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But Beltane raised him up with gentle hand, speaking him kindly, as thus: "Tell now, I pray you, how came ye to slay?" "Stay! stay!" cried Friar Gui, "bethink thee, good youth so much gold, 'tis a very fortune! With so much, masses might be sung for his wretched soul; give it therefore to Holy Church, so shall he, peradventure, attain Paradise."
And many of Ivo's rogues we slew until of those knights and men-at-arms that burned our home there none remained save Red Pertolepe and Gui of Allerdale. But in the green love came even to me so I laid by mine axe and vengeance likewise and came to know happiness until upon a day they hanged my brother, and thereafter they slew her my wife and child e'en as ye saw.
"Hereupon the noble Sir Gui set a close watch upon the townsfolk whereby he apprehended divers suspected rogues, and putting them to the torture, found thereby proofs of their vile sedition, insomuch that though the women held their peace for the most part, certain men enduring not, did confess knowledge of a subterraneous passage 'neath the wall.
So came these young esquires beside Sir Gui who, tapping the dust from his habit with soft white hand, spake soft-voiced and sweet. "Ride on, sirs, and bid our careful warden stay awhile the execution of this traitorous friar. Let the square be lined with pikes as is our custom: let the prisoner be chained unto his stake see you, but let all things stay until I be come.
The magician answered: "Between hill and valley and amid the silent ravines dwell the blessed. I will go back once more and search for her there." So he wandered about on the five holy hills, by the four great rivers and through the islands of the sea. He went everywhere, and finally came to fairyland. The fairy said: "Yang Gui Fe has become a blessed spirit and dwells in the great south palace!"
Sobbing, she fled to the emperor. He wept bitterly and endeavored to protect her; but the soldiers grew more and more violent. Finally she was hung from a pear-tree by a eunuch. The emperor longed so greatly for Yang Gui Fe that he ceased to eat, and could no longer sleep. Then one of his eunuchs told him of a man named Yang Shi Wu, who was able to call up the spirits of the departed.
"So art thrice a fool. When we see a foul and noxious worm, to tread it under foot is a virtuous act. So when a man doth constant sin 'gainst man and maid, to kill him " Quoth Beltane: "Sir Gui and Gilles of Brandonmere have made an end of sinning, methinks." "Why 'tis so I've heard of late, Beltane, and herein is some small comfort; but Red Pertolepe is yet to slay "
She tenderly put the water to Guida's lips, with comforting words, though her own brain was in a whirl, and dark forebodings flashed through her mind. "Ah, man gui, man pethe!" she said in the homely patois. "There, drink, drink, dear, dear couzaine." Guida's lips opened, and she drank slowly, putting her hand to her heart with a gesture of pain. Carterette put down the hanap and caught her hands.
"Roasted, forsooth?" said Beltane, his gaze yet afar off; "and, forsooth, burned to ashes; then forsooth is he surely dead?" "Aye, that is he; and his ashes scattered on a dung-hill." "A dung-hill ha?" "He was but a charcoal-burning knave, 'tis said a rogue base-born and a traitor. Now hereupon my lord, the good lord Sir Gui, my lord Duke's lord Seneschal of Belsaye "
"By fire!" cried the archer, aghast, "but lord, so soon as they shall see the flames, Sir Gui and his men will sally out upon us!" "Nay," said Beltane, "for we shall sally in." "Into Belsaye, mean you, lord?" "Certes," answered Beltane, "how else may we break open the dungeon? The night is young yet, but we have much to do follow!"
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