures. The floor was hid with rich carpets made of coloured Eastern wools. The furniture also was rich and foreign-looking, being inlaid with ivory and silver, while on the table stood a

ked about hi

t dame's bower? Hunt under the table, man; sure, you will find her lute and n

For the rest, I could snore well here after a cup of yon red wine," and he jerked his thumb towards a long-necked bottle on a sid

hat, Jeffrey?"

y a timber there not to know. There's that in the Sticksley clays w

ed, and swore

bade me note this very thing about the Sticksley oaks. These cursed monks waste my woods bene

" he added in a changed voice; "it is a lovely chamber, though not good enough for the holy man who dwells in it, since such a saint should have a silver shrine like

ke the Blossholme weat

d silently, stood a tall, tonsured figure clothed in rich furs, and behind him two oth

oft, foreign voice, lifting the two f

s head and crossed himself. "Why do you steal upon a man l

Abbot, smiling; "and in truth there seems some need of it. We hear

said those logs upon your fire came from my Sticksley Wood, and I answ

h, the count has not yet been paid. The money that should have discharged it has gone to London, so I asked him to let it stand until the summe

tter saying that you have Cromwell's writ to seize my lands?" asked Sir John, rushing at his grievance like a bull, and

from us in a time of trouble, thus cutting the Abbey lands in twain, against the protest of him who was Abbot in those days. There

med Sir John. "My Lord Abbot, this is not justice; it is roguer

etween us, and in sum this is the judgment: Your title to all your Blossholme lands and those con

d! Why?" as

a hundred years they belonged to this Abbey by gift of the Crown, a

gned by my great-grandfather and the Abbot Frank Ingham! No record, when my said foref

tenant of this Abbey, to which, should you die without issue, they will relapse. Or should you die with issue under age, such issue w

k back into a chair, while

judgment," h

r the cold outer air, perhaps. Drink a cup of our poor wine," and at a motion of his hand one of the chaplains s

denly threw the silver cup and its contents into the fi

behind my back up yonder in London. Well, to-morrow at the dawn, come fair weather or come foul, I ride through the snows to London, where I too have friends, and we will see, we will see. You are a clever man, Abbot Maldon, and I know that you need money, or its worth, to pay your men-at-arms and satisfy the great costs at which y

the first time, and even the two impa

vour at the Court, do you not? because you took the oath of succession which braver men, like the brethren of the Charterhou

lence, Sir John Foterell!" brok

when the guests had gone, that King Henry was a heretic, a tyrant, and an infidel whom the Pope would do well to excommunicate and depose? Did you not, when I led you on, ask me if I could not bring about a rising of the common people in these parts, among whom

answered

that your words were traitorous, and that had they been spoken otherwhere than in my house, I, as in duty bound

ain. "These be but empty lies bred

wn and signed in due form. I tell you I had witnesses you knew naught of who heard t

scort the Abbot home, and heard them all, and afterward I and they put our marks upon the writing. As I am a Christian man t

der elsewhere, namely, before the King's Council. To-morrow, my Lord Abbot, this paper and I go

ank in and went white, as though already he felt the cord about his throat. His j

I have power. It will be said that you attacked me, and that I did but strive to defend myself. Others can bring witness besides you, Sir

Jeffrey Stokes, as, lying his hand upon the knife at

ve a sword. Show me to your gate, or, by virtue of the King's commission that I hold

ng the measure of the fierce old kn

vil, but know that the curse of the Church shal

and, instead, upon it appeared something strange-a bre

ome squeak of truth. Well, I am another fiddle, of a more honest sort, mayhap, though I do not lift two fingers of my right hand and say, 'Benedicite, my son,' and 'Your sins are forgiven you'; and just now the God of both of us plays His tune in me, and I will tell you what it is. I stand near to death, but you stand not far from the gallows. I'll die an honest man; you