“There is nought that I should like better,” he said, “than to try my strength against that of this false traitor.  But although I have proved my arm against the Saracens, I think not that it is yet strong enough to cope against a man who, whatsoever be his faults, is said to be a valiant knight.  But that would not deter me from attempting the task.  It is craftily done on the part of Sir Rudolph.  He reckons that if I appear he will kill me; that if I do not appear, I shall be branded as a coward, and my claims brought into disrepute.  It may be, too, that it is a mere ruse to discover if I be in the neighbourhood.  Some rumours thereof may have reached him, and he has taken this course to determine upon their truth.  He has gone too far, and honest men will see in the cartel itself a sign that he misdoubts him that my claims are just; for were I, as he says, a Saxon serf, be sure that he would not condescend to meet me in the lists as he proposes.  I trust that the time will come when I may do so.  But, at present, I will submit to his insult rather than imperil the success of our plans, and, what is of far greater importance, the safety and happiness of the Lady Margaret, who, did aught befall me, would assuredly fall into his hands.”

After some thought, however, Cuthbert drew up an answer to the knight’s proclamation.  He did not in this speak in his own name, but wrote as if the document were the work of Cnut.  It was worded as follows:  “I, Cnut, a free Saxon and a leader of bowmen under King Richard in the Holy Land, do hereby pronounce and declare the statements of Sir Rudolph, miscalled the Earl of Evesham, to be false and calumnious.  The earldom was, as Rudolph well knows, and as can be proved by many nobles and gentlemen of repute who were present with King Richard, granted to Sir Cuthbert, King Richard’s true and faithful follower.  When the time shall come, Sir Cuthbert will doubtless be ready to prove his rights.  But at present right has no force in England, and until the coming of our good King Richard must remain in abeyance.  Until then, I support the title of Sir Cuthbert, and do hereby declare Sir Rudolph a false and perjured knight; and warn him that if he falls into my hands it will fare but badly with him, as I know it will fare but badly with me should I come into his.”

At nightfall the cartel of Sir Rudolph was torn down from the church and that of Cnut affixed in its place.  The reading thereof caused great astonishment in Evesham, and the rage of Sir Rudolph, when the news came to his ears, was very great.  Cuthbert was sure that this affair would quicken the intentions of Sir Rudolph with regard to the Lady Margaret, and he received confirmation of this in a letter which the abbess sent him, saying that she had received another missive from Sir Rudolph, authoritatively demanding in the king’s name the instant surrender of Lady Margaret to him.  That night forty archers stole, one by one, quietly into Worcester, entering the town before the gates were shut, and so mingling with the citizens that they were unobserved.  When it was quite dark they quietly took their way, one by one, to the square in which stood the convent, and were admitted into the shop of Master Nicholas, the silk mercer.