232 THE LEGEND OF HOSE ROCHE. 



and threatening gestures were directed at the minstrel, and 

 more than one sword was half unsheated. O'Connor seemed 

 thunderstruck and the lady herself was the most collected 

 of the company. 



" How is this, Sir Knights!" she cried. ' " Is lordly word 

 and written pledge so lightly held among you, that thus ye 

 violate their sanctity ? Thane of Connaught," she continued, 

 as she addresssed herself to the "Big Man/' "thy faith 

 was never questioned, and thy word is held to be sacred 

 as a martyr's vow. When the English King, under pain 

 of confiscation, ordered thee to deliver the stranger up, 

 whom thou hadst resetted although five hundred marks 

 were upon his head, what was thy answer '{ ( The lands 

 may go, but plighted faith must stand !' The ink with 

 which you bound yourself to the conditions of yonder bond, 

 is not yet dry upon the parchment, and wilt thou break thy 

 word?" 



" It is a trick," cried De Moore. 



"The selection rests with ourselves alone," exclaimed 

 Mandeville. 



" We will never brook that page or minstrel should hold 

 the lands and castles of Cormac More," said both together : 

 and they laid their hands upon their swords ; the attendants 

 followed the example of their lords, and a scene of violence 

 and discord was about immediately to ensue. 



O'Connor slowly rose he waved his hand to command 

 silence, and his wishes were promptly obeyed. 



" This is, indeed, an unexpected choice," he said : 

 " Sir Prior, read thy parchment aloud, that all may hear, 

 and read it carefully, line after line, and syllable by syllable : 

 see that a letter be not omitted." The monk obeyed. 

 "The document is a plain one," said "The Big Man," 

 <c and by it the lady has good right to choose whom she 

 listeth for her consort. Lady of Iveagh" he continued, 

 as he turned to the blushing widow, " is this youth the 

 husband of thy choice ?" <( He and none besides, so help 

 me saints and angels !" was the solemn answer. " Then, 

 by my father's ashes, and a knight's word that never yet 

 was questioned, thou, Aylmer Mowbray, shalt this night 

 possess thy bride ! And why, my lords, chafe you so at 

 this ?" for the storm was again about to burst forth : " Is it 

 because the monk was but a sorry lawyer, and the lady 



