"I begin to see—but go on," Gees said.
Engrossed in his story, the vicar took no heed of the comment.
"Hugh should not have let that monk escape," he said. "The time was still lawless—Edward Longshanks had not yet come to restore order to England—but this terrible sacrilege was too much for what government there was. A de Vere—one of the family which held the earldom of Oxford and lost the battle of Barnet for Earl Warwick—a de Vere was sent here to call de Boisgeant to account for this and other crimes. He besieged the castle for two months before it fell. He hanged de Boisgeant and every other man who came out from the surrender, broke up the stronghold entirely, but for some reason or other did not damage the keep, which stands as it did when de Boisgeant swung from the top. One man,
