A great archway hung above them, and the lamps shone on the rude wooden gate, studded with ponderous clamps and nails.

In the upper part of the door was a small square iron grating, and through this they could catch a glimpse of the gleam of a lantern and of a bearded face which looked out at them.

De Vivonne, standing in his stirrups, craned his neck up towards the grating, so that the two men most interested could hear little of the conversation which followed.
They saw only that the horseman held a gold ring up in the air, and that the face above, which had begun by shaking and frowning, was now nodding and smiling.

An instant later the head disappeared, the door swung open upon screaming hinges, and the carriage drove on into the courtyard beyond, leaving the escort, with the exception of De Vivonne, outside.
As the horses pulled up, a knot of rough fellows clustered round, and the two prisoners were dragged roughly out.

In the light of the torches which flared around them they could see that they were hemmed in by high turreted walls upon every side.