their most earnest intercessions in thy behalf. But for me, I must restore pretty one," nodding his head significantly towards the spot where Eva lay asleep, " to his mistress. It is a matter, not of selfish interest alone, that the loyal page be restored unharmed." " Thou art right," returned Edward " I would not that the charming boy should lose one raven curl for me, though he hath risked his freedom and, perhaps, his life to save me." ^ :4 CHAPTER V. THE DETERMINATION. AFTER the battle of Evesham, in which Edward entirely overthrew the party of the rebel barons, and re-established Henry's throne, Eleanora resided alternately in the palace of Savoy and at "Windsor castle. The care of her three beau-tiful children occupied much of her attention, and in their nurture the streams of her affection deepened and widen-ed, until they embraced all who came within the sphere of her influence. The now charming, but still volatile, Eva occasioned her infinite anxiety. Since the day when Sir Francis had received her from the tall knight, at the ford of the Exe, he had held her by the twofold cord of obligation and the possession of a secret ; and from the first moment he discovered that she was sensitive upon the subject, he had not ceased to use his power to his own advantage. She was thus obliged to treat him with a favor which he ill deserved ; yet such was the natural transparency of her character, that her real senti-ments so often betrayed themselves, as to keep him in a constant state of irritation. Sir Henry de Courtenay, whose sincere and ardent na-ture gave him little taste for mysteries, could not brook the inconsistencies that constantly presented themselves in her manner, and determining that his hand should never be ELEANORA. 875