Then, suddenly, there was a commotion in the hall without, loudvoices, and a hurrying here and there. The black knight halfarose, grasping a heavy iron mace that lay upon the bench besidehim, and the next moment Sir John Dale himself, as pale as death,walked into the antechamber. He stopped in the very middle of theroom. "I yield me to my Lord's grace and mercy," said he to theblack knight, and they were the last words he ever uttered inthis world.
The black knight shouted out some words of command, and swingingup the iron mace in his hand, strode forward clanking towards SirJohn, who raised his arm as though to shield himself from theblow. Two or three of those who stood in the hall without camerunning into the room with drawn swords and bills, and littleMyles, crying out with terror, hid his face in his father's longgown.
The next instant came the sound of a heavy blow and of a groan,then another blow and the sound of one falling upon the ground.
Then the clashing of steel, and in the midst Lord Falworthcrying, in a dreadful voice, "Thou traitor! thou coward! thoumurderer!"Master Robert snatched Myles away from his father, and bore himout of the room in spite of his screams and struggles, and heremembered just one instant's sight of Sir John lying still andsilent upon his face, and of the black knight standing above him,with the terrible mace in his hand stained a dreadful red.
It was the next day that Lord and Lady Falworth and little Myles,together with three of the more faithful of their people, leftthe castle.
His memory of past things held a picture for Myles of old DicconBowman standing over him in the silence of midnight with alighted lamp in his hand, and with it a recollection of beingbidden to hush when he would have spoken, and of being dressed byDiccon and one of the women, bewildered with sleep, shudderingand chattering with cold.
He remembered being wrapped in the sheepskin that lay at the footof his bed, and of being carried in Diccon Bowman's arms down thesilent darkness of the winding stair-way, with the great blackgiant shadows swaying and flickering upon the stone wall as thedull flame of the lamp swayed and flickered in the cold breathingof the night air.
Below were his father and mother and two or three others. Astranger stood warming his hands at a newly-made fire, and littleMyles, as he peeped from out the warm sheepskin, saw that he wasin riding-boots and was covered with mud. He did not know tilllong years afterwards that the stranger was a messenger sent by afriend at the King's court, bidding his father fly for safety.
They who stood there by the red blaze of the fire were all verystill, talking in whispers and walking on tiptoes, and Myles'smother hugged him in her arms, sheepskin and all, kissing him,with the tears streaming down her cheeks, and whispering to him,as though he could understand their trouble, that they were aboutto leave their home forever.
Then Diccon Bowman carried him out into the strangeness of thewinter midnight.
Outside, beyond the frozen moat, where the osiers, stood starkand stiff in their winter nakedness, was a group of dark figureswaiting for them with horses. In the pallid moonlight Mylesrecognized the well-known face of Father Edward, the Prior of St.
Mary's.
After that came a long ride through that silent night upon thesaddle-bow in front of Diccon Bowman; then a deep, heavy sleep,that fell upon him in spite of the galloping of the horses.
When next he woke the sun was shining, and his home and his wholelife were changed.
