the Chadgroves, and that by right of inheritance Chad is his.

"Methinks he would find it very hard to make good any such claim.
Belike it is but idle boasting. Yet it may be that there will be
some trouble in store. He has taken up his abode at Mortimer's
Keep, and maybe we shall hear ill news before long."

All eyes were fixed for a moment on the lady's face, and then the
hands moved faster than before, whilst a subdued murmur went round
the group. Not one heart was there that did not beat with
indignation at the thought that any should dare to try to disturb
the peace of the rightful lord of Chad. If the loyalty and
affection of all around would prove a safeguard, the knight need
have no fear from the claims advanced by any adversary.

"There has been a muttering of coming tempest anent those vexed
forest rights," continued the lady, in reply to some indignant
words from the nurse. "I would that difficult question could be
settled and laid at rest; but my good lord has yielded something
too much already for the sake of peace and quietness, and at each
concession Mortimer's word was passed that he would claim no
further rights over the portion that remained to us. But his word
is broken without scruple, and we cannot ever be giving way. Were
no stand to be made, the whole forest track would soon be claimed
by Mortimer, and we should have nothing but the bare park that is
fenced about and cannot be filched bit by bit away. But all the
world knows that Chad has forest rights equal to those of Mortimer.
It is but to seek a quarrel that the baron continues to push his
claims ever nearer and nearer our walls."