"And how comes it to pass that ye be taking or guiding thither any
person, and more particularly wayfarers, whom we know not? How comes it,
I say, that ye suffer this without my permission?" said the abbot,
sternly.
"Will was their guide; and we cared not to refuse your reverence's
messenger."
"My messenger!" returned Paslew, with a glance that almost bent them to
the ground.
"Please your highness," said Will, falling on his knees, "the stranger
was a-visiting of the beacons, so said he, to know if they were
carefully watched. He came to me, as with an authority from your
reverence, and I mounted them up to the guard-house, unwillingly enough.
'Tis a sore pull for a pair of shanks like mine."
The abbot now saw plainly into the machinations by which he had been
betrayed, and reprimanding his men for their negligence, and so careless
an observance of his commands, ordered them off severally to the stocks.
Their lamentations were loud but unavailing, especially when they found
that Ralph was simply dismissed, for a space, to solitary confinement.
Yet was Paslew still at a loss to determine whence this subtle device
originated, unless from his brother of Kirkstall, and he resolved to
question Ralph secretly.
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