]
"Brava!" cried Gilles de Retz when Laurence had finished; "that is
truly well sung indeed! You shall sing it alone in my chapel next
feast day of the Holy Innocents."
He paused as if to consider his words.
"And now for this time go. But remember that this Castle of Machecoul
is straiter than any prison cell, and better guarded than a fortress.
It is surrounded with constant watchers, secret, invisible,
implacable. Whoso tries to escape, dies. You are a bold lad, and, as I
think, fear not much death for yourself. But come hither, and I will
show you something which will chain you here."
With a kind of solicitous familiarity the Marshal de Retz took the lad
by the arm and drew him to another window on the further side of the
keep.
"Look forth and tell me what you see," he said.
Laurence set his head out of the window. He looked upon an intricate
mass of building, composing the western wing of the castle, and it was
some moments before he could distinguish what the Sieur de Retz wished
him to see. Then, as his eyes took in the details, he saw on the flat
roof of a square tower beneath him two maidens seated, and when he
looked closer--lo! they were Margaret Douglas and, beside her, his
brother's sweetheart Maud Lindesay.
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