The young men stood gazing at each other, as though some spell had transformed them into stone.

But the messenger of peace had stayed the uplifted sword, and, sheathing their unstained weapons, they knelt upon the green carpet beneath them, and put forth the same prayer to the same God.
It is a sight that may well command the eyes of Angels, when, though deaf to earthly laws and considerations, the angry heart, in the first heat of its wild career, still stops obedient to the voice of religion.
Amid the dross of human frailty, the pure metal shines with the lustre that surrounds the sinner in the morning of his conversion.
They rose almost together, and their faces, so lately flushed with anger, were now calm and subdued.
"Farewell! Henry de Stramen," said Gilbert, as he leaped into the saddle.
"Farewell!" replied his antagonist, and, almost side by side, they proceeded in the direction of the bell.
A deadly feud was raging between the families of Hers and Stramen.

It had continued for more than twenty years, and now burned with unabated fury.

It originated in some dispute between Gilbert's father and the Lord Robert de Stramen, Henry's uncle, which resulted in the death of the latter.

The Baron of Hers was charged with the murder, and, though he persisted in declaring his innocence, Henry's impetuous father, the Lord Sandrit de Stramen, swore over the dead body of his brother to take a bitter revenge on the Baron of Hers and all his line.