Guy Falconer by Lucy Ellen Guernsey

AS letters were few and far between in those days, when they did come, they were very warmly appreciated. Therefore the arrival of a letter from Master Guy was an event in which the whole population of the Falcon Range felt impelled to manifest singular personal interest. But not being favoured as a body with a survey of such letter, and its contents being issued in small details from divers independent authorities, it was not surprising that, by the time the news it conveyed had circulated from the drawing room to servants' hall, through stables and gardens, round the villages of Falcon Range and Pine-wood End, large farms and small cottages, the original statements were somewhat altered, and scarcely so recognisable as even the grey-bearded man who left the place of his birth a simple stripling.

It must have been with infinite amazement that the recipient of one particular letter heard some days afterwards that the Pope had laid violent hands upon her son, that he had narrowly escaped an auto-da-fé, was rescued by a regiment of black savages, and safely lodged in the land of Luther. The tale might be a predecessor of "The Three Black Crows," but certainly belonged to that family, and the crows had no reason to be ashamed of the relationship. It was an important letter, for after careful perusal thereof, the heads of the mansion solemnly started on an exploring expedition through the whole immediate premises, without communicating its special object to anyone.