Arthur Conan Doyle

“ I see your meaning!" cried Nigel. "It is in your mind that there is a passage under the earth from one to the other."
"I am well sure of it."
"Then if we should take the small fort we may pass down this tunnel, and so carry the great castle also."
"Such a thing might happen," said Simon, "and yet it is dangerous also, for surely those in the castle would hear our assault upon the fort and so be warned to bar the passage against us, and to slay the prisoners before we could come." ”

“ All the hot blood rushed to Nigel's head at the sound, buzzing in his ears and throbbing in his temples. There are times when the fiery heart of a man must overbear the cold brain of a soldier. With one bound he was at the door, with another he was through it, the men-at-arms at his heels. So strange was the scene before them that for an instant all three stood motionless with horror and surprise. ”

“ This evening after the assault I chanced to walk with some of my fellows, round yonder small fort upon the knoll to see if we could spy a weak spot in it. Some of them came to the wall to curse us, and among them whom should I see but a big man with a white face, red hair and a touch of Anthony's fire upon his cheek? What make you of that, Squire Nigel?"
"That this man had crossed from the castle to the fort."
"In good sooth, it must indeed be so. There are not two such ken-speckled men in the world. ”

“ Simon answered; "for it often happens that when a man has lost a sense the good God will strengthen those that remain. Hence it is that Andreas has such ears that he can hear the sap in the trees or the cheep of the mouse in its burrow. He has come to help us to find the tunnel."
"And I have found it," said the blind man proudly. "Here I have placed my staff upon the line of it. Twice as I lay there with my ear to the ground I have heard footsteps pass beneath me."
"I trust you make no mistake, old man," said Nigel. ”

“ The cold points of two daggers pricked his throat; but still he would not speak.
"Where is the blind man?" asked Nigel. "Here, Andreas, you can have him and do what you will with him."
"Nay, nay," the priest whimpered. "Keep him off me. Save me from blind Andreas! I will tell you everything."
"The password then, this instant?"
"It is `Benedicite!'"
"We have the password, Simon," cried Nigel. "Come then, let us on to the farther end. These peasants will guard the priest, and they will remain here lest we wish to send a message." ”

“ Yet so high is the spirit above the body that all was nothing compared to the sorrow and shame which racked his soul.
But a little thing changed the current of his thoughts and brought some peace to his mind. He had slipped off his mail gauntlets, and as he did so his fingers lighted upon the tiny bangle which Mary had fastened there when they stood together upon St. Catharine's Hill on the Guildford Road. He remembered the motto curiously worked in filigree of gold. It ran: "Fais ce que dois, adviegne que pourra—c'est commandé au chevalier." ”

“ But it was from behind the central door at the end of the passage that the chorus of sad cries came which filled the air.
"Simon," said Nigel, "before we go farther we will take this outer door from its hinges. With it we will block this passage so that at the worst we may hold our ground here until help comes. Do you back to the camp as fast as your feet can bear you. The peasants will draw you upward through the hole. Give my greetings to Sir Robert and tell him that the castle is taken without fail if he comes this way with fifty men. ”

“ Do you not see that such a man as this robber lord would, when all else had failed him, most surely cut the throats of his prisoners at the last instant before the castle fell, knowing well that come what might he would have short shrift himself? ”

“ It had gone awry, it is true; but all things human may do that. If he had carried the castle, he felt that Knolles would have forgiven and forgotten all else. If he had not carried it, it was no fault of his. No man could have done more. If Mary could see she would surely have approved. ”