Gurth darted at him a savage and revengeful scowl, and with a fierce, yet hesitating motion, laid his hand on the haft of his knife; but the interference of Prior Aymer, who pushed his mule betwixt his companion and the swineherd, prevented the meditated violence.
``My gold collar,'' answered the Prior, ``against ten buts of Chian wine; they are mine as securely as if they were already in the convent vaults, under the key of old Dennis the cellarer.''
Prior, your collar is in danger; I will wear it over my gorget in the lists of Ashby-de-la-Zouche.''
``Win it fairly,'' said the Prior, ``and wear it as ye will; I will trust your giving true response, on your word as a knight and as a churchman.
``We must not let it come so far,'' answered the Prior; ``but here is the clown's sunken cross, and the night is so dark that we can hardly see which of the roads we are to follow.
``Thou shalt have both thanks and reward, my friend,'' said the Prior, ``if thou wilt bring us to Cedric's in safety.''
The path soon led deeper into the woodland, and crossed more than one brook, the approach to which was rendered perilous by the marshes through which it flowed; but the stranger seemed to know, as if by instinct, the soundest ground and the safest points of passage; and by dint of caution and attention, brought the party safely into a wilder avenue than any they had yet seen; and, pointing to a large low irregular building at the upper extremity, he said to the Prior,
The Templar would have made an angry reply, but was interrupted by the Prior, who again expressed his astonishment, that their guide, after such long absence, should be so perfectly acquainted with the passes of the forest.
Prior. There seemed even to be something creepy in the fact that he was always respectfully referred to as Mr.
"When some critic or other chose to say that Prior's Park was not a priory, but was named after some quite modern man named Prior, nobody really tested the theory at all.
The well was connected with the miracles of some saint, and the last prior that guarded it was something like a saint himself; certainly he was something very like a martyr.
Prior and a hole in the wall; he found out everything, even to the exact location of the well, and he was rewarded, if being a successful assassin can be regarded as a reward."
