Chapter 28

He is at liberty, I have ventured for him!
-----------------------------if the law
Find and condemn me for't, some living wenches,
Some honest-hearted maids will sing my dirge,
And tell to memory my death was noble,
Dying almost a martyr.
THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.


The Sub-Prior of Saint Mary's, in taking his departure from the spence
which Sir Piercie Shafton was confined, and in which some preparations
were made for his passing the night as the room which might be most
conveniently guarded, left more than one perplexed person behind him.
There was connected with this chamber, and opening into it, a small
_outshot_, or projecting part of the building, occupied by a
sleeping apartment, which upon ordinary occasions, was that of Mary
Avenel, and which, in the unusual number of guests who had come to the
tower on the former evening, had also accommodated Mysie Happer, the
Miller's daughter; for anciently, as well as in the present day, a
Scottish house was always rather too narrow and limited for the extent
of the owner's hospitality, and some shift and contrivance was
necessary, upon any unusual occasion, to ensure the accommodation of
all the guests.

The fatal news of Halbert Glendinning's death had thrown all former
arrangements into confusion. Mary Avenel, whose case required
immediate attention, had been transported into the apartment hitherto
occupied by Halbert and his brother, as the latter proposed to watch
all night, in order to prevent the escape of the prisoner. Poor Mysie
had been altogether overlooked, and had naturally enough betaken
herself to the little apartment which she had hitherto occupied,
ignorant that the spence, through which lay the only access to it, was
to be the sleeping chamber of Sir Piercie Shafton. The measures taken
for securing him there had been so sudden, that she was not aware of
it, until she found that the other females had been removed from the
spence by the Sub-Prior's direction, and having once missed the
opportunity of retreating along with them, bashfulness, and the high
respect which she was taught to bear to the monks, prevented her
venturing forth alone, and intruding herself on the presence of Father
Eustace, while in secret conference with the Southron. There appeared
no remedy but to wait till their interview was over; and, as the door
was thin, and did not shut very closely, she could hear every word
that passed betwixt them.

It thus happened, that without any intended intrusion on her part, she
became privy to the whole conversation of the Sub-Prior and the
English knight, and could also observe from the window of her little
retreat, that more than one of the young men summoned by Edward
arrived successively