The Robber Baron of Bedford Castle

soe was rather too inclined to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds, to play a double part, waiting to see where h

position. On the other hand, the house of De Breauté had come decidedly to the front; for, as the chroniclers of the time tell us, Fulke held not only the castle of Bedford, but also the castles and the shrievalties of Oxford, Northampton, Bu

e would have gone so far as to give his daughter to one who bore so evil a name, even had he

ldier of fortune like his brother, he had but lately arrived from France, and taken up his residence in Bedfordshire, where perhaps he was not altogether unpopular, for he had even gone so far as to hint that, should Sir Fulke come to a violent end in one of his forays, and he, William, become the lord of Bedford Castle, the neighbourho

nnatural that that gentleman, being of poor estate though of good family, and not even possessing a fortified dwelling--in itself a mark of position in those

Aliva herself. But ignorance is bliss. De Breauté had not been sufficiently long in the neighbourhood to learn that there had been love passages between Ralph and Aliva, so he rode over to Bletsoe in a self-satisfied frame of mind, armed as he was with De Pateshulle's permission, which, in those days when ladies were often given in marriage against their

ngland, he wore only a small, carefully-trimmed moustache, and his dark hair was cut short all over his head. He had first met the Lady Aliva at a hunting-party held in the woods on the other side of the river, by Sir William Wake of Stevington Castle, when the maiden, no mean horsewoman nor inferior shot with the cross-bow, had greatly distinguished herself by her prowess in venery. Since then, upon every occasion, William de Breauté h

nce with an old family, such as that of a De Pateshulle. He was by no means totally insincere in disclaiming any part in Sir Fulke's malpractices, and was keenly alive to the precarious

ely round her knees, and watched the watery rays of the sunshine of a winter's afternoon piercing the fog, which slo

added, with the reaction of despair common to all proud, high-spirited natures. "O my father, my father! the burden you have laid upon me is too heavy to bear! Since you first told of your wishes--nay, your commands--I have been torn

ut little regard for their own wishes, and rich heiresses--though indeed poor Aliva was not one of these latter--were even disposed of by royal authority for political purposes. In the hapless Margaret de Ripariis, the wife o

ist, and a raw, gray gloom fell over the landscape, while home-comi

But surely the vesper-bell will soon be ringing from the church, and then

y Dumpling's voice bawling to a serving-man; for after his visit to the lay-brother's cottage, a

had done when Ralph rode off, for she guesse

ck at the door, and the

ather desires you atten

," answered Aliv

ged it beneath the fillet, and settled the sweeping lines of her tight-fitting robe, the exigency of the crisis raised the maiden's spirit. For she was of Anglo-Norman blood. Her sires had fought at Hastings, and fro

ather and William de Breauté, standing together in the oriel, thought

her parent, and spoke slowly and clearly, though it nee

saw Sir Ralph de Beauch

uté stood. There was silence as she gazed fixedly out into the distant winter landscape, over which the dusk was already gathering, her teeth set, he

sought his guest's face with restless eyes and

lf-way down the hall fell with a sudden crash

ed the hall. He had been stabbed by a maddening pang of jealousy at the few words she had spoken. But in t

tre mer, falling at your fair feet, wounded to death by the glance of your bright een, the victim of Venus venerie! I pray thee, p

n launched out again into Continental

dually towards Aliva, bowin

on of indignation and scorn. Her right fist was tightly clinched. She raised her arm, and (we must remember t