The

care of sundry packages which they removed from the boat with exceeding care. These were followed by two persons who presented a striking contrast to each other. The first, clothed in a bright suit of chain armour, was a young man, so young as to appear scarcely to have had time to win the knightly spurs which he wore. other, with his long hair and beard, both white as snow, seemed as though sixty winters at least had passed over his head. He wore a long, loose frock of brown woollen cloth, bound round the waist with a broad leathern girdle, and held a long white wand; his arms from the elbow were bare, and so were his feet, with the exception of untanned leather sandals. No sooner had Rosamond caught a glance of his figure, than she uttered a piercing cry.

66

Jacqueline, Jacqueline!" was all that she could say; but she pointed with her hand to the group standing on the shore, and Jacqueline, alarmed by her paleness, eagerly pressed forward. Even the most curious readily gave way; and no sooner had Jacqueline beheld the figure of the old man, who, with upraised head, seemed to

be lecturing the men-at-arms as to their care of the packages, than she exclaimed,

"Holy Madonna! who do I see?—it is old Adam Henred, the seneschal of Clifford Castle. It is, without a doubt."

And

"News, news from my father!” cried Rosamond; "good news, perhaps.” without reflecting that a change of position would by no means advance her cause, she rushed from the gallery, descended the stairs, and found herself in the outer court of the convent. There, however, she was forced to pause: to proceed further was impossible; and had it been practicable, even Rosamond herself would not have ventured upon so flagrant a breach of convent rule as to quit the walls.

"Be advised, sweet lady," whispered Jacqueline, who had followed her, and whose anticipation of the news being good was not quite so sanguine as that of her young mistress: "be advised, and retire to your cell, till the abbess sends for you. I will watch for you. If there is any one from the castle, you are sure to hear it."

"If!" echoed Rosamond in a disappointed tone; "why, we saw Adam Henred

as plain as we now see each other.

is news--there must be news."

There

"If it is bad, it will come all too soon; and if it is good, why the joy will make up for the waiting," drily observed Jacqueline. "So take my advice, sweet lady."

"Jacqueline, dear Jacqueline!" said Rosamond with much tenderness, kissing her withered cheek, “I believe you are right; but is it not hard to wait?" So saying, she turned with an anxious smile to the gallery leading to her cell.

CHAPTER VIII.

"BLESSED Saint John, what a beautiful knight!"

This exclamation was uttered by more than one voice from the group of nuns and novices that still gazed and wondered from the upper gallery window, as Sir Ranulph de Broc, having apparently given his orders to his attendants, strode forward to the great gate of the convent, followed only by Adam Henred, the old seneschal of Clifford Castle.

"What is thy business, Sir Knight?" demanded the portress, disturbed from her morning meal by the clang of the great bell. “I would fain speak with the Lady Isolda," replied Ranulph.

"The lady abbess sees no one till after prime," rejoined the woman, gruffly; for she was old and fat, and had no wish to traverse half the convent in search of the abbess.

"But I have business with the lady abbess-business that will not wait. So I pray thee take my message, good sister, fair sister," urged Ranulph with a gesture of courtesy; "thou wilt get me speech of the Lady Isolda."

"I don't know that," replied the portress, coming closer up to the gate, with a large lump of black bread in one hand and a leek in the other;-then, as if softened by the beauty of Ranulph's countenance, for he had raised his vizor, she added," and if I did, pray what am I to say?"

"Say that Ranulph de Broc craves speech of the Lady Isolda."

66

Ranulph de Broc," echoed the por