"For thee, young man, this toy will give thee free passage where thou listeth, none shall molest thee; and now, farewell--God speed thee." He unclasped a ruby brooch, curiously set in antique gold, from his collar, and placed it in the boy's hand.
"Dost thou not enter ?" asked the page, in a voice that quivered, and the light of the torches falling full on his face disclosed to Lancaster a look of such voiceless gratitude, it haunted him for many a long day.
"No," he said, half smiling, and in a lower voice; "hast thou forgotten thy cause was to be pleaded without witness?
I have not, if thou hast.

I will see thy noble master ere he depart, not now; thou wilt, I trust me, take him better comfort than I could." He lifted the hangings as he spoke, and the boy passed in, his heart beating well-nigh to suffocation as he did so.

It was in a small compartment leading to the principal chamber of the tent he found himself at first, and Sir Nigel was not there.

With a fleet, yet noiseless movement, he drew aside the massive curtain, let it fall again behind him, and stood unperceived in the presence of him he sought.
The brow of Sir Nigel rested on his hand, his attitude was as one bowed and drooping 'neath despondency; the light of the taper fell full upon his head, bringing it out in beautiful profile.

It was not his capture alone which had made him thus, the boy felt and knew; the complicated evils which attended his king and country in his imprisonment were yet not sufficient to crush that spirit to the earth.