“Thither,” said Rowena, “do I not go; and I pray you to beware, lest what you mean for courage and constancy, shall be accounted hardness of heart.”

“Remain at home, then, ungrateful lady,” answered Cedric; “thine is the hard heart, which can sacrifice the weal of an oppressed people to an idle and unauthorized attachment. I seek the noble Athelstane, and with him attend the banquet of John of Anjou.”

He went accordingly to the banquet, of which we have already mentioned the principal events. Immediately upon retiring from the castle, the Saxon thanes, with their attendants, took horse; and it was during the bustle which attended their doing so, that Cedric, for the first time, cast his eyes upon the deserter Gurth. The noble Saxon had returned from the banquet, as we have seen, in no very placid humour, and wanted but a pretext for wreaking his anger upon someone.

“The gyves!” he said, “the gyves!⁠—Oswald⁠—Hundibert!⁠—Dogs and villains!⁠—why leave ye the knave unfettered?”