Numbers of men on foot also joined, and some sixty in all suddenly appeared before the great gate of the convent.

With a thundering noise they knocked at the door, and upon the grating being opened Sir Rudolph himself told the porteress who looked through it, that she was to go at once to the abbess and order her to surrender the body of the Lady Margaret to him, in accordance with the order of Prince John; adding, that if within the space of five minutes the order was not complied with, he would burst in the gates of the convent and take her for himself.

In another minute a casement opened above, and the abbess herself appeared.
"Rash man," she said to Sir Rudolph, "I warn you against committing the sin of sacrilege.

Neither the orders of Prince John nor of any other potentate can over-ride the rights of the holy church; and should you venture to lay the hand of force upon this convent you will be placed under the anathema of the church, and its spiritual terrors will be directed against you." "I am prepared to risk that, holy mother," Sir Rudolph said, with a laugh.

"So long as I am obeying the orders of my prince, I care nought for those of any foreign potentate, be he pope or be he emperor.