"Evil betide the hour that separates us,
brother!" said the second fugitive, reining in;
"Our cause, our peril, our fate shall be the
same. You, my good lord, will consult your
own safety."
The third cavalier had already entered the stream: he made a dead halt while his friends spoke, and then replied:— Let us name some rendezvous where, if we escape, we may again meet. I go on an errand of life and death; my success is doubtful, my danger certain. If I succeed in evading it, where shall I rejoin There shall you?"
"Though the event of this day has been fatal to the king," answered the other, "our fortunes are not decided. I propose taking refuge in some sanctuary, till we perceive how far the Earl of Richmond is inclined to mercy."
"I knew the Earl when a mere youth, Sir Humphrey Stafford," said the foremost rider, "and heard more of him when I visited Brittanny, at the time of King Louis's death, two years ago. When mercy knocks at his heart, suspicion and avarice give her a rough reception.
