Bab Bab 1 · Chapter 1

. Chapter 1

Myles Falworth was but eight years of age at that time, and it was only

afterwards, and when he grew old enough to know more of the ins and outs

of the matter, that he could remember by bits and pieces the things that

afterwards happened; how one evening a knight came clattering into the

court-yard upon a horse, red-nostrilled and smeared with the sweat and

foam of a desperate ride--Sir John Dale, a dear friend of the blind

Lord.

Even though so young, Myles knew that something very serious had

happened to make Sir John so pale and haggard, and he dimly remembered

leaning against the knight's iron-covered knees, looking up into his

gloomy face, and asking him if he was sick to look so strange. Thereupon

those who had been too troubled before to notice him, bethought

themselves of him, and sent him to bed, rebellious at having to go so

early.

He remembered how the next morning, looking out of a window high up

under the eaves, he saw a great troop of horsemen come riding into the

courtyard beneath, where a powdering of snow had whitened everything,

and of how the leader, a knight clad in black armor, dismounted and

entered the great hall door-way below, followed by several of the band.

He remembered how some of the castle women were standing in a frightened

group upon the landing of the stairs, talking together in low voices

about a matter he did not understand, excepting that the armed men who

had ridden into the courtyard had come for Sir John Dale. None of the

women paid any attention to him; so, shunning their notice, he ran off

down the winding stairs, expecting every moment to be called back again

by some one of them.

A crowd of castle people, all very serious and quiet, were gathered

in the hall, where a number of strange men-at-arms lounged upon the

benches, while two billmen in steel caps and leathern jacks stood

guarding the great door, the butts of their weapons resting upon the

ground, and the staves crossed, barring the door-way.

In the anteroom was the knight in black armor whom Myles had seen from

the window. He was sitting at the table, his great helmet lying upon

the bench beside him, and a quart beaker of spiced wine at his elbow. A

clerk sat at the other end of the same table, with inkhorn in one hand

and pen in the other, and a parchment spread in front of him.

Master Robert, the castle steward, stood before the knight, who every

now and then put to him a question, which the other would answer, and

the clerk write the answer down upon the parchment.

His father stood with his back to the fireplace, looking down upon the

floor with his blind eyes, his brows drawn moodily together, and the

scar of the great wound that he had received at the tournament at

York--the wound that had made him blind--showing red across his

forehead, as it always did when he was angered or troubled.

There was something about it all that frightened Myles, who crept to his

father's side, and slid his little hand into the palm that hung limp and

inert. In answer to the touch, his father grasped the hand tightly,

but did not seem otherwise to notice that he was there. Neither did

the black knight pay any attention to him, but continued putting his

questions to Master Robert.

Then, suddenly, there was a commotion in the hall without, loud voices,

and a hurrying here and there. The black knight half arose, grasping a

heavy iron mace that lay upon the bench beside him, and the next moment

Sir John Dale himself, as pale as death, walked into the antechamber. He

stopped in the very middle of the room. “I yield me to my Lord's grace

and mercy,” said he to the black knight, and they were the last words he

ever uttered in this world.

The black knight shouted out some words of command, and swinging up the

iron mace in his hand, strode forward clanking towards Sir John, who

raised his arm as though to shield himself from the blow. Two or three

of those who stood in the hall without came running into the room with

drawn swords and bills, and little Myles, crying out with terror, hid

his face in his father's long gown.

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 Falworth crying, in a dreadful

voice, “Thou traitor! thou coward! thou murderer!”

Master Robert snatched Myles away from his father, and bore him out of

the room in spite of his screams and struggles, and he remembered just

one instant's sight of Sir John lying still and silent 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, left the

castle.

His memory of past things held a picture for Myles of old Diccon Bowman

standing over him in the silence of midnight with a lighted lamp in his

hand, and with it a recollection of being bidden to hush when he would

have spoken, and of being dressed by Diccon and one of the women,

bewildered with sleep, shuddering and chattering with cold.

He remembered being wrapped in the sheepskin that lay at the foot of

his bed, and of being carried in Diccon Bowman's arms down the silent

darkness of the winding stair-way, with the great black giant shadows

swaying and flickering upon the stone wall as the dull flame of the lamp

swayed and flickered in the cold breathing of the night air.

Below were his father and mother and two or three others. A stranger

stood warming his hands at a newly-made fire, and little Myles, as he

peeped from out the warm sheepskin, saw that he was in riding-boots and

was covered with mud. He did not know till long years afterwards that

the stranger was a messenger sent by a friend at the King's court,

bidding his father fly for safety.

They who stood there by the red blaze of the fire were all very still,

talking in whispers and walking on tiptoes, and Myles's mother 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 about to leave their home

forever.

Then Diccon Bowman carried him out into the strangeness of the winter

midnight.

Outside, beyond the frozen moat, where the osiers, stood stark and stiff

in their winter nakedness, was a group of dark figures waiting for them

with horses. In the pallid moonlight Myles recognized the well-known

face of Father Edward, the Prior of St. Mary's.

After that came a long ride through that silent night upon the

saddle-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 whole life

were changed.