'And that was here at home?' said Una.

'Yes, here. See! From the Upper Ford, Weland's Ford, to the Lower Ford,
by the Belle Allée, west and east it ran half a league. From the Beacon
of Brunanburgh behind us here, south and north it ran a full league--and
all the woods were full of broken men from Santlache, Saxon thieves,
Norman plunderers, robbers, and deer-stealers. A hornets' nest indeed!

'When De Aquila had gone, Hugh would have thanked me for saving their
lives; but the Lady Ælueva said that I had done it only for the sake of
receiving the Manor.

'"How could I know that De Aquila would give it me?" I said. "If I had
told him I had spent my night in your halter he would have burned the
place twice over by now."

'"If any man had put _my_ neck in a rope," she said, "I would have seen
his house burned thrice over before _I_ would have made terms."

'"But it was a woman," I said; and I laughed, and she wept and said that
I mocked her in her captivity.

'"Lady," said I, "there is no captive in this valley except one, and he
is not a Saxon."

'At this she cried that I was a Norman thief, who came with false, sweet
words, having intended from the first to turn her out in the fields to
beg her bread. Into the fields! She had never seen the face of war!