It was some other anxiety, some yet nearer woe; there had been many strange rumors afloat, both of Sir Nigel's bridal and the supposed fate of that bride, and the boy, though he knew them false, aye, and that the victim of Jean Roy was a young attendant of Agnes, who had been collecting together the trinkets of her mistress, to save them from the pillage which would attend the conquest of the English, and had been thus mistaken by the maniac--the boy, we say, though he knew this, had, instead of denying it, encouraged the report, and therefore was at no loss to discover his master's woe.

He advanced, knelt down, and in a trembling, husky voice, addressed him.

"My lord--Sir Nigel." The young knight started, and looked at the intruder, evidently without recognizing him.

"What wouldst thou ?" he said, in a tone somewhat stern.
"Who art thou, thus boldly intruding on my privacy?
Begone, I need thee not!" "The Earl of Hereford hath permitted me to tend thee, follow thee," answered the page in the same subdued voice.

"My gracious lord, do not thou refuse me." "Tend me--follow me! whither--to the scaffold?
Seek some other master, my good boy.