Men were hard to get, and Prince John would not have been pleased to hear that a number of the men whom he had brought with such expense from foreign parts had been killed in a petty fray.

Therefore after following for a short time he called them off, and the archers fell back into the forest.
Here they found Dame Editha, and for three days she abode among them, living in a small hut in the centre of the forest.

Then she left, to take up her abode, until the troubles were past, with some kin who lived in the south of Gloucestershire.
Although the lady abbess had assured Cuthbert that the retreat of Lady Margaret was not likely to be found out, he himself, knowing how great a stake Sir Rudolph had in the matter, was still far from being easy.

It would not be difficult for the latter to learn through his agents that the lady superior of the little convent near Hereford was of kin to her of St.Anne's, and, close as a convent is, yet the gossiping of the servants who go to market was certain to let out an affair so important as the arrival of a young lady to reside under the charge of the superior.

Cuthbert was not mistaken as to the acuteness of his enemy.