Isabella was sitting in an apartment with the fair Joan of Kent, expatiating upon the insolence of the common people, and detailing a solitary instance of the evil that the family of a bondman might work to his lord, when the door was thrown open and Richard, with his beautiful countenance flushed with excitement, and followed by the archbishop of Canterbury, abruptly entered."Prepare yourself then, lady," said Sir Robert, and he resumed his seat.There was silence, in which a coal fell. She still stood with her arms outstretched; he knew that she was calling himas no woman had ever called himwith all that of herself which was in his heart, part of his own being.Reuben's head dropped on his arm, and he slept out of weariness. An hour later the cramp of his shoulders woke him; the fiddle was silent, the moon was gone, and the window framed a level blackness. With a little moan he flung himself dressed on the bed.