"
"Yet, may we know of your Grace by what strange and happy chance
this riddle was at length read?" said the Queen Berengaria.
"Letters were brought to us from England," said the King, "in
which we learned, among other unpleasant news, that the King of
Scotland had seized upon three of our nobles, when on a
pilgrimage to Saint Ninian, and alleged, as a cause, that his
heir, being supposed to be fighting in the ranks of the Teutonic
Knights against the heathen of Borussia, was, in fact, in our
camp, and in our power; and, therefore, William proposed to hold
these nobles as hostages for his safety. This gave me the first
light on the real rank of the Knight of the Leopard; and my
suspicions were confirmed by De Vaux, who, on his return from
Ascalon, brought back with him the Earl of Huntingdon's sole
attendant, a thick-skulled slave, who had gone thirty miles to
unfold to De Vaux a secret he should have told to me."
"Old Strauchan must be excused," said the Lord of Gilsland. "He
knew from experience that my heart is somewhat softer than if I
wrote myself Plantagenet.
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