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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Men of Iron, by Howard Pyle
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Men of Iron
+
+Author: Howard Pyle
+
+Release Date: February 15, 2006 [EBook #1557]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEN OF IRON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Keller and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+MEN OF IRON
+
+by Howard Pyle
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+The year 1400 opened with more than usual peacefulness in England. Only
+a few months before, Richard II--weak, wicked, and treacherous--had been
+dethroned, and Henry IV declared King in his stead. But it was only a
+seeming peacefulness, lasting but for a little while; for though King
+Henry proved himself a just and a merciful man--as justice and mercy
+went with the men of iron of those days--and though he did not care
+to shed blood needlessly, there were many noble families who had been
+benefited by King Richard during his reign, and who had lost somewhat of
+their power and prestige from the coming in of the new King.
+
+Among these were a number of great lords--the Dukes of Albemarle,
+Surrey, and Exeter, the Marquis of Dorset, the Earl of Gloucester, and
+others--who had been degraded to their former titles and estates, from
+which King Richard had lifted them. These and others brewed a secret
+plot to take King Henry's life, which plot might have succeeded had not
+one of their own number betrayed them.
+
+Their plan had been to fall upon the King and his adherents, and to
+massacre them during a great tournament, to be held at Oxford. But Henry
+did not appear at the lists; whereupon, knowing that he had been lodging
+at Windsor with only a few attendants, the conspirators marched thither
+against him. In the mean time the King had been warned of the plot,
+so that, instead of finding him in the royal castle, they discovered
+through their scouts that he had hurried to London, whence he was
+even then marching against them at the head of a considerable army. So
+nothing was left them but flight. Some betook themselves one way, some
+another; some sought sanctuary here, some there; but one and another,
+they were all of them caught and killed.
+
+The Earl of Kent--one time Duke of Surrey--and the Earl of
+Salisbury were beheaded in the market-place at Cirencester; Lord Le
+Despencer--once the Earl of Gloucester--and Lord Lumley met the same
+fate at Bristol; the Earl of Huntingdon was taken in the Essex fens,
+carried to the castle of the Duke of Gloucester, whom he had betrayed
+to his death in King Richard's time, and was there killed by the castle
+people. Those few who found friends faithful and bold enough to afford
+them shelter, dragged those friends down in their own ruin.
+
+Just such a case was that of the father of the boy hero of this
+story, the blind Lord Gilbert Reginald Falworth, Baron of Falworth and
+Easterbridge, who, though having no part in the plot, suffered through
+it ruin, utter and complete.
+
+He had been a faithful counsellor and adviser to King Richard, and
+perhaps it was this, as much and more than his roundabout connection
+with the plot, that brought upon him the punishment he suffered.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 1
+
+Myles Falworth was but eight years of age at that time, and it was only
+afterwards, and when he grew old enough to know more of the ins and outs
+of the matter, that he could remember by bits and pieces the things that
+afterwards happened; how one evening a knight came clattering into the
+court-yard upon a horse, red-nostrilled and smeared with the sweat and
+foam of a desperate ride--Sir John Dale, a dear friend of the blind
+Lord.
+
+Even though so young, Myles knew that something very serious had
+happened to make Sir John so pale and haggard, and he dimly remembered
+leaning against the knight's iron-covered knees, looking up into his
+gloomy face, and asking him if he was sick to look so strange. Thereupon
+those who had been too troubled before to notice him, bethought
+themselves of him, and sent him to bed, rebellious at having to go so
+early.
+
+He remembered how the next morning, looking out of a window high up
+under the eaves, he saw a great troop of horsemen come riding into the
+courtyard beneath, where a powdering of snow had whitened everything,
+and of how the leader, a knight clad in black armor, dismounted and
+entered the great hall door-way below, followed by several of the band.
+
+He remembered how some of the castle women were standing in a frightened
+group upon the landing of the stairs, talking together in low voices
+about a matter he did not understand, excepting that the armed men who
+had ridden into the courtyard had come for Sir John Dale. None of the
+women paid any attention to him; so, shunning their notice, he ran off
+down the winding stairs, expecting every moment to be called back again
+by some one of them.
+
+A crowd of castle people, all very serious and quiet, were gathered
+in the hall, where a number of strange men-at-arms lounged upon the
+benches, while two billmen in steel caps and leathern jacks stood
+guarding the great door, the butts of their weapons resting upon the
+ground, and the staves crossed, barring the door-way.
+
+In the anteroom was the knight in black armor whom Myles had seen from
+the window. He was sitting at the table, his great helmet lying upon
+the bench beside him, and a quart beaker of spiced wine at his elbow. A
+clerk sat at the other end of the same table, with inkhorn in one hand
+and pen in the other, and a parchment spread in front of him.
+
+Master Robert, the castle steward, stood before the knight, who every
+now and then put to him a question, which the other would answer, and
+the clerk write the answer down upon the parchment.
+
+His father stood with his back to the fireplace, looking down upon the
+floor with his blind eyes, his brows drawn moodily together, and the
+scar of the great wound that he had received at the tournament at
+York--the wound that had made him blind--showing red across his
+forehead, as it always did when he was angered or troubled.
+
+There was something about it all that frightened Myles, who crept to his
+father's side, and slid his little hand into the palm that hung limp and
+inert. In answer to the touch, his father grasped the hand tightly,
+but did not seem otherwise to notice that he was there. Neither did
+the black knight pay any attention to him, but continued putting his
+questions to Master Robert.
+
+Then, suddenly, there was a commotion in the hall without, loud voices,
+and a hurrying here and there. The black knight half arose, grasping a
+heavy iron mace that lay upon the bench beside him, and the next moment
+Sir John Dale himself, as pale as death, walked into the antechamber. He
+stopped in the very middle of the room. "I yield me to my Lord's grace
+and mercy," said he to the black knight, and they were the last words he
+ever uttered in this world.
+
+The black knight shouted out some words of command, and swinging up the
+iron mace in his hand, strode forward clanking towards Sir John, who
+raised his arm as though to shield himself from the blow. Two or three
+of those who stood in the hall without came running into the room with
+drawn swords and bills, and little Myles, crying out with terror, hid
+his face in his father's long gown.
+
+The next instant came the sound of a heavy blow and of a groan, then
+another blow and the sound of one falling upon the ground. Then the
+clashing of steel, and in the midst Lord Falworth crying, in a dreadful
+voice, "Thou traitor! thou coward! thou murderer!"
+
+Master Robert snatched Myles away from his father, and bore him out of
+the room in spite of his screams and struggles, and he remembered just
+one instant's sight of Sir John lying still and silent upon his face,
+and of the black knight standing above him, with the terrible mace in
+his hand stained a dreadful red.
+
+It was the next day that Lord and Lady Falworth and little Myles,
+together with three of the more faithful of their people, left the
+castle.
+
+His memory of past things held a picture for Myles of old Diccon Bowman
+standing over him in the silence of midnight with a lighted lamp in his
+hand, and with it a recollection of being bidden to hush when he would
+have spoken, and of being dressed by Diccon and one of the women,
+bewildered with sleep, shuddering and chattering with cold.
+
+He remembered being wrapped in the sheepskin that lay at the foot of
+his bed, and of being carried in Diccon Bowman's arms down the silent
+darkness of the winding stair-way, with the great black giant shadows
+swaying and flickering upon the stone wall as the dull flame of the lamp
+swayed and flickered in the cold breathing of the night air.
+
+Below were his father and mother and two or three others. A stranger
+stood warming his hands at a newly-made fire, and little Myles, as he
+peeped from out the warm sheepskin, saw that he was in riding-boots and
+was covered with mud. He did not know till long years afterwards that
+the stranger was a messenger sent by a friend at the King's court,
+bidding his father fly for safety.
+
+They who stood there by the red blaze of the fire were all very still,
+talking in whispers and walking on tiptoes, and Myles's mother hugged
+him in her arms, sheepskin and all, kissing him, with the tears
+streaming down her cheeks, and whispering to him, as though he could
+understand their trouble, that they were about to leave their home
+forever.
+
+Then Diccon Bowman carried him out into the strangeness of the winter
+midnight.
+
+Outside, beyond the frozen moat, where the osiers, stood stark and stiff
+in their winter nakedness, was a group of dark figures waiting for them
+with horses. In the pallid moonlight Myles recognized the well-known
+face of Father Edward, the Prior of St. Mary's.
+
+After that came a long ride through that silent night upon the
+saddle-bow in front of Diccon Bowman; then a deep, heavy sleep, that
+fell upon him in spite of the galloping of the horses.
+
+When next he woke the sun was shining, and his home and his whole life
+were changed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 2
+
+From the time the family escaped from Falworth Castle that midwinter
+night to the time Myles was sixteen years old he knew nothing of the
+great world beyond Crosbey-Dale. A fair was held twice in a twelvemonth
+at the market-town of Wisebey, and three times in the seven years old
+Diccon Bowman took the lad to see the sights at that place. Beyond these
+three glimpses of the outer world he lived almost as secluded a life as
+one of the neighboring monks of St. Mary's Priory.
+
+Crosbey-Holt, their new home, was different enough from Falworth or
+Easterbridge Castle, the former baronial seats of Lord Falworth. It was
+a long, low, straw-thatched farm-house, once, when the church lands were
+divided into two holdings, one of the bailiff's houses. All around were
+the fruitful farms of the priory, tilled by well-to-do tenant holders,
+and rich with fields of waving grain, and meadow-lands where sheep and
+cattle grazed in flocks and herds; for in those days the church lands
+were under church rule, and were governed by church laws, and there,
+when war and famine and waste and sloth blighted the outside world,
+harvests flourished and were gathered, and sheep were sheared and cows
+were milked in peace and quietness.
+
+The Prior of St. Mary's owed much if not all of the church's prosperity
+to the blind Lord Falworth, and now he was paying it back with a haven
+of refuge from the ruin that his former patron had brought upon himself
+by giving shelter to Sir John Dale.
+
+I fancy that most boys do not love the grinding of school life--the
+lessons to be conned, the close application during study hours. It is
+not often pleasant to brisk, lively lads to be so cooped up. I wonder
+what the boys of to-day would have thought of Myles's training. With him
+that training was not only of the mind, but of the body as well, and for
+seven years it was almost unremitting. "Thou hast thine own way to
+make in the world, sirrah," his father said more than once when the boy
+complained of the grinding hardness of his life, and to make one's way
+in those days meant a thousand times more than it does now; it meant not
+only a heart to feel and a brain to think, but a hand quick and strong
+to strike in battle, and a body tough to endure the wounds and blows in
+return. And so it was that Myles's body as well as his mind had to be
+trained to meet the needs of the dark age in which he lived.
+
+Every morning, winter or summer, rain or shine he tramped away six long
+miles to the priory school, and in the evenings his mother taught him
+French.
+
+Myles, being prejudiced in the school of thought of his day, rebelled
+not a little at that last branch of his studies. "Why must I learn that
+vile tongue?" said he.
+
+"Call it not vile," said the blind old Lord, grimly; "belike, when thou
+art grown a man, thou'lt have to seek thy fortune in France land, for
+England is haply no place for such as be of Falworth blood." And in
+after-years, true to his father's prediction, the "vile tongue" served
+him well.
+
+As for his physical training, that pretty well filled up the hours
+between his morning studies at the monastery and his evening studies
+at home. Then it was that old Diccon Bowman took him in hand, than whom
+none could be better fitted to shape his young body to strength and his
+hands to skill in arms. The old bowman had served with Lord Falworth's
+father under the Black Prince both in France and Spain, and in long
+years of war had gained a practical knowledge of arms that few could
+surpass. Besides the use of the broadsword, the short sword, the
+quarter-staff, and the cudgel, he taught Myles to shoot so skilfully
+with the long-bow and the cross-bow that not a lad in the country-side
+was his match at the village butts. Attack and defence with the lance,
+and throwing the knife and dagger were also part of his training.
+
+Then, in addition to this more regular part of his physical training,
+Myles was taught in another branch not so often included in the military
+education of the day--the art of wrestling. It happened that a fellow
+lived in Crosbey village, by name Ralph-the-Smith, who was the greatest
+wrestler in the country-side, and had worn the champion belt for three
+years. Every Sunday afternoon, in fair weather, he came to teach Myles
+the art, and being wonderfully adept in bodily feats, he soon grew so
+quick and active and firm-footed that he could cast any lad under twenty
+years of age living within a range of five miles.
+
+"It is main ungentle armscraft that he learneth," said Lord Falworth one
+day to Prior Edward. "Saving only the broadsword, the dagger, and the
+lance, there is but little that a gentleman of his strain may use.
+Neth'less, he gaineth quickness and suppleness, and if he hath true
+blood in his veins he will acquire knightly arts shrewdly quick when the
+time cometh to learn them."
+
+But hard and grinding as Myles's life was, it was not entirely without
+pleasures. There were many boys living in Crosbey-Dale and the village;
+yeomen's and farmers' sons, to be sure, but, nevertheless, lads of his
+own age, and that, after all, is the main requirement for friendship in
+boyhood's world. Then there was the river to bathe in; there were the
+hills and valleys to roam over, and the wold and woodland, with their
+wealth of nuts and birds'-nests and what not of boyhood's treasures.
+
+Once he gained a triumph that for many a day was very sweet under the
+tongue of his memory. As was said before, he had been three times to the
+market-town at fair-time, and upon the last of these occasions he had
+fought a bout of quarterstaff with a young fellow of twenty, and had
+been the conqueror. He was then only a little over fourteen years old.
+
+Old Diccon, who had gone with him to the fair, had met some cronies of
+his own, with whom he had sat gossiping in the ale-booth, leaving Myles
+for the nonce to shift for himself. By-and-by the old man had noticed
+a crowd gathered at one part of the fair-ground, and, snuffing a fight,
+had gone running, ale-pot in hand. Then, peering over the shoulders of
+the crowd, he had seen his young master, stripped to the waist, fighting
+like a gladiator with a fellow a head taller than himself. Diccon was
+about to force his way through the crowd and drag them asunder, but a
+second look had showed his practised eye that Myles was not only holding
+his own, but was in the way of winning the victory. So he had stood with
+the others looking on, withholding himself from any interference and
+whatever upbraiding might be necessary until the fight had been brought
+to a triumphant close. Lord Falworth never heard directly of the
+redoubtable affair, but old Diccon was not so silent with the common
+folk of Crosbey-Dale, and so no doubt the father had some inkling of
+what had happened. It was shortly after this notable event that Myles
+was formally initiated into squirehood. His father and mother, as was
+the custom, stood sponsors for him. By them, each bearing a lighted
+taper, he was escorted to the altar. It was at St. Mary's Priory, and
+Prior Edward blessed the sword and girded it to the lad's side. No
+one was present but the four, and when the good Prior had given the
+benediction and had signed the cross upon his forehead, Myles's mother
+stooped and kissed his brow just where the priest's finger had drawn the
+holy sign. Her eyes brimmed bright with tears as she did so. Poor
+lady! perhaps she only then and for the first time realized how big her
+fledgling was growing for his nest. Henceforth Myles had the right to
+wear a sword.
+
+
+Myles had ended his fifteenth year. He was a bonny lad, with brown face,
+curling hair, a square, strong chin, and a pair of merry laughing
+blue eyes; his shoulders were broad; his chest was thick of girth; his
+muscles and thews were as tough as oak.
+
+The day upon which he was sixteen years old, as he came whistling home
+from the monastery school he was met by Diccon Bowman.
+
+"Master Myles," said the old man, with a snuffle in his voice--"Master
+Myles, thy father would see thee in his chamber, and bade me send thee
+to him as soon as thou didst come home. Oh, Master Myles, I fear me that
+belike thou art going to leave home to-morrow day."
+
+Myles stopped short. "To leave home!" he cried.
+
+"Aye," said old Diccon, "belike thou goest to some grand castle to
+live there, and be a page there and what not, and then, haply, a
+gentleman-at-arms in some great lord's pay."
+
+"What coil is this about castles and lords and gentlemen-at-arms?" said
+Myles. "What talkest thou of, Diccon? Art thou jesting?"
+
+"Nay," said Diccon, "I am not jesting. But go to thy father, and then
+thou wilt presently know all. Only this I do say, that it is like thou
+leavest us to-morrow day."
+
+And so it was as Diccon had said; Myles was to leave home the very
+next morning. He found his father and mother and Prior Edward together,
+waiting for his coming.
+
+"We three have been talking it over this morning," said his father, "and
+so think each one that the time hath come for thee to quit this poor
+home of ours. An thou stay here ten years longer, thou'lt be no more fit
+to go then than now. To-morrow I will give thee a letter to my kinsman,
+the Earl of Mackworth. He has thriven in these days and I have fallen
+away, but time was that he and I were true sworn companions, and
+plighted together in friendship never to be sundered. Methinks, as I
+remember him, he will abide by his plighted troth, and will give thee
+his aid to rise in the world. So, as I said, to-morrow morning thou
+shalt set forth with Diccon Bowman, and shall go to Castle Devlen, and
+there deliver this letter which prayeth him to give thee a place in his
+household. Thou mayst have this afternoon to thyself to make read such
+things as thou shalt take with thee. And bid me Diccon to take the gray
+horse to the village and have it shod."
+
+Prior Edward had been standing looking out of the window. As Lord
+Falworth ended he turned.
+
+"And, Myles," said he, "thou wilt need some money, so I will give thee
+as a loan forty shillings, which some day thou mayst return to me an
+thou wilt. For this know, Myles, a man cannot do in the world without
+money. Thy father hath it ready for thee in the chest, and will give it
+thee to-morrow ere thou goest."
+
+Lord Falworth had the grim strength of manhood's hard sense to upbear
+him in sending his son into the world, but the poor lady mother had
+nothing of that to uphold her. No doubt it was as hard then as it is
+now for the mother to see the nestling thrust from the nest to shift for
+itself. What tears were shed, what words of love were spoken to the only
+man-child, none but the mother and the son ever knew.
+
+The next morning Myles and the old bowman rode away, and no doubt to
+the boy himself the dark shadows of leave-taking were lost in the golden
+light of hope as he rode out into the great world to seek his fortune.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 3
+
+WHAT MYLES remembered of Falworth loomed great and grand and big, as
+things do in the memory of childhood, but even memory could not make
+Falworth the equal of Devlen Castle, when, as he and Diccon Bowman rode
+out of Devlentown across the great, rude stone bridge that spanned the
+river, he first saw, rising above the crowns of the trees, those
+huge hoary walls, and the steep roofs and chimneys clustered thickly
+together, like the roofs and chimneys of a town.
+
+The castle was built upon a plateau-like rise of ground, which was
+enclosed by the outer wall. It was surrounded on three sides by a
+loop-like bend of the river, and on the fourth was protected by a deep,
+broad, artificial moat, almost as wide as the stream from which it was
+fed. The road from the town wound for a little distance along by the
+edge of this moat. As Myles and the old bowman galloped by, with the
+answering echo of their horses' hoof-beats rattling back from the smooth
+stone face of the walls, the lad looked up, wondering at the height and
+strength of the great ancient fortress. In his air-castle building Myles
+had pictured the Earl receiving him as the son of his one-time comrade
+in arms--receiving him, perhaps, with somewhat of the rustic warmth that
+he knew at Crosbey-Dale; but now, as he stared at those massive walls
+from below, and realized his own insignificance and the greatness of
+this great Earl, he felt the first keen, helpless ache of homesickness
+shoot through his breast, and his heart yearned for Crosbey-Holt again.
+
+Then they thundered across the bridge that spanned the moat, and through
+the dark shadows of the great gaping gate-way, and Diccon, bidding him
+stay for a moment, rode forward to bespeak the gate-keeper.
+
+The gate-keeper gave the two in charge of one of the men-at-arms who
+were lounging upon a bench in the archway, who in turn gave them into
+the care of one of the house-servants in the outer court-yard. So,
+having been passed from one to another, and having answered many
+questions, Myles in due time found himself in the outer waiting-room
+sitting beside Diccon Bowman upon a wooden bench that stood along the
+wall under the great arch of a glazed window.
+
+For a while the poor country lad sat stupidly bewildered. He was aware
+of people coming and going; he was aware of talk and laughter sounding
+around him; but he thought of nothing but his aching homesickness and
+the oppression of his utter littleness in the busy life of this great
+castle.
+
+Meantime old Diccon Bowman was staring about him with huge interest,
+every now and then nudging his young master, calling his attention now
+to this and now to that, until at last the lad began to awaken somewhat
+from his despondency to the things around. Besides those servants and
+others who came and went, and a knot of six or eight men-at-arms with
+bills and pole-axes, who stood at the farther door-way talking together
+in low tones, now and then broken by a stifled laugh, was a group of
+four young squires, who lounged upon a bench beside a door-way hidden by
+an arras, and upon them Myles's eyes lit with a sudden interest. Three
+of the four were about his own age, one was a year or two older, and
+all four were dressed in the black-and-yellow uniform of the house of
+Beaumont.
+
+Myles plucked the bowman by the sleeve. "Be they squires, Diccon?" said
+he, nodding towards the door.
+
+"Eh?" said Diccon. "Aye; they be squires."
+
+"And will my station be with them?" asked the boy.
+
+"Aye; an the Earl take thee to service, thou'lt haply be taken as
+squire."
+
+Myles stared at them, and then of a sudden was aware that the young men
+were talking of him. He knew it by the way they eyed him askance, and
+spoke now and then in one another's ears. One of the four, a gay young
+fellow, with long riding-boots laced with green laces, said a few words,
+the others gave a laugh, and poor Myles, knowing how ungainly he must
+seem to them, felt the blood rush to his cheeks, and shyly turned his
+head.
+
+Suddenly, as though stirred by an impulse, the same lad who had just
+created the laugh arose from the bench, and came directly across the
+room to where Myles and the bowman sat.
+
+"Give thee good-den," said he. "What be'st thy name and whence comest
+thou, an I may make bold so to ask?"
+
+"My name is Myles Falworth," said Myles; "and I come from Crosbey-Dale
+bearing a letter to my Lord."
+
+"Never did I hear of Crosbey-Dale," said the squire. "But what seekest
+here, if so be I may ask that much?"
+
+"I come seeking service," said Myles, "and would enter as an esquire
+such as ye be in my Lord's household."
+
+Myles's new acquaintance grinned. "Thou'lt make a droll squire to wait
+in a Lord's household," said he. "Hast ever been in such service?"
+
+"Nay," said Myles, "I have only been at school, and learned Latin and
+French and what not. But Diccon Bowman here hath taught me use of arms."
+
+The young squire laughed outright. "By'r Lady, thy talk doth tickle
+me, friend Myles," said he. "Think'st thou such matters will gain thee
+footing here? But stay! Thou didst say anon that thou hadst a letter to
+my Lord. From whom is it?"
+
+"It is from my father," said Myles. "He is of noble blood, but fallen in
+estate. He is a kinsman of my Lord's, and one time his comrade in arms."
+
+"Sayst so?" said the other. "Then mayhap thy chances are not so
+ill, after all." Then, after a moment, he added: "My name is Francis
+Gascoyne, and I will stand thy friend in this matter. Get thy letter
+ready, for my Lord and his Grace of York are within and come forth anon.
+The Archbishop is on his way to Dalworth, and my Lord escorts him so far
+as Uppingham. I and those others are to go along. Dost thou know my Lord
+by sight?"
+
+"Nay," said Myles, "I know him not."
+
+"Then I will tell thee when he cometh. Listen!" said he, as a confused
+clattering sounded in the court-yard without. "Yonder are the horses
+now. They come presently. Busk thee with thy letter, friend Myles."
+
+The attendants who passed through the anteroom now came and went more
+hurriedly, and Myles knew that the Earl must be about to come forth.
+He had hardly time to untie his pouch, take out the letter, and tie the
+strings again when the arras at the door-way was thrust suddenly aside,
+and a tall thin squire of about twenty came forth, said some words to
+the young men upon the bench, and then withdrew again. Instantly the
+squires arose and took their station beside the door-way. A sudden hush
+fell upon all in the room, and the men-at-arms stood in a line against
+the wall, stiff and erect as though all at once transformed to figures
+of iron. Once more the arras was drawn back, and in the hush Myles heard
+voices in the other room.
+
+"My Lord cometh," whispered Gascoyne in his ear, and Myles felt his
+heart leap in answer.
+
+The next moment two noblemen came into the anteroom followed by a crowd
+of gentlemen, squires, and pages. One of the two was a dignitary of the
+Church; the other Myles instantly singled out as the Earl of Mackworth.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 4
+
+He was a tall man, taller even than Myles's father. He had a thin
+face, deep-set bushy eyebrows, and a hawk nose. His upper lip was clean
+shaven, but from his chin a flowing beard of iron-gray hung nearly to
+his waist. He was clad in a riding-gown of black velvet that hung a
+little lower than the knee, trimmed with otter fur and embroidered with
+silver goshawks--the crest of the family of Beaumont.
+
+A light shirt of link mail showed beneath the gown as he walked, and a
+pair of soft undressed leather riding-boots were laced as high as the
+knee, protecting his scarlet hose from mud and dirt. Over his shoulders
+he wore a collar of enamelled gold, from which hung a magnificent
+jewelled pendant, and upon his fist he carried a beautiful Iceland
+falcon.
+
+As Myles stood staring, he suddenly heard Gascoyne's voice whisper in
+his ear, "Yon is my Lord; go forward and give him thy letter."
+
+Scarcely knowing what he did, he walked towards the Earl like a machine,
+his heart pounding within him and a great humming in his ears. As he
+drew near, the nobleman stopped for a moment and stared at him, and
+Myles, as in a dream, kneeled, and presented the letter. The Earl took
+it in his hand, turned it this way and that, looked first at the bearer,
+then at the packet, and then at the bearer again.
+
+"Who art thou?" said he; "and what is the matter thou wouldst have of
+me?"
+
+"I am Myles Falworth," said the lad, in a low voice; "and I come seeking
+service with you."
+
+The Earl drew his thick eyebrows quickly together, and shot a keen
+look at the lad. "Falworth?" said he, sharply--"Falworth? I know no
+Falworth!"
+
+"The letter will tell you," said Myles. "It is from one once dear to
+you."
+
+The Earl took the letter, and handing it to a gentleman who stood near,
+bade him break the seal. "Thou mayst stand," said he to Myles; "needst
+not kneel there forever." Then, taking the opened parchment again, he
+glanced first at the face and then at the back, and, seeing its length,
+looked vexed. Then he read for an earnest moment or two, skipping from
+line to line. Presently he folded the letter and thrust it into the
+pouch at his side. "So it is, your Grace," said he to the lordly
+prelate, "that we who have luck to rise in the world must ever suffer by
+being plagued at all times and seasons. Here is one I chanced to know a
+dozen years ago, who thinks he hath a claim upon me, and saddles me
+with his son. I must e'en take the lad, too, for the sake of peace and
+quietness." He glanced around, and seeing Gascoyne, who had drawn near,
+beckoned to him. "Take me this fellow," said he, "to the buttery, and
+see him fed; and then to Sir James Lee, and have his name entered in the
+castle books. And stay, sirrah," he added; "bid me Sir James, if it may
+be so done, to enter him as a squire-at-arms. Methinks he will be better
+serving so than in the household, for he appeareth a soothly rough cub
+for a page."
+
+Myles did look rustic enough, standing clad in frieze in the midst of
+that gay company, and a murmur of laughter sounded around, though he
+was too bewildered to fully understand that he was the cause of the
+merriment. Then some hand drew him back--it was Gascoyne's--there was a
+bustle of people passing, and the next minute they were gone, and
+Myles and old Diccon Bowman and the young squire were left alone in the
+anteroom.
+
+Gascoyne looked very sour and put out. "Murrain upon it!" said he; "here
+is good sport spoiled for me to see thee fed. I wish no ill to thee,
+friend, but I would thou hadst come this afternoon or to-morrow."
+
+"Methinks I bring trouble and dole to every one," said Myles, somewhat
+bitterly. "It would have been better had I never come to this place,
+methinks."
+
+His words and tone softened Gascoyne a little. "Ne'er mind," said the
+squire; "it was not thy fault, and is past mending now. So come and fill
+thy stomach, in Heaven's name."
+
+Perhaps not the least hard part of the whole trying day for Myles
+was his parting with Diccon. Gascoyne and he had accompanied the old
+retainer to the outer gate, in the archway of which they now stood; for
+without a permit they could go no farther. The old bowman led by the
+bridle-rein the horse upon which Myles had ridden that morning. His own
+nag, a vicious brute, was restive to be gone, but Diccon held him in
+with tight rein. He reached down, and took Myles's sturdy brown hand in
+his crooked, knotted grasp.
+
+"Farewell, young master," he croaked, tremulously, with a watery glimmer
+in his pale eyes. "Thou wilt not forget me when I am gone?"
+
+"Nay," said Myles; "I will not forget thee."
+
+"Aye, aye," said the old man, looking down at him, and shaking his head
+slowly from side to side; "thou art a great tall sturdy fellow now, yet
+have I held thee on my knee many and many's the time, and dandled thee
+when thou wert only a little weeny babe. Be still, thou devil's limb!"
+he suddenly broke off, reining back his restive raw-boned steed,
+which began again to caper and prance. Myles was not sorry for the
+interruption; he felt awkward and abashed at the parting, and at the old
+man's reminiscences, knowing that Gascoyne's eyes were resting amusedly
+upon the scene, and that the men-at-arms were looking on. Certainly
+old Diccon did look droll as he struggled vainly with his vicious
+high-necked nag. "Nay, a murrain on thee! an' thou wilt go, go!" cried
+he at last, with a savage dig of his heels into the animal's ribs,
+and away they clattered, the led-horse kicking up its heels as a final
+parting, setting Gascoyne fairly alaughing. At the bend of the road the
+old man turned and nodded his head; the next moment he had disappeared
+around the angle of the wall, and it seemed to Myles, as he stood
+looking after him, as though the last thread that bound him to his
+old life had snapped and broken. As he turned he saw that Gascoyne was
+looking at him.
+
+"Dost feel downhearted?" said the young squire, curiously.
+
+"Nay," said Myles, brusquely. Nevertheless his throat was tight and dry,
+and the word came huskily in spite of himself.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 5
+
+THE EARL of Mackworth, as was customary among the great lords in those
+days, maintained a small army of knights, gentlemen, men-at-arms, and
+retainers, who were expected to serve him upon all occasions of need,
+and from whom were supplied his quota of recruits to fill such levies as
+might be made upon him by the King in time of war.
+
+The knights and gentlemen of this little army of horse and foot soldiers
+were largely recruited from the company of squires and bachelors, as the
+young novitiate soldiers of the castle were called.
+
+This company of esquires consisted of from eighty to ninety lads,
+ranging in age from eight to twenty years. Those under fourteen years
+were termed pages, and served chiefly the Countess and her waiting
+gentlewomen, in whose company they acquired the graces and polish of the
+times, such as they were. After reaching the age of fourteen the lads
+were entitled to the name of esquire or squire.
+
+In most of the great houses of the time the esquires were the especial
+attendants upon the Lord and Lady of the house, holding such positions
+as body-squires, cup-bearers, carvers, and sometimes the office of
+chamberlain. But Devlen, like some other of the princely castles of the
+greatest nobles, was more like a military post or a fortress than an
+ordinary household. Only comparatively few of the esquires could be
+used in personal attendance upon the Earl; the others were trained
+more strictly in arms, and served rather in the capacity of a sort of
+body-guard than as ordinary squires. For, as the Earl rose in power and
+influence, and as it so became well worth while for the lower nobility
+and gentry to enter their sons in his family, the body of squires became
+almost cumbersomely large. Accordingly, that part which comprised the
+squires proper, as separate from the younger pages, was divided into
+three classes--first, squires of the body, who were those just past
+pagehood, and who waited upon the Earl in personal service; second,
+squires of the household, who, having regular hours assigned for
+exercise in the manual of arms, were relieved from personal service
+excepting upon especial occasions; and thirdly and lastly, at the head
+of the whole body of lads, a class called bachelors--young men ranging
+from eighteen to twenty years of age. This class was supposed to
+exercise a sort of government over the other and younger squires--to
+keep them in order as much as possible, to marshal them upon occasions
+of importance, to see that their arms and equipments were kept in good
+order, to call the roll for chapel in the morning, and to see that those
+not upon duty in the house were present at the daily exercise at arms.
+Orders to the squires were generally transmitted through the bachelors,
+and the head of that body was expected to make weekly reports of affairs
+in their quarters to the chief captain of the body.
+
+From this overlordship of the bachelors there had gradually risen a
+system of fagging, such as is or was practised in the great English
+public schools--enforced services exacted from the younger lads--which
+at the time Myles came to Devlen had, in the five or six years it had
+been in practice, grown to be an absolute though unwritten law of the
+body--a law supported by all the prestige of long-continued usage. At
+that time the bachelors numbered but thirteen, yet they exercised over
+the rest of the sixty-four squires and pages a rule of iron, and were
+taskmasters, hard, exacting, and oftentimes cruel.
+
+The whole company of squires and pages was under the supreme command of
+a certain one-eyed knight, by name Sir James Lee; a soldier seasoned by
+the fire of a dozen battles, bearing a score of wounds won in fight and
+tourney, and withered by hardship and labor to a leather-like toughness.
+He had fought upon the King's side in all the late wars, and had at
+Shrewsbury received a wound that unfitted him for active service, so
+that now he was fallen to the post of Captain of Esquires at Devlen
+Castle--a man disappointed in life, and with a temper imbittered by that
+failure as well as by cankering pain.
+
+Yet Perhaps no one could have been better fitted for the place he held
+than Sir James Lee. The lads under his charge were a rude, rough, unruly
+set, quick, like their elders, to quarrel, and to quarrel fiercely, even
+to the drawing of sword or dagger. But there was a cold, iron sternness
+about the grim old man that quelled them, as the trainer with a lash of
+steel might quell a den of young wolves. The apartments in which he was
+lodged, with his clerk, were next in the dormitory of the lads, and
+even in the midst of the most excited brawlings the distant sound of his
+harsh voice, "Silence, messieurs!" would bring an instant hush to the
+loudest uproar.
+
+It was into his grim presence that Myles was introduced by Gascoyne.
+Sir James was in his office, a room bare of ornament or adornment or
+superfluous comfort of any sort--without even so much as a mat of rushes
+upon the cold stone pavement to make it less cheerless. The old one-eyed
+knight sat gnawing his bristling mustaches. To anyone who knew him it
+would have been apparent that, as the castle phrase went, "the devil sat
+astride of his neck," which meant that some one of his blind wounds was
+aching more sorely than usual.
+
+His clerk sat beside him, with account-books and parchment spread upon
+the table, and the head squire, Walter Blunt, a lad some three or four
+years older than Myles, and half a head taller, black-browed, powerfully
+built, and with cheek and chin darkened by the soft budding of his
+adolescent beard, stood making his report.
+
+Sir James listened in grim silence while Gascoyne told his errand.
+
+"So, then, pardee, I am bid to take another one of ye, am I?" he
+snarled. "As though ye caused me not trouble enow; and this one a cub,
+looking a very boor in carriage and breeding. Mayhap the Earl thinketh I
+am to train boys to his dilly-dally household service as well as to use
+of arms."
+
+"Sir," said Gascoyne, timidly, "my Lord sayeth he would have this one
+entered direct as a squire of the body, so that he need not serve in the
+household."
+
+"Sayest so?" cried Sir James, harshly. "Then take thou my message back
+again to thy Lord. Not for Mackworth--no, nor a better man than he--will
+I make any changes in my government. An I be set to rule a pack of boys,
+I will rule them as I list, and not according to any man's bidding.
+Tell him, sirrah, that I will enter no lad as squire of the body without
+first testing an he be fit at arms to hold that place." He sat for a
+while glowering at Myles and gnawing his mustaches, and for the time
+no one dared to break the grim silence. "What is thy name?" said he,
+suddenly. And then, almost before Myles could answer, he asked the head
+squire whether he could find a place to lodge him.
+
+"There is Gillis Whitlock's cot empty," said Blunt. "He is in the
+infirmary, and belike goeth home again when he cometh thence. The fever
+hath gotten into his bones, and--"
+
+"That will do," said the knight, interrupting him impatiently. "Let him
+take that place, or any other that thou hast. And thou, Jerome," said he
+to his clerk, "thou mayst enter him upon the roll, though whether it be
+as page or squire or bachelor shall be as I please, and not as Mackworth
+biddeth me. Now get ye gone."
+
+"Old Bruin's wound smarteth him sore," Gascoyne observed, as the two
+lads walked across the armory court. He had good-naturedly offered to
+show the new-comer the many sights of interest around the castle, and in
+the hour or so of ramble that followed, the two grew from acquaintances
+to friends with a quickness that boyhood alone can bring about. They
+visited the armory, the chapel, the stables, the great hall, the Painted
+Chamber, the guard-house, the mess-room, and even the scullery and the
+kitchen, with its great range of boilers and furnaces and ovens. Last of
+all Myles's new friend introduced him to the armor-smithy.
+
+"My Lord hath sent a piece of Milan armor thither to be repaired," said
+he. "Belike thou would like to see it."
+
+"Aye," said Myles, eagerly, "that would I."
+
+The smith was a gruff, good-natured fellow, and showed the piece of
+armor to Myles readily and willingly enough. It was a beautiful bascinet
+of inlaid workmanship, and was edged with a rim of gold. Myles scarcely
+dared touch it; he gazed at it with an unconcealed delight that warmed
+the smith's honest heart.
+
+"I have another piece of Milan here," said he. "Did I ever show thee my
+dagger, Master Gascoyne?"
+
+"Nay," said the squire.
+
+The smith unlocked a great oaken chest in the corner of the shop, lifted
+the lid, and brought thence a beautiful dagger with the handle of ebony
+and silver-gilt, and a sheath of Spanish leather, embossed and gilt.
+The keen, well-tempered blade was beautifully engraved and inlaid
+with niello-work, representing a group of figures in a then popular
+subject--the dance of Death. It was a weapon at once unique and
+beautiful, and even Gascoyne showed an admiration scarcely less keen
+than Myles's openly-expressed delight.
+
+"To whom doth it belong?" said he, trying the point upon his thumb nail.
+
+"There," said the smith, "is the jest of the whole, for it belongeth
+to me. Sir William Beauclerk bade me order the weapon through Master
+Gildersworthy, of London town, and by the time it came hither, lo! he
+had died, and so it fell to my hands. No one here payeth the price for
+the trinket, and so I must e'en keep it myself, though I be but a poor
+man."
+
+"How much dost thou hold it for?" said Gascoyne.
+
+"Seventeen shillings buyeth it," said the armorer, carelessly.
+
+"Aye, aye," said Gascoyne, with a sigh; "so it is to be poor, and not be
+able to have such things as one loveth and would fain possess. Seventeen
+shillings is nigh as much by half again as all my yearly wage."
+
+Then a sudden thought came to Myles, and as it came his cheeks glowed
+as hot as fire "Master Gascoyne," said he, with gruff awkwardness,
+"thou hast been a very good, true friend to me since I have come to this
+place, and hast befriended me in all ways thou mightest do, and I, as
+well I know, but a poor rustic clod. Now I have forty shillings by me
+which I may spend as I list, and so I do beseech thee that thou wilt
+take yon dagger of me as a love-gift, and have and hold it for thy very
+own."
+
+Gascoyne stared open-mouthed at Myles. "Dost mean it?" said he, at last.
+
+"Aye," said Myles, "I do mean it. Master Smith, give him the blade."
+
+At first the smith grinned, thinking it all a jest; but he soon saw that
+Myles was serious enough, and when the seventeen shillings were produced
+and counted down upon the anvil, he took off his cap and made Myles a
+low bow as he swept them into his pouch. "Now, by my faith and troth,"
+quoth he, "that I do call a true lordly gift. Is it not so, Master
+Gascoyne?"
+
+"Aye," said Gascoyne, with a gulp, "it is, in soothly earnest." And
+thereupon, to Myles's great wonderment, he suddenly flung his arms about
+his neck, and, giving him a great hug, kissed him upon the cheek. "Dear
+Myles," said he, "I tell thee truly and of a verity I did feel warm
+towards thee from the very first time I saw thee sitting like a poor oaf
+upon the bench up yonder in the anteroom, and now of a sooth I give thee
+assurance that I do love thee as my own brother. Yea, I will take the
+dagger, and will stand by thee as a true friend from this time forth.
+Mayhap thou mayst need a true friend in this place ere thou livest long
+with us, for some of us esquires be soothly rough, and knocks are more
+plenty here than broad pennies, so that one new come is like to have a
+hard time gaining a footing."
+
+"I thank thee," said Myles, "for thy offer of love and friendship, and
+do tell thee, upon my part, that I also of all the world would like best
+to have thee for my friend."
+
+Such was the manner In which Myles formed the first great friendship of
+his life, a friendship that was destined to last him through many years
+to come. As the two walked back across the great quadrangle, upon which
+fronted the main buildings of the castle, their arms were wound across
+one another's shoulders, after the manner, as a certain great writer
+says, of boys and lovers.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 6
+
+A boy's life is of a very flexible sort. It takes but a little while for
+it to shape itself to any new surroundings in which it may be thrown, to
+make itself new friends, to settle itself to new habits; and so it was
+that Myles fell directly into the ways of the lads of Devlen. On his
+first morning, as he washed his face and hands with the other squires
+and pages in a great tank of water in the armory court-yard, he
+presently found himself splashing and dashing with the others, laughing
+and shouting as loud as any, and calling some by their Christian names
+as though he had known them for years instead of overnight. During
+chapel he watched with sympathetic delight the covert pranks of the
+youngsters during the half-hour that Father Emmanuel droned his Latin,
+and with his dagger point he carved his own name among the many cut
+deep into the back of the bench before him. When, after breakfast, the
+squires poured like school-boys into the great armory to answer to the
+roll-call for daily exercise, he came storming in with the rest, beating
+the lad in front of him with his cap.
+
+Boys are very keen to feel the influence of a forceful character. A lad
+with a strong will is quick to reach his proper level as a greater or
+lesser leader among the others, and Myles was of just the masterful
+nature to make his individuality felt among the Devlen squires. He was
+quick enough to yield obedience upon all occasions to proper authority,
+but would never bend an inch to the usurpation of tyranny. In the school
+at St. Mary's Priory at Crosbey-Dale he would submit without a murmur or
+offer of resistance to chastisement by old Father Ambrose, the
+regular teacher; but once, when the fat old monk was sick, and a great
+long-legged strapping young friar, who had temporarily taken his place,
+undertook to administer punishment, Myles, with a wrestling trip, flung
+him sprawling backward over a bench into the midst of a shoal of small
+boys amid a hubbub of riotous confusion. He had been flogged soundly
+for it under the supervision of Prior Edward himself; but so soon as
+his punishment was over, he assured the prior very seriously that should
+like occasion again happen he would act in the same manner, flogging or
+no flogging.
+
+It was this bold, outspoken spirit that gained him at once friends and
+enemies at Devlen, and though it first showed itself in what was but a
+little matter, nevertheless it set a mark upon him that singled him out
+from the rest, and, although he did not suspect it at the time, called
+to him the attention of Sir James Lee himself, who regarded him as a lad
+of free and frank spirit.
+
+The first morning after the roll-call in the armory, as Walter Blunt,
+the head bachelor, rolled up the slip of parchment, and the temporary
+silence burst forth into redoubled noise and confusion, each lad arming
+himself from a row of racks that stood along the wall, he beckoned Myles
+to him.
+
+"My Lord himself hath spoken to Sir James Lee concerning thee," said he.
+"Sir James maintaineth that he will not enter thee into the body till
+thou hast first practised for a while at the pels, and shown what thou
+canst do at broadsword. Hast ever fought at the pel?"
+
+"Aye," answered Myles, "and that every day of my life sin I became
+esquire four years ago, saving only Sundays and holy days."
+
+"With shield and broadsword?"
+
+"Sometimes," said Myles, "and sometimes with the short sword."
+
+"Sir James would have thee come to the tilt-yard this morn; he himself
+will take thee in hand to try what thou canst do. Thou mayst take the
+arms upon yonder rack, and use them until otherwise bidden. Thou seest
+that the number painted above it on the wall is seventeen; that will be
+thy number for the nonce."
+
+So Myles armed himself from his rack as the others were doing from
+theirs. The armor was rude and heavy, used to accustom the body to the
+weight of the iron plates rather than for any defence. It consisted of
+a cuirass, or breastplate of iron, opening at the side with hinges, and
+catching with hooks and eyes; epauliers, or shoulder-plates; arm-plates
+and leg-pieces; and a bascinet, or open-faced helmet. A great triangular
+shield covered with leather and studded with bosses of iron, and a heavy
+broadsword, pointed and dulled at the edges, completed the equipment.
+
+The practice at the pels which Myles was bidden to attend comprised the
+chief exercise of the day with the esquires of young cadet soldiers of
+that time, and in it they learned not only all the strokes, cuts, and
+thrusts of sword-play then in vogue, but also toughness, endurance, and
+elastic quickness. The pels themselves consisted of upright posts of
+ash or oak, about five feet six inches in height, and in girth somewhat
+thicker than a man's thigh. They were firmly planted in the ground, and
+upon them the strokes of the broadsword were directed.
+
+At Devlen the pels stood just back of the open and covered tilting
+courts and the archery ranges, and thither those lads not upon household
+duty were marched every morning excepting Fridays and Sundays, and were
+there exercised under the direction of Sir James Lee and two assistants.
+The whole company was divided into two, sometimes into three parties,
+each of which took its turn at the exercise, delivering at the word
+of command the various strokes, feints, attacks, and retreats as the
+instructors ordered.
+
+After five minutes of this mock battle the perspiration began to pour
+down the faces, and the breath to come thick and short; but it was not
+until the lads could absolutely endure no more that the order was given
+to rest, and they were allowed to fling themselves panting upon the
+ground, while another company took its place at the triple row of posts.
+
+As Myles struck and hacked at the pel assigned to him, Sir James Lee
+stood beside him watching him in grim silence. The lad did his best to
+show the knight all that he knew of upper cut, under cut, thrust, and
+back-hand stroke, but it did not seem to him that Sir James was very
+well satisfied with his skill.
+
+"Thou fightest like a clodpole," said the old man. "Ha, that stroke
+was but ill-recovered. Strike me it again, and get thou in guard more
+quickly."
+
+Myles repeated the stroke.
+
+"Pest!" cried Sir James. "Thou art too slow by a week. Here, strike thou
+the blow at me."
+
+Myles hesitated. Sir James held a stout staff in his hand, but otherwise
+he was unarmed.
+
+"Strike, I say!" said Sir James. "What stayest thou for? Art afeard?"
+
+It was Myles's answer that set the seal of individuality upon him.
+"Nay," said he, boldly, "I am not afeard. I fear not thee nor any man!"
+So saying, he delivered the stroke at Sir James with might and main. It
+was met with a jarring blow that made his wrist and arm tingle, and the
+next instant he received a stroke upon the bascinet that caused his ears
+to ring and the sparks to dance and fly before his eyes.
+
+"Pardee!" said Sir James, grimly. "An I had had a mace in my hand, I
+would have knocked thy cockerel brains out that time. Thou mayst take
+that blow for answering me so pertly. And now we are quits. Now strike
+me the stroke again an thou art not afeard."
+
+Myles's eyes watered in spite of himself, and he shut the lids tight to
+wink the dimness away. Nevertheless he spoke up undauntedly as before.
+"Aye, marry, will I strike it again," said he; and this time he was
+able to recover guard quickly enough to turn Sir James's blow with his
+shield, instead of receiving it upon his head.
+
+"So!" said Sir James. "Now mind thee of this, that when thou strikest
+that lower cut at the legs, recover thyself more quickly. Now, then,
+strike me it at the pel."
+
+Gascoyne and other of the lads who were just then lying stretched out
+upon the grass beneath, a tree at the edge of the open court where stood
+the pels, were interested spectators of the whole scene. Not one of them
+in their memory had heard Sir James so answered face to face as Myles
+had answered him, and, after all, perhaps the lad himself would not
+have done so had he been longer a resident in the squires' quarters at
+Devlen.
+
+"By 'r Lady! thou art a cool blade, Myles," said Gascoyne, as they
+marched back to the armory again. "Never heard I one bespeak Sir James
+as thou hast done this day."
+
+"And, after all," said another of the young squires, "old Bruin was not
+so ill-pleased, methinks. That was a shrewd blow he fetched thee on the
+crown, Falworth. Marry, I would not have had it on my own skull for a
+silver penny."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 7
+
+So little does it take to make a body's reputation.
+
+That night all the squires' quarters buzzed with the story of how the
+new boy, Falworth, had answered Sir James Lee to his face without fear,
+and had exchanged blows with him hand to hand. Walter Blunt himself was
+moved to some show of interest.
+
+"What said he to thee, Falworth?" asked he.
+
+"He said naught," said Myles, brusquely. "He only sought to show me how
+to recover from the under cut."
+
+"It is passing strange that he should take so much notice of thee as to
+exchange blows with thee with his own hand. Haply thou art either very
+quick or parlous slow at arms."
+
+"It is quick that he is," said Gascoyne, speaking up in his friend's
+behalf. "For the second time that Falworth delivered the stroke, Sir
+James could not reach him to return; so I saw with mine own eyes."
+
+But that very sterling independence that had brought Myles so creditably
+through this adventure was certain to embroil him with the rude,
+half-savage lads about him, some of whom, especially among the
+bachelors, were his superiors as well in age as in skill and training.
+As said before, the bachelors had enforced from the younger boys a
+fagging sort of attendance on their various personal needs, and it was
+upon this point that Myles first came to grief. As it chanced, several
+days passed before any demand was made upon him for service to the heads
+of the squirehood, but when that demand was made, the bachelors were
+very quick to see that the boy who was bold enough to speak up to Sir
+James Lee was not likely to be a willing fag for them.
+
+"I tell thee, Francis," he said, as Gascoyne and he talked over the
+matter one day--"I tell thee I will never serve them. Prithee, what
+shame can be fouler than to do such menial service, saving for one's
+rightful Lord?"
+
+"Marry!" quoth Gascoyne; "I reason not of shame at this or that. All I
+know is that others serve them who are haply as good and maybe better
+than I be, and that if I do not serve them I get knocked i' th' head
+therefore, which same goeth soothly against my stomach."
+
+"I judge not for thee," said Myles. "Thou art used to these castle
+ways, but only I know that I will not serve them, though they be thirty
+against me instead of thirteen."
+
+"Then thou art a fool," said Gascoyne, dryly.
+
+Now in this matter of service there was one thing above all others that
+stirred Myles Falworth's ill-liking. The winter before he had come to
+Devlen, Walter Blunt, who was somewhat of a Sybarite in his way, and who
+had a repugnance to bathing in the general tank in the open armory court
+in frosty weather, had had Dick Carpenter build a trough in the corner
+of the dormitory for the use of the bachelors, and every morning it was
+the duty of two of the younger squires to bring three pails of water to
+fill this private tank for the use of the head esquires. It was seeing
+two of his fellow-esquires fetching and carrying this water that Myles
+disliked so heartily, and every morning his bile was stirred anew at the
+sight.
+
+"Sooner would I die than yield to such vile service," said he.
+
+He did not know how soon his protestations would be put to the test.
+
+One night--it was a week or two after Myles had come to Devlen--Blunt
+was called to attend the Earl at livery. The livery was the last meal of
+the day, and was served with great pomp and ceremony about nine o'clock
+at night to the head of the house as he lay in bed. Curfew had not yet
+rung, and the lads in the squires' quarters were still wrestling and
+sparring and romping boisterously in and out around the long row of rude
+cots in the great dormitory as they made ready for the night. Six or
+eight flaring links in wrought-iron brackets that stood out from the
+wall threw a great ruddy glare through the barrack-like room--a light of
+all others to romp by. Myles and Gascoyne were engaged in defending the
+passage-way between their two cots against the attack of three other
+lads, and Myles held his sheepskin coverlet rolled up into a ball and
+balanced in his hand, ready for launching at the head of one of the
+others so soon as it should rise from behind the shelter of a cot. Just
+then Walter Blunt, dressed with more than usual care, passed by on his
+way to the Earl's house. He stopped for a moment and said, "Mayhaps I
+will not be in until late to-night. Thou and Falworth, Gascoyne, may
+fetch water to-morrow."
+
+Then he was gone. Myles stood staring after his retreating figure with
+eyes open and mouth agape, still holding the ball of sheepskin balanced
+in his hand. Gascoyne burst into a helpless laugh at his blank,
+stupefied face, but the next moment he laid his hand on his friend's
+shoulder.
+
+"Myles," he said, "thou wilt not make trouble, wilt thou?"
+
+Myles made no answer. He flung down his sheepskin and sat him gloomily
+down upon the side of the cot.
+
+"I said that I would sooner die than fetch water for them," said he.
+
+"Aye, aye," said Gascoyne; "but that was spoken in haste."
+
+Myles said nothing, but shook his head.
+
+But, after all, circumstances shape themselves. The next morning when he
+rose up through the dark waters of sleep it was to feel some one shaking
+him violently by the shoulder.
+
+"Come!" cried Gascoyne, as Myles opened his eyes--"come, time passeth,
+and we are late."
+
+Myles, bewildered with his sudden awakening, and still fuddled with the
+fumes of sleep, huddled into his doublet and hose, hardly knowing what
+he was doing; tying a point here and a point there, and slipping
+his feet into his shoes. Then he hurried after Gascoyne, frowzy,
+half-dressed, and even yet only half-awake. It was not until he was
+fairly out into the fresh air and saw Gascoyne filling the three
+leathern buckets at the tank, that he fully awakened to the fact that he
+was actually doing that hateful service for the bachelors which he had
+protested he would sooner die than render.
+
+The sun was just rising, gilding the crown of the donjon-keep with a
+flame of ruddy light. Below, among the lesser buildings, the day was
+still gray and misty. Only an occasional noise broke the silence of the
+early morning: a cough from one of the rooms; the rattle of a pot or
+a pan, stirred by some sleepy scullion; the clapping of a door or a
+shutter, and now and then the crowing of a cock back of the long row of
+stables--all sounding loud and startling in the fresh dewy stillness.
+
+"Thou hast betrayed me," said Myles, harshly, breaking the silence at
+last. "I knew not what I was doing, or else I would never have come
+hither. Ne'theless, even though I be come, I will not carry the water
+for them."
+
+"So be it," said Gascoyne, tartly. "An thou canst not stomach it,
+let be, and I will e'en carry all three myself. It will make me two
+journeys, but, thank Heaven, I am not so proud as to wish to get me
+hard knocks for naught." So saying, he picked up two of the buckets and
+started away across the court for the dormitory.
+
+Then Myles, with a lowering face, snatched up the third, and, hurrying
+after, gave him his hand with the extra pail. So it was that he came to
+do service, after all.
+
+"Why tarried ye so long?" said one of the older bachelors, roughly, as
+the two lads emptied the water into the wooden trough. He sat on the
+edge of the cot, blowzed and untrussed, with his long hair tumbled and
+disordered.
+
+His dictatorial tone stung Myles to fury. "We tarried no longer than
+need be," answered he, savagely. "Have we wings to fly withal at your
+bidding?"
+
+He spoke so loudly that all in the room heard him; the younger squires
+who were dressing stared in blank amazement, and Blunt sat up suddenly
+in his cot.
+
+"Why, how now?" he cried. "Answerest thou back thy betters so pertly,
+sirrah? By my soul, I have a mind to crack thy head with this clog for
+thy unruly talk."
+
+He glared at Myles as he spoke, and Myles glared back again with right
+good-will. Matters might have come to a crisis, only that Gascoyne and
+Wilkes dragged their friend away before he had opportunity to answer.
+
+"An ill-conditioned knave as ever I did see," growled Blunt, glaring
+after him.
+
+"Myles, Myles," said Gascoyne, almost despairingly, "why wilt thou
+breed such mischief for thyself? Seest thou not thou hast got thee
+the ill-will of every one of the bachelors, from Wat Blunt to Robin de
+Ramsey?"
+
+"I care not," said Myles, fiercely, recurring to his grievance. "Heard
+ye not how the dogs upbraided me before the whole room? That Blunt
+called me an ill-conditioned knave."
+
+"Marry!" said Gascoyne, laughing, "and so thou art."
+
+Thus it is that boldness may breed one enemies as well as gain one
+friends. My own notion is that one's enemies are more quick to act than
+one's friends.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 8
+
+Every one knows the disagreeable, lurking discomfort that follows a
+quarrel--a discomfort that imbitters the very taste of life for the time
+being. Such was the dull distaste that Myles felt that morning after
+what had passed in the dormitory. Every one in the proximity of such
+an open quarrel feels a reflected constraint, and in Myles's mind was a
+disagreeable doubt whether that constraint meant disapproval of him or
+of his late enemies.
+
+It seemed to him that Gascoyne added the last bitter twang to his
+unpleasant feelings when, half an hour later, they marched with the
+others to chapel.
+
+"Why dost thou breed such trouble for thyself, Myles?" said he,
+recurring to what he had already said. "Is it not foolish for thee to
+come hither to this place, and then not submit to the ways thereof, as
+the rest of us do?"
+
+"Thou talkest not like a true friend to chide me thus," said Myles,
+sullenly; and he withdrew his arm from his friend's.
+
+"Marry, come up!" said Gascoyne; "an I were not thy friend, I would let
+thee jog thine own way. It aches not my bones to have thine drubbed."
+
+Just then they entered the chapel, and words that might have led to a
+quarrel were brought to a close.
+
+Myles was not slow to see that he had the ill will of the head of their
+company. That morning in the armory he had occasion to ask some question
+of Blunt; the head squire stared coldly at him for a moment, gave him a
+short, gruff answer, and then, turning his back abruptly, began talking
+with one of the other bachelors. Myles flushed hot at the other's
+insulting manner, and looked quickly around to see if any of the others
+had observed what had passed. It was a comfort to him to see that all
+were too busy arming themselves to think of anything else; nevertheless,
+his face was very lowering as he turned away.
+
+"Some day I will show him that I am as good a man as he," he muttered to
+himself. "An evil-hearted dog to put shame upon me!"
+
+The storm was brewing and ready to break.
+
+
+That day was exceptionally hot and close, and permission had been asked
+by and granted to those squires not on duty to go down to the river for
+a bath after exercise at the pels. But as Myles replaced his arms in
+the rack, a little page came with a bidding to come to Sir James in his
+office.
+
+"Look now," said Myles, "here is just my ill-fortune. Why might he not
+have waited an hour longer rather than cause me to miss going with ye?"
+
+"Nay," said Gascoyne, "let not that grieve thee, Myles. Wilkes and I
+will wait for thee in the dormitory--will we not, Edmund? Make thou
+haste and go to Sir James."
+
+Sir James was sitting at the table studying over a scroll of parchment,
+when Myles entered his office and stood before him at the table.
+
+"Well, boy," said he, laying aside the parchment and looking up at the
+lad, "I have tried thee fairly for these few days, and may say that I
+have found thee worthy to be entered upon the rolls as esquire of the
+body."
+
+"I give thee thanks, sir," said Myles.
+
+The knight nodded his head in acknowledgement, but did not at once give
+the word of dismissal that Myles had expected. "Dost mean to write thee
+a letter home soon?" said he, suddenly.
+
+"Aye," said Myles, gaping in great wonderment at the strangeness of the
+question.
+
+"Then when thou dost so write," said Sir James, "give thou my deep
+regards to thy father." Then he continued, after a brief pause. "Him did
+I know well in times gone by, and we were right true friends in hearty
+love, and for his sake I would befriend thee--that is, in so much as is
+fitting."
+
+"Sir," said Myles; but Sir James held up his hand, and he stopped short
+in his thanks.
+
+"But, boy," said he, "that which I sent for thee for to tell thee was of
+more import than these. Dost thou know that thy father is an attainted
+outlaw?"
+
+"Nay," cried Myles, his cheeks blazing up as red as fire; "who sayeth
+that of him lieth in his teeth."
+
+"Thou dost mistake me," said Sir James, quietly. "It is sometimes no
+shame to be outlawed and banned. Had it been so, I would not have told
+thee thereof, nor have bidden thee send my true love to thy father, as
+I did but now. But, boy, certes he standest continually in great
+danger--greater than thou wottest of. Were it known where he lieth hid,
+it might be to his undoing and utter ruin. Methought that belike thou
+mightest not know that; and so I sent for thee for to tell thee that it
+behoovest thee to say not one single word concerning him to any of these
+new friends of thine, nor who he is, nor what he is."
+
+"But how came my father to be so banned?" said Myles, in a constrained
+and husky voice, and after a long time of silence.
+
+"That I may not tell thee just now," said the old knight, "only
+this--that I have been bidden to make it known to thee that thy father
+hath an enemy full as powerful as my Lord the Earl himself, and
+that through that enemy all his ill-fortune--his blindness and
+everything--hath come. Moreover, did this enemy know where thy father
+lieth, he would slay him right speedily."
+
+"Sir," cried Myles, violently smiting his open palm upon the table,
+"tell me who this man is, and I will kill him!"
+
+Sir James smiled grimly. "Thou talkest like a boy," said he. "Wait until
+thou art grown to be a man. Mayhap then thou mayst repent thee of these
+bold words, for one time this enemy of thy father's was reckoned the
+foremost knight in England, and he is now the King's dear friend and a
+great lord."
+
+"But," said Myles, after another long time of heavy silence, "will not
+my Lord then befriend me for the sake of my father, who was one time his
+dear comrade?"
+
+Sir James shook his head. "It may not be," said he. "Neither thou nor
+thy father must look for open favor from the Earl. An he befriended
+Falworth, and it came to be known that he had given him aid or succor,
+it might belike be to his own undoing. No, boy; thou must not even look
+to be taken into the household to serve with gentlemen as the other
+squires do serve, but must even live thine own life here and fight thine
+own way."
+
+Myles's eyes blazed. "Then," cried he, fiercely, "it is shame and
+attaint upon my Lord the Earl, and cowardice as well, and never will I
+ask favor of him who is so untrue a friend as to turn his back upon a
+comrade in trouble as he turneth his back upon my father."
+
+"Thou art a foolish boy," said Sir James with a bitter smile, "and
+knowest naught of the world. An thou wouldst look for man to befriend
+man to his own danger, thou must look elsewhere than on this earth. Was
+I not one time Mackworth's dear friend as well as thy father? It could
+cost him naught to honor me, and here am I fallen to be a teacher of
+boys. Go to! thou art a fool."
+
+Then, after a little pause of brooding silence, he went on to say that
+the Earl was no better or worse than the rest of the world. That men of
+his position had many jealous enemies, ever seeking their ruin, and
+that such must look first of all each to himself, or else be certainly
+ruined, and drag down others in that ruin. Myles was silenced, but the
+bitterness had entered his heart, and abided with him for many a day
+afterwards.
+
+Perhaps Sir James read his feelings in his frank face, for he sat
+looking curiously at him, twirling his grizzled mustache the while.
+"Thou art like to have hard knocks of it, lad, ere thou hast gotten thee
+safe through the world," said he, with more kindness in his harsh voice
+than was usual. "But get thee not into fights before thy time." Then he
+charged the boy very seriously to live at peace with his fellow-squires,
+and for his father's sake as well as his own to enter into none of the
+broils that were so frequent in their quarters.
+
+It was with this special admonition against brawling that Myles was
+dismissed, to enter, before five minutes had passed, into the first
+really great fight of his life.
+
+
+Besides Gascoyne and Wilkes, he found gathered in the dormitory six
+or eight of the company of squires who were to serve that day upon
+household duty; among others, Walter Blunt and three other bachelors,
+who were changing their coarse service clothes for others more fit for
+the household.
+
+"Why didst thou tarry so long, Myles?" said Gascoyne, as he entered.
+"Methought thou wert never coming."
+
+"Where goest thou, Falworth?" called Blunt from the other end of the
+room, where he was lacing his doublet.
+
+Just now Myles had no heart in the swimming or sport of any sort, but he
+answered, shortly, "I go to the river to swim."
+
+"Nay," said Blunt, "thou goest not forth from the castle to-day. Hast
+thou forgot how thou didst answer me back about fetching the water
+this morning? This day thou must do penance, so go thou straight to the
+armory and scour thou up my breastplate."
+
+From the time he had arisen that morning everything had gone wrong with
+Myles. He had felt himself already outrated in rendering service to
+the bachelors, he had quarrelled with the head of the esquires, he had
+nearly quarrelled with Gascoyne, and then had come the bitterest and
+worst of all, the knowledge that his father was an outlaw, and that
+the Earl would not stretch out a hand to aid him or to give him any
+countenance. Blunt's words brought the last bitter cut to his heart,
+and they stung him to fury. For a while he could not answer, but stood
+glaring with a face fairly convulsed with passion at the young man, who
+continued his toilet, unconscious of the wrath of the new recruit.
+
+Gascoyne and Wilkes, accepting Myles's punishment as a thing of course,
+were about to leave the dormitory when Myles checked them.
+
+"Stop, Francis!" he cried, hoarsely. "Thinkest thou that I will stay
+behind to do yon dog's dirty work? No; I go with ye."
+
+A moment or two of dumb, silent amazement followed his bold words; then
+Blunt cried, "Art thou mad?"
+
+"Nay," answered Myles in the same hoarse voice, "I am not mad. I tell
+thee a better man than thou shouldst not stay me from going an I list to
+go.
+
+"I will break thy cockerel head for that speech," said Blunt, furiously.
+He stooped as he spoke, and picked up a heavy clog that lay at his feet.
+
+It was no insignificant weapon either. The shoes of those days were
+sometimes made of cloth, and had long pointed toes stuffed with tow or
+wool. In muddy weather thick heavy clogs or wooden soles were strapped,
+like a skate, to the bottom of the foot. That clog which Blunt had
+seized was perhaps eighteen or twenty inches long, two or two and a half
+inches thick at the heel, tapering to a point at the toe. As the older
+lad advanced, Gascoyne stepped between him and his victim.
+
+"Do not harm him, Blunt," he pleaded. "Bear thou in mind how new-come he
+is among us. He knoweth not our ways as yet."
+
+"Stand thou back, Gascoyne," said Blunt, harshly, as he thrust him
+aside. "I will teach him our ways so that he will not soon forget them."
+
+Close to Myles's feet was another clog like that one which Blunt held.
+He snatched it up, and set his back against the wall, with a white face
+and a heart beating heavily and tumultuously, but with courage steeled
+to meet the coming encounter. There was a hard, grim look in his blue
+eyes that, for a moment perhaps, quelled the elder lad. He hesitated.
+"Tom! Wat! Ned!" he called to the other bachelors, "come hither, and
+lend me a hand with this knave."
+
+"An ye come nigh me," panted Myles, "I will brain the first within
+reach."
+
+Then Gascoyne dodged behind the others, and, without being seen, slipped
+out of the room for help.
+
+The battle that followed was quick, sharp, and short. As Blunt strode
+forward, Myles struck, and struck with might and main, but he was too
+excited to deliver his blow with calculation. Blunt parried it with the
+clog he held, and the next instant, dropping his weapon, gripped Myles
+tight about the body, pinning his arms to his sides.
+
+Myles also dropped the clog he held, and, wrenching out his right
+arm with a sudden heave, struck Blunt full in the face, and then with
+another blow sent him staggering back. It all passed in an instant; the
+next the three other bachelors were upon him, catching him by the body,
+the arms, the legs. For a moment or two they swayed and stumbled hither
+and thither, and then down they fell in a struggling heap.
+
+Myles fought like a wild-cat, kicking, struggling, scratching; striking
+with elbows and fists. He caught one of the three by his collar, and
+tore his jacket open from the neck to the waist; he drove his foot into
+the pit of the stomach of another, and knocked him breathless. The other
+lads not in the fight stood upon the benches and the beds around, but
+such was the awe inspired by the prestige of the bachelors that not one
+of them dared to lend hand to help him, and so Myles fought his fierce
+battle alone.
+
+But four to one were odds too great, and though Myles struggled as
+fiercely as ever, by-and-by it was with less and less resistance.
+
+Blunt had picked up the clog he had dropped when he first attacked the
+lad, and now stood over the struggling heap, white with rage, the blood
+running from his lip, cut and puffed where Myles had struck him, and
+murder looking out from his face, if ever it looked out of the face of
+any mortal being.
+
+"Hold him a little," said he, fiercely, "and I will still him for you."
+
+Even yet it was no easy matter for the others to do his bidding, but
+presently he got his chance and struck a heavy, cruel blow at Myles's
+head. Myles only partly warded it with his arm. Hitherto he had fought
+in silence, now he gave a harsh cry.
+
+"Holy Saints!" cried Edmund Wilkes. "They will kill him."
+
+Blunt struck two more blows, both of them upon the body, and then at
+last they had the poor boy down, with his face upon the ground and his
+arms pinned to his sides, and Blunt, bracing himself for the stroke,
+with a grin of rage raised a heavy clog for one terrible blow that
+should finish the fight.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 9
+
+"How now, messieurs?" said a harsh voice, that fell upon the turmoil
+like a thunder-clap, and there stood Sir James Lee. Instantly the
+struggle ceased, and the combatants scrambled to their feet.
+
+The older lads stood silent before their chief, but Myles was deaf and
+blind and mad with passion, he knew not where he stood or what he said
+or did. White as death, he stood for a while glaring about him, catching
+his breath convulsively. Then he screamed hoarsely.
+
+"Who struck me? Who struck me when I was down? I will have his blood
+that struck me!" He caught sight of Blunt. "It was he that struck me!"
+he cried. "Thou foul traitor! thou coward!" and thereupon leaped at his
+enemy like a wild-cat.
+
+"Stop!" cried Sir James Lee, clutching him by the arm.
+
+Myles was too blinded by his fury to see who it was that held him. "I
+will not stop!" he cried, struggling and striking at the knight. "Let me
+go! I will have his life that struck me when I was down!"
+
+The next moment he found himself pinned close against the wall, and
+then, as though his sight came back, he saw the grim face of the old
+one-eyed knight looking into his.
+
+"Dost thou know who I am?" said a stern, harsh voice.
+
+Instantly Myles ceased struggling, and his arms fell at his side. "Aye,"
+he said, in a gasping voice, "I know thee." He swallowed spasmodically
+for a moment or two, and then, in the sudden revulsion of feeling, burst
+out sobbing convulsively.
+
+Sir James marched the two off to his office, he himself walking
+between them, holding an arm of each, the other lads following behind,
+awe-struck and silent. Entering the office, Sir James shut the door
+behind him, leaving the group of squires clustered outside about the
+stone steps, speculating in whispers as to what would be the outcome of
+the matter.
+
+After Sir James had seated himself, the two standing facing him, he
+regarded them for a while in silence. "How now, Walter Blunt," said he
+at last, "what is to do?"
+
+"Why, this," said Blunt, wiping his bleeding lip. "That fellow, Myles
+Falworth, hath been breeding mutiny and revolt ever sin he came hither
+among us, and because he was thus mutinous I would punish him therefor."
+
+"In that thou liest!" burst out Myles. "Never have I been mutinous in my
+life."
+
+"Be silent, sir," said Sir James, sternly. "I will hear thee anon."
+
+"Nay," said Myles, with his lips twitching and writhing, "I will not be
+silent. I am friendless here, and ye are all against me, but I will not
+be silent, and brook to have lies spoken of me."
+
+Even Blunt stood aghast at Myles's boldness. Never had he heard any one
+so speak to Sir James before. He did not dare for the moment even to
+look up. Second after second of dead stillness passed, while Sir James
+sat looking at Myles with a stern, terrifying calmness that chilled him
+in spite of the heat of his passion.
+
+"Sir," said the old man at last, in a hard, quiet voice, "thou dost know
+naught of rules and laws of such a place as this. Nevertheless, it
+is time for thee to learn them. So I will tell thee now that if thou
+openest thy lips to say only one single word more except at my bidding,
+I will send thee to the black vault of the donjon to cool thy hot
+spirits on bread and water for a week." There was something in the
+measured quietness of the old knight's tone that quelled Myles utterly
+and entirely. A little space of silence followed. "Now, then, Blunt,"
+said Sir James, turning to the bachelor, "tell me all the ins and outs
+of this business without any more underdealing."
+
+This time Blunt's story, though naturally prejudiced in his own favor,
+was fairly true. Then Myles told his side of the case, the old knight
+listening attentively.
+
+"Why, how now, Blunt," said Sir James, when Myles had ended, "I myself
+gave the lads leave to go to the river to bathe. Wherefore shouldst thou
+forbid one of them?"
+
+"I did it but to punish this fellow for his mutiny," said the bachelor.
+"Methought we at their head were to have oversight concerning them."
+
+"So ye are," said the knight; "but only to a degree. Ere ye take it upon
+ye to gainsay any of my orders or permits, come ye first to me. Dost
+thou understand?"
+
+"Aye," answered Blunt, sullenly.
+
+"So be it, and now get thee gone," said the knight; "and let me hear no
+more of beating out brains with wooden clogs. An ye fight your battles,
+let there not be murder in them. This is twice that the like hath
+happed; gin I hear more of such doings--" He did utter his threat, but
+stopped short, and fixed his one eye sternly upon the head squire. "Now
+shake hands, and be ye friends," said he, abruptly.
+
+Blunt made a motion to obey, but Myles put his hand behind him.
+
+"Nay, I shake not hands with any one who struck me while I was down."
+
+"So be it," said the knight, grimly. "Now thou mayst go, Blunt. Thou,
+Falworth, stay; I would bespeak thee further."
+
+"Tell me," said he, when the elder lad had left them, "why wilt thou not
+serve these bachelors as the other squires do? Such is the custom here.
+Why wilt thou not obey it?"
+
+"Because," said Myles, "I cannot stomach it, and they shall not make me
+serve them. An thou bid me do it, sir, I will do it; but not at their
+command."
+
+"Nay," said the knight, "I do not bid thee do them service. That lieth
+with thee, to render or not, as thou seest fit. But how canst thou hope
+to fight single-handed against the commands of a dozen lads all older
+and mightier than thou?"
+
+"I know not," said Myles; "but were they an hundred, instead of
+thirteen, they should not make me serve them."
+
+"Thou art a fool!" said the old knight, smiling faintly, "for that be'st
+not courage, but folly. When one setteth about righting a wrong, one
+driveth not full head against it, for in so doing one getteth naught but
+hard knocks. Nay, go deftly about it, and then, when the time is ripe,
+strike the blow. Now our beloved King Henry, when he was the Earl of
+Derby, what could he have gained had he stood so against the old King
+Richard, brooking the King face to face? I tell thee he would have been
+knocked on the head as thou wert like to have been this day. Now were
+I thee, and had to fight a fight against odds, I would first get me
+friends behind me, and then--" He stopped short, but Myles understood
+him well enough.
+
+"Sir," said he, with a gulp, "I do thank thee for thy friendship, and
+ask thy pardon for doing as I did anon."
+
+"I grant thee pardon," said the knight, "but tell thee plainly, an thou
+dost face me so again, I will truly send thee to the black cell for a
+week. Now get thee away."
+
+All the other lads were gone when Myles came forth, save only the
+faithful Gascoyne, who sacrificed his bath that day to stay with his
+friend; and perhaps that little act of self-denial moved Myles more than
+many a great thing might have done.
+
+"It was right kind of thee, Francis," said he, laying his hand
+affectionately on his friend's shoulder. "I know not why thou lovest me
+so."
+
+"Why, for one thing, this matter," answered his friend; "because
+methinks thou art the best fighter and the bravest one of all of us
+squires."
+
+Myles laughed. Nevertheless Gascoyne's words were a soothing balm for
+much that had happened that day. "I will fight me no more just now,"
+said he; and then he told his friend all that Sir James had advised
+about biding his time.
+
+Gascoyne blew a long whistle. "Beshrew me!" quoth he, "but methinks old
+Bruin is on thy side of the quarrel, Myles. An that be so, I am with
+thee also, and others that I can name as well."
+
+"So be it," said Myles. "Then am I content to abide the time when we may
+become strong enough to stand against them."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 10
+
+Perhaps there is nothing more delightful in the romance of boyhood than
+the finding of some secret hiding-place whither a body may creep away
+from the bustle of the world's life, to nestle in quietness for an hour
+or two. More especially is such delightful if it happen that, by
+peeping from out it, one may look down upon the bustling matters of
+busy every-day life, while one lies snugly hidden away unseen by any, as
+though one were in some strange invisible world of one's own.
+
+Such a hiding-place as would have filled the heart of almost any boy
+with sweet delight Myles and Gascoyne found one summer afternoon. They
+called it their Eyry, and the name suited well for the roosting-place
+of the young hawks that rested in its windy stillness, looking down upon
+the shifting castle life in the courts below.
+
+Behind the north stable, a great, long, rambling building, thick-walled,
+and black with age, lay an older part of the castle than that peopled
+by the better class of life--a cluster of great thick walls, rudely but
+strongly built, now the dwelling-place of stable-lads and hinds, swine
+and poultry. From one part of these ancient walls, and fronting an inner
+court of the castle, arose a tall, circular, heavy-buttressed tower,
+considerably higher than the other buildings, and so mantled with a
+dense growth of aged ivy as to stand a shaft of solid green. Above its
+crumbling crown circled hundreds of pigeons, white and pied, clapping
+and clattering in noisy flight through the sunny air. Several windows,
+some closed with shutters, peeped here and there from out the leaves,
+and near the top of the pile was a row of arched openings, as though of
+a balcony or an airy gallery.
+
+Myles had more than once felt an idle curiosity about this tower, and
+one day, as he and Gascoyne sat together, he pointed his finger and
+said, "What is yon place?"
+
+"That," answered Gascoyne, looking over his shoulder--"that they call
+Brutus Tower, for why they do say that Brutus he built it when he came
+hither to Britain. I believe not the tale mine own self; ne'theless, it
+is marvellous ancient, and old Robin-the-Fletcher telleth me that there
+be stairways built in the wall and passage-ways, and a maze wherein
+a body may get lost, an he know not the way aright, and never see the
+blessed light of day again."
+
+"Marry," said Myles, "those same be strange sayings. Who liveth there
+now?"
+
+"No one liveth there," said Gascoyne, "saving only some of the stable
+villains, and that half-witted goose-herd who flung stones at us
+yesterday when we mocked him down in the paddock. He and his wife and
+those others dwell in the vaults beneath, like rabbits in any warren. No
+one else hath lived there since Earl Robert's day, which belike was
+an hundred years agone. The story goeth that Earl Robert's brother--or
+step-brother--was murdered there, and some men say by the Earl himself.
+Sin that day it hath been tight shut."
+
+Myles stared at the tower for a while in silence. "It is a
+strange-seeming place from without," said he, at last, "and mayhap it
+may be even more strange inside. Hast ever been within, Francis?"
+
+"Nay," said Gascoyne; "said I not it hath been fast locked since Earl
+Robert's day?"
+
+"By'r Lady," said Myles, "an I had lived here in this place so long as
+thou, I wot I would have been within it ere this."
+
+"Beshrew me," said Gascoyne, "but I have never thought of such a
+matter." He turned and looked at the tall crown rising into the warm
+sunlight with a new interest, for the thought of entering it smacked
+pleasantly of adventure. "How wouldst thou set about getting within?"
+said he, presently.
+
+"Why, look," said Myles; "seest thou not yon hole in the ivy branches?
+Methinks there is a window at that place. An I mistake not, it is in
+reach of the stable eaves. A body might come up by the fagot pile to the
+roof of the hen-house, and then by the long stable to the north stable,
+and so to that hole."
+
+Gascoyne looked thoughtfully at the Brutus Tower, and then suddenly
+inquired, "Wouldst go there?"
+
+"Aye," said Myles, briefly.
+
+"So be it. Lead thou the way in the venture, I will follow after thee,"
+said Gascoyne.
+
+As Myles had said, the climbing from roof to roof was a matter easy
+enough to an active pair of lads like themselves; but when, by-and-by,
+they reached the wall of the tower itself, they found the hidden window
+much higher from the roof than they had judged from below--perhaps ten
+or twelve feet--and it was, besides, beyond the eaves and out of their
+reach.
+
+Myles looked up and looked down. Above was the bushy thickness of the
+ivy, the branches as thick as a woman's wrist, knotted and intertwined;
+below was the stone pavement of a narrow inner court between two of the
+stable buildings.
+
+"Methinks I can climb to yon place," said he.
+
+"Thou'lt break thy neck an thou tryest," said Gascoyne, hastily.
+
+"Nay," quoth Myles, "I trust not; but break or make, we get not there
+without trying. So here goeth for the venture."
+
+"Thou art a hare-brained knave as ever drew breath of life," quoth
+Gascoyne, "and will cause me to come to grief some of these fine days.
+Ne'theless, an thou be Jack Fool and lead the way, go, and I will be Tom
+Fool and follow anon. If thy neck is worth so little, mine is worth no
+more."
+
+It was indeed a perilous climb, but that special providence which guards
+reckless lads befriended them, as it has thousands of their kind before
+and since. So, by climbing from one knotted, clinging stem to another,
+they were presently seated snugly in the ivied niche in the window. It
+was barred from within by a crumbling shutter, the rusty fastening of
+which, after some little effort upon the part of the two, gave way, and
+entering the narrow opening, they found themselves in a small triangular
+passage-way, from which a steep flight of stone steps led down through a
+hollow in the massive wall to the room below.
+
+At the bottom of the steps was a heavy oaken door, which stood ajar,
+hanging upon a single rusty hinge, and from the room within a dull, gray
+light glimmered faintly. Myles pushed the door farther open; it creaked
+and grated horribly on its rusty hinge, and, as in instant answer to
+the discordant shriek, came a faint piping squeaking, a rustling and a
+pattering of soft footsteps.
+
+"The ghosts!" cried Gascoyne, in a quavering whisper, and for a moment
+Myles felt the chill of goose-flesh creep up and down his spine. But the
+next moment he laughed.
+
+"Nay," said he, "they be rats. Look at yon fellow, Francis! Be'st as big
+as Mother Joan's kitten. Give me that stone." He flung it at the rat,
+and it flew clattering across the floor. There was another pattering
+rustle of hundreds of feet, and then a breathless silence.
+
+The boys stood looking around them, and a strange enough sight it was.
+The room was a perfect circle of about twenty feet across, and was
+piled high with an indistinguishable mass of lumber--rude tables, ruder
+chairs, ancient chests, bits and remnants of cloth and sacking and
+leather, old helmets and pieces of armor of a by-gone time, broken
+spears and pole-axes, pots and pans and kitchen furniture of all sorts
+and kinds.
+
+A straight beam of sunlight fell through a broken shutter like a bar of
+gold, and fell upon the floor in a long streak of dazzling light that
+illuminated the whole room with a yellow glow.
+
+"By 'r Lady!" said Gascoyne at last, in a hushed voice, "here is Father
+Time's garret for sure. Didst ever see the like, Myles? Look at yon
+arbalist; sure Brutus himself used such an one!"
+
+"Nay," said Myles; "but look at this saddle. Marry, here be'st a rat's
+nest in it."
+
+Clouds of dust rose as they rummaged among the mouldering mass, setting
+them coughing and sneezing. Now and then a great gray rat would shoot
+out beneath their very feet, and disappear, like a sudden shadow, into
+some hole or cranny in the wall.
+
+"Come," said Myles at last, brushing the dust from his jacket, "an we
+tarry here longer we will have chance to see no other sights; the sun is
+falling low."
+
+An arched stair-way upon the opposite side of the room from which they
+had entered wound upward through the wall, the stone steps being lighted
+by narrow slits of windows cut through the massive masonry. Above the
+room they had just left was another of the same shape and size, but with
+an oak floor, sagging and rising into hollows and hills, where the joist
+had rotted away beneath. It was bare and empty, and not even a rat
+was to be seen. Above was another room; above that, another; all the
+passages and stairways which connected the one story with the other
+being built in the wall, which was, where solid, perhaps fifteen feet
+thick.
+
+From the third floor a straight flight of steps led upward to a closed
+door, from the other side of which shone the dazzling brightness of
+sunlight, and whence came a strange noise--a soft rustling, a melodious
+murmur. The boys put their shoulders against the door, which was
+fastened, and pushed with might and main--once, twice; suddenly the
+lock gave way, and out they pitched headlong into a blaze of sunlight.
+A deafening clapping and uproar sounded in their ears, and scores of
+pigeons, suddenly disturbed, rose in stormy flight.
+
+They sat up and looked around them in silent wonder. They were in a
+bower of leafy green. It was the top story of the tower, the roof of
+which had crumbled and toppled in, leaving it open to the sky, with only
+here and there a slanting beam or two supporting a portion of the tiled
+roof, affording shelter for the nests of the pigeons crowded closely
+together. Over everything the ivy had grown in a mantling sheet--a
+net-work of shimmering green, through which the sunlight fell
+flickering.
+
+"This passeth wonder," said Gascoyne, at last breaking the silence.
+
+"Aye," said Myles, "I did never see the like in all my life." Then,
+"Look, yonder is a room beyond; let us see what it is, Francis."
+
+Entering an arched door-way, the two found themselves in a beautiful
+little vaulted chapel, about eighteen feet long and twelve or fifteen
+wide. It comprised the crown of one of the large massive buttresses, and
+from it opened the row of arched windows which could be seen from below
+through the green shimmering of the ivy leaves. The boys pushed aside
+the trailing tendrils and looked out and down. The whole castle lay
+spread below them, with the busy people unconsciously intent upon the
+matters of their daily work. They could see the gardener, with bowed
+back, patiently working among the flowers in the garden, the stable-boys
+below grooming the horses, a bevy of ladies in the privy garden playing
+at shuttlecock with battledoors of wood, a group of gentlemen walking
+up and down in front of the Earl's house. They could see the household
+servants hurrying hither and thither, two little scullions at
+fisticuffs, and a kitchen girl standing in the door-way scratching her
+frowzy head.
+
+It was all like a puppetshow of real life, each acting unconsciously a
+part in the play. The cool wind came in through the rustling leaves and
+fanned their cheeks, hot with the climb up the winding stair-way.
+
+"We will call it our Eyry," said Gascoyne "and we will be the hawks that
+live here." And that was how it got its name.
+
+The next day Myles had the armorer make him a score of large spikes,
+which he and Gascoyne drove between the ivy branches and into the cement
+of the wall, and so made a safe passageway by which to reach the window
+niche in the wall.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 11
+
+THE TWO friends kept the secret of the Eyry to themselves for a little
+while, now and then visiting the old tower to rummage among the lumber
+stored in the lower room, or to loiter away the afternoon in the windy
+solitudes of the upper heights. And in that little time, when the
+ancient keep was to them a small world unknown to any but themselves--a
+world far away above all the dull matters of every-day life--they talked
+of many things that might else never have been known to one another.
+Mostly they spoke the crude romantic thoughts and desires of boyhood's
+time--chaff thrown to the wind, in which, however, lay a few stray
+seeds, fated to fall to good earth, and to ripen to fruition in
+manhood's day.
+
+In the intimate talks of that time Myles imparted something of his
+honest solidity to Gascoyne's somewhat weathercock nature, and to
+Myles's ruder and more uncouth character Gascoyne lent a tone of his
+gentler manners, learned in his pagehood service as attendant upon the
+Countess and her ladies.
+
+In other things, also, the character and experience of the one lad
+helped to supply what was lacking in the other. Myles was replete with
+old Latin gestes, fables, and sermons picked up during his school life,
+in those intervals of his more serious studies when Prior Edward had
+permitted him to browse in the greener pastures of the Gesta Romanorum
+and the Disciplina Clericalis of the monastery library, and Gascoyne was
+never weary of hearing him tell those marvellous stories culled from the
+crabbed Latin of the old manuscript volumes.
+
+Upon his part Gascoyne was full of the lore of the waiting-room and
+the antechamber, and Myles, who in all his life had never known a lady,
+young or old, excepting his mother, was never tired of lying silently
+listening to Gascoyne's chatter of the gay doings of the castle
+gentle-life, in which he had taken part so often in the merry days of
+his pagehood.
+
+"I do wonder," said Myles, quaintly, "that thou couldst ever find the
+courage to bespeak a young maid, Francis. Never did I do so, nor ever
+could. Rather would I face three strong men than one young damsel."
+
+Whereupon Gascoyne burst out laughing. "Marry!" quoth he, "they be
+no such terrible things, but gentle and pleasant spoken, and soft and
+smooth as any cat."
+
+"No matter for that," said Myles; "I would not face one such for
+worlds."
+
+It was during the short time when, so to speak, the two owned the
+solitude of the Brutus Tower, that Myles told his friend of his father's
+outlawry and of the peril in which the family stood. And thus it was.
+
+"I do marvel," said Gascoyne one day, as the two lay stretched in the
+Eyry, looking down into the castle court-yard below--"I do marvel, now
+that thou art 'stablished here this month and more, that my Lord doth
+never have thee called to service upon household duty. Canst thou riddle
+me why it is so, Myles?"
+
+The subject was a very sore one with Myles. Until Sir James had told him
+of the matter in his office that day he had never known that his father
+was attainted and outlawed. He had accepted the change from their
+earlier state and the bald poverty of their life at Crosbey-Holt with
+the easy carelessness of boyhood, and Sir James's words were the first
+to awaken him to a realization of the misfortunes of the house of
+Falworth. His was a brooding nature, and in the three or four weeks
+that passed he had meditated so much over what had been told him, that
+by-and-by it almost seemed as if a shadow of shame rested upon his
+father's fair fame, even though the attaint set upon him was unrighteous
+and unjust, as Myles knew it must be. He had felt angry and resentful
+at the Earl's neglect, and as days passed and he was not noticed in any
+way, his heart was at times very bitter.
+
+So now Gascoyne's innocent question touched a sore spot, and Myles spoke
+with a sharp, angry pain in his voice that made the other look quickly
+up. "Sooner would my Lord have yonder swineherd serve him in the
+household than me," said he.
+
+"Why may that be, Myles?" said Gascoyne.
+
+"Because," answered Myles, with the same angry bitterness in his voice,
+"either the Earl is a coward that feareth to befriend me, or else he is
+a caitiff, ashamed of his own flesh and blood, and of me, the son of his
+one-time comrade."
+
+Gascoyne raised himself upon his elbow, and opened his eyes wide in
+wonder. "Afeard of thee, Myles!" quoth he. "Why should he be afeared to
+befriend thee? Who art thou that the Earl should fear thee?"
+
+Myles hesitated for a moment or two; wisdom bade him remain silent
+upon the dangerous topic, but his heart yearned for sympathy and
+companionship in his trouble. "I will tell thee," said he, suddenly,
+and therewith poured out all of the story, so far as he knew it, to his
+listening, wondering friend, and his heart felt lighter to be thus eased
+of its burden. "And now," said he, as he concluded, "is not this Earl
+a mean-hearted caitiff to leave me, the son of his one-time friend and
+kinsman, thus to stand or to fall alone among strangers and in a
+strange place without once stretching me a helping hand?" He waited, and
+Gascoyne knew that he expected an answer.
+
+"I know not that he is a mean-hearted caitiff, Myles," said he at last,
+hesitatingly. "The Earl hath many enemies, and I have heard that he hath
+stood more than once in peril, having been accused of dealings with
+the King's foes. He was cousin to the Earl of Kent, and I do remember
+hearing that he had a narrow escape at that time from ruin. There be
+more reasons than thou wottest of why he should not have dealings with
+thy father."
+
+"I had not thought," said Myles, bitterly, after a little pause, "that
+thou wouldst stand up for him and against me in this quarrel, Gascoyne.
+Him will I never forgive so long as I may live, and I had thought that
+thou wouldst have stood by me."
+
+"So I do," said Gascoyne, hastily, "and do love thee more than any one
+in all the world, Myles; but I had thought that it would make thee feel
+more easy, to think that the Earl was not against thee. And, indeed,
+from all thou has told me, I do soothly think that he and Sir James mean
+to befriend thee and hold thee privily in kind regard."
+
+"Then why doth he not stand forth like a man and befriend me and my
+father openly, even if it be to his own peril?" said Myles, reverting
+stubbornly to what he had first spoken.
+
+Gascoyne did not answer, but lay for a long while in silence. "Knowest
+thou," he suddenly asked, after a while, "who is this great enemy of
+whom Sir James speaketh, and who seeketh so to drive thy father to
+ruin?"
+
+"Nay," said Myles, "I know not, for my father hath never spoken of these
+things, and Sir James would not tell me. But this I know," said he,
+suddenly, grinding his teeth together, "an I do not hunt him out some
+day and slay him like a dog--" He stopped abruptly, and Gascoyne,
+looking askance at him, saw that his eyes were full of tears, whereupon
+he turned his looks away again quickly, and fell to shooting pebbles out
+through the open window with his finger and thumb.
+
+"Thou wilt tell no one of these things that I have said?" said Myles,
+after a while.
+
+"Not I," said Gascoyne. "Thinkest thou I could do such a thing?"
+
+"Nay," said Myles, briefly.
+
+Perhaps this talk more than anything else that had ever passed between
+them knit the two friends the closer together, for, as I have said,
+Myles felt easier now that he had poured out his bitter thoughts and
+words; and as for Gascoyne, I think that there is nothing so flattering
+to one's soul as to be made the confidant of a stronger nature.
+
+
+But the old tower served another purpose than that of a spot in which
+to pass away a few idle hours, or in which to indulge the confidences of
+friendship, for it was there that Myles gathered a backing of strength
+for resistance against the tyranny of the bachelors, and it is for that
+more than for any other reason that it has been told how they found the
+place and of what they did there, feeling secure against interruption.
+
+Myles Falworth was not of a kind that forgets or neglects a thing upon
+which the mind has once been set. Perhaps his chief objective since
+the talk with Sir James following his fight in the dormitory had been
+successful resistance to the exactions of the head of the body of
+squires. He was now (more than a month had passed) looked upon by nearly
+if not all of the younger lads as an acknowledged leader in his own
+class. So one day he broached a matter to Gascoyne that had for some
+time been digesting in his mind. It was the formation of a secret order,
+calling themselves the "Knights of the Rose," their meeting-place to be
+the chapel of the Brutus Tower, and their object to be the righting
+of wrongs, "as they," said Myles, "of Arthur his Round-table did right
+wrongs."
+
+"But, prithee, what wrongs are there to right in this place?" quoth
+Gascoyne, after listening intently to the plan which Myles set forth.
+
+"Why, first of all, this," said Myles, clinching his fists, as he had a
+habit of doing when anything stirred him deeply, "that we set those vile
+bachelors to their right place; and that is, that they be no longer our
+masters, but our fellows."
+
+Gascoyne shook his head. He hated clashing and conflict above all
+things, and was for peace. Why should they thus rush to thrust
+themselves into trouble? Let matters abide as they were a little longer;
+surely life was pleasant enough without turning it all topsy-turvy.
+Then, with a sort of indignation, why should Myles, who had only come
+among them a month, take such service more to heart than they who had
+endured it for years? And, finally, with the hopefulness of so many of
+the rest of us, he advised Myles to let matters alone, and they would
+right themselves in time.
+
+But Myles's mind was determined; his active spirit could not brook
+resting passively under a wrong; he would endure no longer, and now or
+never they must make their stand.
+
+"But look thee, Myles Falworth," said Gascoyne, "all this is not to
+be done withouten fighting shrewdly. Wilt thou take that fighting upon
+thine own self? As for me, I tell thee I love it not."
+
+"Why, aye," said Myles; "I ask no man to do what I will not do myself."
+
+Gascoyne shrugged his shoulders. "So be it," said he. "An thou hast
+appetite to run thy head against hard knocks, do it i' mercy's name! I
+for one will stand thee back while thou art taking thy raps."
+
+There was a spirit of drollery in Gascoyne's speech that rubbed against
+Myles's earnestness.
+
+"Out upon it!" cried he, his patience giving way. "Seest not that I
+am in serious earnest? Why then dost thou still jest like Mad Noll, my
+Lord's fool? An thou wilt not lend me thine aid in this matter, say so
+and ha' done with it, and I will bethink me of somewhere else to turn."
+
+Then Gascoyne yielded at once, as he always did when his friend lost his
+temper, and having once assented to it, entered into the scheme heart
+and soul. Three other lads--one of them that tall thin squire Edmund
+Wilkes, before spoken of--were sounded upon the subject. They also
+entered into the plan of the secret organization with an enthusiasm
+which might perhaps not have been quite so glowing had they realized how
+very soon Myles designed embarking upon active practical operations.
+One day Myles and Gascoyne showed them the strange things that they
+had discovered in the old tower--the inner staircases, the winding
+passage-ways, the queer niches and cupboard, and the black shaft of a
+well that pierced down into the solid wall, and whence, perhaps, the old
+castle folk had one time drawn their supply of water in time of siege,
+and with every new wonder of the marvellous place the enthusiasm of the
+three recruits rose higher and higher. They rummaged through the lumber
+pile in the great circular room as Myles and Gascoyne had done, and at
+last, tired out, they ascended to the airy chapel, and there sat cooling
+themselves in the rustling freshness of the breeze that came blowing
+briskly in through the arched windows.
+
+It was then and there that the five discussed and finally determined
+upon the detailed plans of their organization, canvassing the names of
+the squirehood, and selecting from it a sufficient number of bold and
+daring spirits to make up a roll of twenty names in all.
+
+Gascoyne had, as I said, entered into the matter with spirit, and
+perhaps it was owing more to him than to any other that the project
+caught its delightful flavor of romance.
+
+"Perchance," said he, as the five lads lay in the rustling stillness
+through which sounded the monotonous and ceaseless cooing of the
+pigeons--"perchance there may be dwarfs and giants and dragons and
+enchanters and evil knights and what not even nowadays. And who knows
+but that if we Knights of the Rose hold together we may go forth into
+the world, and do battle with them, and save beautiful ladies, and
+have tales and gestes written about us as they are writ about the Seven
+Champions and Arthur his Round-table."
+
+Perhaps Myles, who lay silently listening to all that was said, was the
+only one who looked upon the scheme at all in the light of real utility,
+but I think that even with him the fun of the matter outweighed the
+serious part of the business.
+
+So it was that the Sacred Order of the Twenty Knights of the Rose
+came to be initiated. They appointed a code of secret passwords and
+countersigns which were very difficult to remember, and which were only
+used when they might excite the curiosity of the other and uninitiated
+boys by their mysterious sound. They elected Myles as their Grand High
+Commander, and held secret meetings in the ancient tower, where many
+mysteries were soberly enacted.
+
+Of course in a day or two all the body of squires knew nearly everything
+concerning the Knights of the Rose, and of their secret meetings in
+the old tower. The lucky twenty were the objects of envy of all not so
+fortunate as to be included in this number, and there was a marked air
+of secrecy about everything they did that appealed to every romantic
+notion of the youngsters looking on. What was the stormy outcome of it
+all is now presently to be told.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 12
+
+Thus it was that Myles, with an eye to open war with the bachelors,
+gathered a following to his support. It was some little while before
+matters were brought to a crisis--a week or ten days. Perhaps even Myles
+had no great desire to hasten matters. He knew that whenever war was
+declared, he himself would have to bear the brunt of the battle, and
+even the bravest man hesitates before deliberately thrusting himself
+into a fight.
+
+One morning Myles and Gascoyne and Wilkes sat under the shade of two
+trees, between which was a board nailed to the trunks, making a rude
+bench--always a favorite lounging-place for the lads in idle moments.
+Myles was polishing his bascinet with lard and wood-ashes, rubbing the
+metal with a piece of leather, and wiping it clean with a fustian rag.
+The other two, who had just been relieved from household duty, lay at
+length idly looking on.
+
+Just then one of the smaller pages, a boy of twelve or thirteen, by name
+Robin Ingoldsby, crossed the court. He had been crying; his face was red
+and blubbered, and his body was still shaken with convulsive sniffs.
+
+Myles looked up. "Come hither, Robin," he called from where he sat.
+"What is to do?"
+
+The little fellow came slowly up to where the three rested in the shade.
+"Mowbray beat me with a strap," said he, rubbing his sleeve across his
+eyes, and catching his breath at the recollection.
+
+"Beat thee, didst say?" said Myles, drawing his brows together. "Why did
+he beat thee?"
+
+"Because," said Robin, "I tarried overlong in fetching a pot of beer
+from the buttery for him and Wyatt." Then, with a boy's sudden and easy
+quickness in forgetting past troubles, "Tell me, Falworth," said he,
+"when wilt thou give me that knife thou promised me--the one thou break
+the blade of yesterday?"
+
+"I know not," said Myles, bluntly, vexed that the boy did not take
+the disgrace of his beating more to heart. "Some time soon, mayhap. Me
+thinks thou shouldst think more of thy beating than of a broken knife.
+Now get thee gone to thy business."
+
+The youngster lingered for a moment or two watching Myles at his work.
+"What is that on the leather scrap, Falworth?" said he, curiously.
+
+"Lard and ashes," said Myles, testily. "Get thee gone, I say, or I
+will crack thy head for thee;" and he picked up a block of wood, with a
+threatening gesture.
+
+The youngster made a hideous grimace, and then scurried away, ducking
+his head, lest in spite of Myles's well-known good-nature the block
+should come whizzing after him.
+
+"Hear ye that now!" cried Myles, flinging down the block again and
+turning to his two friends. "Beaten with straps because, forsooth, he
+would not fetch and carry quickly enough to please the haste of these
+bachelors. Oh, this passeth patience, and I for one will bear it no
+longer."
+
+"Nay, Myles," said Gascoyne, soothingly, "the little imp is as lazy as a
+dormouse and as mischievous as a monkey. I'll warrant the hiding was his
+due, and that more of the like would do him good."
+
+"Why, how dost thou talk, Francis!" said Myles, turning upon him
+indignantly. "Thou knowest that thou likest to see the boy beaten no
+more than I." Then, after a meditative pause, "How many, think ye, we
+muster of our company of the Rose today?"
+
+Wilkes looked doubtfully at Gascoyne. "There be only seventeen of us
+here now," said he at last. "Brinton and Lambourne are away to Roby
+Castle in Lord George's train, and will not be back till Saturday next.
+And Watt Newton is in the infirmary.
+
+"Seventeen be'st enou," said Myles, grimly. "Let us get together this
+afternoon, such as may, in the Brutus Tower, for I, as I did say, will
+no longer suffer these vile bachelors."
+
+Gascoyne and Wilkes exchanged looks, and then the former blew a long
+whistle.
+
+So that afternoon a gloomy set of young faces were gathered together in
+the Eyry--fifteen of the Knights of the Rose--and all knew why they were
+assembled. The talk which followed was conducted mostly by Myles. He
+addressed the others with a straightforward vim and earnestness, but the
+response was only half-hearted, and when at last, having heated himself
+up with his own fire, he sat down, puffing out his red cheeks and
+glaring round, a space of silence followed, the lads looked doubtfully
+at one another. Myles felt the chill of their silence strike coldly on
+his enthusiasm, and it vexed him.
+
+"What wouldst thou do, Falworth?" said one of the knights, at last.
+"Wouldst have us open a quarrel with the bachelors?"
+
+"Nay," said Myles, gruffly. "I had thought that ye would all lend me a
+hand in a pitched battle but now I see that ye ha' no stomach for that.
+Ne'theless, I tell ye plainly I will not submit longer to the bachelors.
+So now I will ask ye not to take any venture upon yourselves, but only
+this: that ye will stand by me when I do my fighting, and not let five
+or seven of them fall upon me at once.
+
+"There is Walter Blunt; he is parlous strong," said one of the others,
+after a time of silence. "Methinks he could conquer any two of us."
+
+"Nay," said Myles; "ye do fear him too greatly. I tell ye I fear not to
+stand up to try battle with him and will do so, too, if the need arise.
+Only say ye that ye will stand by my back."
+
+"Marry," said Gascoyne, quaintly, "an thou wilt dare take the heavy end
+upon thee, I for one am willing to stand by and see that thou have thy
+fill of fighting."
+
+"I too will stand thee by, Myles," said Edmund Wilkes.
+
+"And I, and I, and I," said others, chiming in.
+
+Those who would still have held back were carried along by the stream,
+and so it was settled that if the need should arise for Myles to do
+a bit of fighting, the others should stand by to see that he had fair
+play.
+
+"When thinkest thou that thou wilt take thy stand against them, Myles?"
+asked Wilkes.
+
+Myles hesitated a moment. "To-morrow," said he, grimly.
+
+Several of the lads whistled softly.
+
+Gascoyne was prepared for an early opening of the war, but perhaps not
+for such an early opening as this. "By 'r Lady, Myles, thou art hungry
+for brawling," said he.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 13
+
+After the first excitement of meeting, discussing, and deciding had
+passed, Myles began to feel the weight of the load he had so boldly
+taken upon himself. He began to reckon what a serious thing it was for
+him to stand as a single champion against the tyranny that had grown
+so strong through years of custom. Had he let himself do so, he might
+almost have repented, but it was too late now for repentance. He had
+laid his hand to the plough, and he must drive the furrow.
+
+Somehow the news of impending battle had leaked out among the rest of
+the body of squires, and a buzz of suppressed excitement hummed through
+the dormitory that evening. The bachelors, to whom, no doubt, vague
+rumors had been blown, looked lowering, and talked together in low
+voices, standing apart in a group. Some of them made a rather marked
+show of secreting knives in the straw of their beds, and no doubt it had
+its effect upon more than one young heart that secretly thrilled at the
+sight of the shining blades. However, all was undisturbed that evening.
+The lights were put out, and the lads retired with more than usual
+quietness, only for the murmur of whispering.
+
+All night Myles's sleep was more or less disturbed by dreams in which he
+was now conquering, now being conquered, and before the day had fairly
+broken he was awake. He lay upon his cot, keying himself up for the
+encounter which he had set upon himself to face, and it would not be
+the truth to say that the sight of those knives hidden in the straw
+the night before had made no impression upon him. By-and-by he knew the
+others were beginning to awake, for he heard them softly stirring, and
+as the light grew broad and strong, saw them arise, one by one, and
+begin dressing in the gray morning. Then he himself arose and put on his
+doublet and hose, strapping his belt tightly about his waist; then he
+sat down on the side of his cot.
+
+Presently that happened for which he was waiting; two of the younger
+squires started to bring the bachelors' morning supply of water. As they
+crossed the room Myles called to them in a loud voice--a little uneven,
+perhaps: "Stop! We draw no more water for any one in this house, saving
+only for ourselves. Set ye down those buckets, and go back to your
+places!"
+
+The two lads stopped, half turned, and then stood still, holding the
+three buckets undecidedly.
+
+In a moment all was uproar and confusion, for by this time every one
+of the lads had arisen, some sitting on the edge of their beds, some
+nearly, others quite dressed. A half-dozen of the Knights of the Rose
+came over to where Myles stood, gathering in a body behind him and the
+others followed, one after another.
+
+The bachelors were hardly prepared for such prompt and vigorous action.
+
+"What is to do?" cried one of them, who stood near the two lads with the
+buckets. "Why fetch ye not the water?"
+
+"Falworth says we shall not fetch it," answered one of the lads, a boy
+by the name of Gosse.
+
+"What mean ye by that, Falworth?" the young man called to Myles.
+
+Myles's heart was beating thickly and heavily within him, but
+nevertheless he spoke up boldly enough. "I mean," said he, "that from
+henceforth ye shall fetch and carry for yourselves."
+
+"Look'ee, Blunt," called the bachelor; "here is Falworth says they
+squires will fetch no more water for us."
+
+The head bachelor had heard all that had passed, and was even then
+hastily slipping on his doublet and hose. "Now, then, Falworth," said he
+at last, striding forward, "what is to do? Ye will fetch no more water,
+eh? By 'r Lady, I will know the reason why."
+
+He was still advancing towards Myles, with two or three of the older
+bachelors at his heels, when Gascoyne spoke.
+
+"Thou hadst best stand back, Blunt," said he, "else thou mayst be hurt.
+We will not have ye bang Falworth again as ye once did, so stand thou
+back!"
+
+Blunt stopped short and looked upon the lads standing behind Myles, some
+of them with faces a trifle pale perhaps, but all grim and determined
+looking enough. Then he turned upon his heel suddenly, and walked back
+to the far end of the dormitory, where the bachelors were presently
+clustered together. A few words passed between them, and then the
+thirteen began at once arming themselves, some with wooden clogs,
+and some with the knives which they had so openly concealed the
+night before. At the sign of imminent battle, all those not actively
+interested scuttled away to right and left, climbing up on the benches
+and cots, and leaving a free field to the combatants. The next moment
+would have brought bloodshed.
+
+Now Myles, thanks to the training of the Crosbey-Dale smith, felt
+tolerably sure that in a wrestling bout he was a match--perhaps more
+than a match--for any one of the body of squires, and he had determined,
+if possible, to bring the battle to a single-handed encounter upon that
+footing. Accordingly he suddenly stepped forward before the others.
+
+"Look'ee, fellow," he called to Blunt, "thou art he who struck me whilst
+I was down some while since. Wilt thou let this quarrel stand between
+thee and me, and meet me man to man without weapon? See, I throw me
+down mine own, and will meet thee with bare hands." And as he spoke, he
+tossed the clog he held in his hand back upon the cot.
+
+"So be it," said Blunt, with great readiness, tossing down a similar
+weapon which he himself held.
+
+"Do not go, Myles," cried Gascoyne, "he is a villain and a traitor, and
+would betray thee to thy death. I saw him when he first gat from bed
+hide a knife in his doublet."
+
+"Thou liest!" said Blunt. "I swear, by my faith, I be barehanded as ye
+see me! Thy friend accuses me, Myles Falworth, because he knoweth thou
+art afraid of me."
+
+"There thou liest most vilely!" exclaimed Myles. "Swear that thou hast
+no knife, and I will meet thee."
+
+"Hast thou not heard me say that I have no knife?" said Blunt. "What
+more wouldst thou have?"
+
+"Then I will meet thee halfway," said Myles.
+
+Gascoyne caught him by the sleeve, and would have withheld him, assuring
+him that he had seen the bachelor conceal a knife. But Myles, hot for
+the fight, broke away from his friend without listening to him.
+
+As the two advanced steadily towards one another a breathless silence
+fell upon the dormitory in sharp contrast to the uproar and confusion
+that had filled it a moment before. The lads, standing some upon
+benches, some upon beds, all watched with breathless interest the
+meeting of the two champions.
+
+As they approached one another they stopped and stood for a moment a
+little apart, glaring the one upon the other. They seemed ill enough
+matched; Blunt was fully half a head taller than Myles, and was
+thick-set and close-knit in young manhood. Nothing but Myles's undaunted
+pluck could have led him to dare to face an enemy so much older and
+stouter than himself.
+
+The pause was only for a moment. They who looked saw Blunt slide his
+hand furtively towards his bosom. Myles saw too, and in the flash of an
+instant knew what the gesture meant, and sprang upon the other before
+the hand could grasp what it sought. As he clutched his enemy he felt
+what he had in that instant expected to feel--the handle of a dagger.
+The next moment he cried, in a loud voice: "Oh, thou villain! Help,
+Gascoyne! He hath a knife under his doublet!"
+
+In answer to his cry for help, Myles's friends started to his aid. But
+the bachelors shouted, "Stand back and let them fight it out alone, else
+we will knife ye too." And as they spoke, some of them leaped from the
+benches whereon they stood, drawing their knives and flourishing them.
+
+For just a few seconds Myles's friends stood cowed, and in those few
+seconds the fight came to an end with a suddenness unexpected to all.
+
+A struggle fierce and silent followed between the two; Blunt striving
+to draw his knife, and Myles, with the energy of despair, holding him
+tightly by the wrist. It was in vain the elder lad writhed and twisted;
+he was strong enough to overbear Myles, but still was not able to clutch
+the haft of his knife.
+
+"Thou shalt not draw it!" gasped Myles at last. "Thou shalt not stab
+me!"
+
+Then again some of his friends started forward to his aid, but they were
+not needed, for before they came, the fight was over.
+
+Blunt, finding that he was not able to draw the weapon, suddenly ceased
+his endeavors, and flung his arms around Myles, trying to bear him down
+upon the ground, and in that moment his battle was lost.
+
+In an instant--so quick, so sudden, so unexpected that no one could see
+how it happened--his feet were whirled away from under him, he spun with
+flying arms across Myles's loins, and pitched with a thud upon the stone
+pavement, where he lay still, motionless, while Myles, his face white
+with passion and his eyes gleaming, stood glaring around like a young
+wild-boar beset by the dogs.
+
+The next moment the silence was broken, and the uproar broke forth
+with redoubled violence. The bachelors, leaping from the benches, came
+hurrying forward on one side, and Myles's friends from the other.
+
+"Thou shalt smart for this, Falworth," said one of the older lads.
+"Belike thou hast slain him!"
+
+Myles turned upon the speaker like a flash, and with such a passion of
+fury in his face that the other, a fellow nearly a head taller than he,
+shrank back, cowed in spite of himself. Then Gascoyne came and laid his
+hand on his friend's shoulder.
+
+"Who touches me?" cried Myles, hoarsely, turning sharply upon him; and
+then, seeing who it was, "Oh, Francis, they would ha' killed me!"
+
+"Come away, Myles," said Gascoyne; "thou knowest not what thou doest;
+thou art mad; come away. What if thou hadst killed him?"
+
+The words called Myles somewhat to himself. "I care not!" said he, but
+sullenly and not passionately, and then he suffered Gascoyne and Wilkes
+to lead him away.
+
+Meantime Blunt's friends had turned him over, and, after feeling his
+temples, his wrist, and his heart, bore him away to a bench at the far
+end of the room. There they fell to chafing his hands and sprinkling
+water in his face, a crowd of the others gathering about. Blunt was
+hidden from Myles by those who stood around, and the lad listened to the
+broken talk that filled the room with its confusion, his anxiety growing
+keener as he became cooler. But at last, with a heartfelt joy, he
+gathered from the confused buzz of words that the other lad had opened
+his eyes and, after a while, he saw him sit up, leaning his head upon
+the shoulder of one of his fellow-bachelors, white and faint and sick as
+death.
+
+"Thank Heaven that thou didst not kill him!" said Edmund Wilkes, who
+had been standing with the crowd looking on at the efforts of Blunt's
+friends to revive him, and who had now come and sat down upon the bed
+not far from Myles.
+
+"Aye," said Myles, gruffly, "I do thank Heaven for that."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 14
+
+If Myles fancied that one single victory over his enemy would cure the
+evil against which he fought, he was grievously mistaken; wrongs are not
+righted so easily as that. It was only the beginning. Other and far more
+bitter battles lay before him ere he could look around him and say, "I
+have won the victory."
+
+For a day--for two days--the bachelors were demoralized at the fall of
+their leader, and the Knights of the Rose were proportionately uplifted.
+
+The day that Blunt met his fall, the wooden tank in which the water
+had been poured every morning was found to have been taken away. The
+bachelors made a great show of indignation and inquiry. Who was it stole
+their tank? If they did but know, he should smart for it.
+
+"Ho! ho!" roared Edmund Wilkes, so that the whole dormitory heard him,
+"smoke ye not their tricks, lads? See ye not that they have stolen their
+own water-tank, so that they might have no need for another fight over
+the carrying of the water?"
+
+The bachelors made an obvious show of not having heard what he said, and
+a general laugh went around. No one doubted that Wilkes had spoken the
+truth in his taunt, and that the bachelors had indeed stolen their own
+tank. So no more water was ever carried for the head squires, but it was
+plain to see that the war for the upperhand was not yet over.
+
+Even if Myles had entertained comforting thoughts to the contrary, he
+was speedily undeceived. One morning, about a week after the fight, as
+he and Gascoyne were crossing the armory court, they were hailed by
+a group of the bachelors standing at the stone steps of the great
+building.
+
+"Holloa, Falworth!" they cried. "Knowest thou that Blunt is nigh well
+again?"
+
+"Nay," said Myles, "I knew it not. But I am right glad to hear it."
+
+"Thou wilt sing a different song anon," said one of the bachelors. "I
+tell thee he is hot against thee, and swears when he cometh again he
+will carve thee soothly."
+
+"Aye, marry!" said another. "I would not be in thy skin a week hence for
+a ducat! Only this morning he told Philip Mowbray that he would have thy
+blood for the fall thou gavest him. Look to thyself, Falworth; he cometh
+again Wednesday or Thursday next; thou standest in a parlous state."
+
+"Myles," said Gascoyne, as they entered the great quadrangle, "I do
+indeed fear me that he meaneth to do thee evil."
+
+"I know not," said Myles, boldly; "but I fear him not." Nevertheless his
+heart was heavy with the weight of impending ill.
+
+One evening the bachelors were more than usually noisy in their end of
+the dormitory, laughing and talking and shouting to one another.
+
+"Holloa, you sirrah, Falworth!" called one of them along the length of
+the room. "Blunt cometh again to-morrow day."
+
+Myles saw Gascoyne direct a sharp glance at him; but he answered nothing
+either to his enemy's words or his friend's look.
+
+As the bachelor had said, Blunt came the next morning. It was just after
+chapel, and the whole body of squires was gathered in the armory waiting
+for the orders of the day and the calling of the roll of those chosen
+for household duty. Myles was sitting on a bench along the wall, talking
+and jesting with some who stood by, when of a sudden his heart gave a
+great leap within him.
+
+It was Walter Blunt. He came walking in at the door as if nothing had
+passed, and at his unexpected coming the hubbub of talk and laughter
+was suddenly checked. Even Myles stopped in his speech for a moment, and
+then continued with a beating heart and a carelessness of manner that
+was altogether assumed. In his hand Blunt carried the house orders for
+the day, and without seeming to notice Myles, he opened it and read the
+list of those called upon for household service.
+
+Myles had risen, and was now standing listening with the others. When
+Blunt had ended reading the list of names, he rolled up the parchment,
+and thrust it into his belt; then swinging suddenly on his heel, he
+strode straight up to Myles, facing him front to front. A moment or two
+of deep silence followed; not a sound broke the stillness. When Blunt
+spoke every one in the armory heard his words.
+
+"Sirrah!" said he, "thou didst put foul shame upon me some time sin.
+Never will I forget or forgive that offence, and will have a reckoning
+with thee right soon that thou wilt not forget to the last day of thy
+life."
+
+When Myles had seen his enemy turn upon him, he did not know at first
+what to expect; he would not have been surprised had they come to blows
+there and then, and he held himself prepared for any event. He faced
+the other pluckily enough and without flinching, and spoke up boldly in
+answer. "So be it, Walter Blunt; I fear thee not in whatever way thou
+mayst encounter me."
+
+"Dost thou not?" said Blunt. "By'r Lady, thou'lt have cause to fear me
+ere I am through with thee." He smiled a baleful, lingering smile, and
+then turned slowly and walked away.
+
+"What thinkest thou, Myles?" said Gascoyne, as the two left the armory
+together.
+
+"I think naught," said Myles gruffly. "He will not dare to touch me
+to harm me. I fear him not." Nevertheless, he did not speak the full
+feelings of his heart.
+
+"I know not, Myles," said Gascoyne, shaking his head doubtfully. "Walter
+Blunt is a parlous evil-minded knave, and methinks will do whatever evil
+he promiseth."
+
+"I fear him not," said Myles again; but his heart foreboded trouble.
+
+The coming of the head squire made a very great change in the condition
+of affairs. Even before that coming the bachelors had somewhat recovered
+from their demoralization, and now again they began to pluck up their
+confidence and to order the younger squires and pages upon this personal
+service or upon that.
+
+"See ye not," said Myles one day, when the Knights of the Rose were
+gathered in the Brutus Tower--"see ye not that they grow as bad as ever?
+An we put not a stop to this overmastery now, it will never stop."
+
+"Best let it be, Myles," said Wilkes. "They will kill thee an thou cease
+not troubling them. Thou hast bred mischief enow for thyself already."
+
+"No matter for that," said Myles; "it is not to be borne that they order
+others of us about as they do. I mean to speak to them to-night, and
+tell them it shall not be."
+
+He was as good as his word. That night, as the youngsters were shouting
+and romping and skylarking, as they always did before turning in, he
+stood upon his cot and shouted: "Silence! List to me a little!" And
+then, in the hush that followed--"I want those bachelors to hear this:
+that we squires serve them no longer, and if they would ha' some to wait
+upon them, they must get them otherwheres than here. There be twenty of
+us to stand against them and haply more, and we mean that they shall ha'
+service of us no more."
+
+Then he jumped down again from his elevated stand, and an uproar of
+confusion instantly filled the place. What was the effect of his words
+upon the bachelors he could not see. What was the result he was not slow
+in discovering.
+
+The next day Myles and Gascoyne were throwing their daggers for a
+wager at a wooden target against the wall back of the armorer's smithy.
+Wilkes, Gosse, and one or two others of the squires were sitting on
+a bench looking on, and now and then applauding a more than usually
+well-aimed cast of the knife. Suddenly that impish little page spoken of
+before, Robin Ingoldsby, thrust his shock head around the corner of
+the smithy, and said: "Ho, Falworth! Blunt is going to serve thee out
+to-day, and I myself heard him say so. He says he is going to slit thine
+ears." And then he was gone as suddenly as he had appeared.
+
+Myles darted after him, caught him midway in the quadrangle, and brought
+him back by the scuff of the neck, squalling and struggling.
+
+"There!" said he, still panting from the chase and seating the boy by no
+means gently upon the bench beside Wilkes. "Sit thou there, thou imp of
+evil! And now tell me what thou didst mean by thy words anon--an thou
+stop not thine outcry, I will cut thy throat for thee," and he made a
+ferocious gesture with his dagger.
+
+It was by no means easy to worm the story from the mischievous little
+monkey; he knew Myles too well to be in the least afraid of his threats.
+But at last, by dint of bribing and coaxing, Myles and his friends
+managed to get at the facts. The youngster had been sent to clean the
+riding-boots of one of the bachelors, instead of which he had lolled
+idly on a cot in the dormitory, until he had at last fallen asleep. He
+had been awakened by the opening of the dormitory door and by the sound
+of voices--among them was that of his taskmaster. Fearing punishment for
+his neglected duty, he had slipped out of the cot, and hidden himself
+beneath it.
+
+Those who had entered were Walter Blunt and three of the older
+bachelors. Blunt's companions were trying to persuade him against
+something, but without avail. It was--Myles's heart thrilled and his
+blood boiled--to lie in wait for him, to overpower him by numbers,
+and to mutilate him by slitting his ears--a disgraceful punishment
+administered, as a rule, only for thieving and poaching.
+
+"He would not dare to do such a thing!" cried Myles, with heaving breast
+and flashing eyes.
+
+"Aye, but he would," said Gascoyne. "His father, Lord Reginald Blunt,
+is a great man over Nottingham way, and my Lord would not dare to punish
+him even for such a matter as that. But tell me, Robin Ingoldsby, dost
+know aught more of this matter? Prithee tell it me, Robin. Where do they
+propose to lie in wait for Falworth?"
+
+"In the gate-way of the Buttery Court, so as to catch him when he passes
+by to the armory," answered the boy.
+
+"Are they there now?" said Wilkes.
+
+"Aye, nine of them," said Robin. "I heard Blunt tell Mowbray to go and
+gather the others. He heard thee tell Gosse, Falworth, that thou wert
+going thither for thy arbalist this morn to shoot at the rooks withal."
+
+"That will do, Robin," said Myles. "Thou mayst go."
+
+And therewith the little imp scurried off, pulling the lobes of his ears
+suggestively as he darted around the corner.
+
+The others looked at one another for a while in silence.
+
+"So, comrades," said Myles at last, "what shall we do now?"
+
+"Go, and tell Sir James," said Gascoyne, promptly.
+
+"Nay," said Myles, "I take no such coward's part as that. I say an they
+hunger to fight, give them their stomachful."
+
+The others were very reluctant for such extreme measures, but Myles, as
+usual, carried his way, and so a pitched battle was decided upon. It was
+Gascoyne who suggested the plan which they afterwards followed.
+
+Then Wilkes started away to gather together those of the Knights of the
+Rose not upon household duty, and Myles, with the others, went to the
+armor smith to have him make for them a set of knives with which to meet
+their enemies--knives with blades a foot long, pointed and double-edged.
+
+The smith, leaning with his hammer upon the anvil, listened to them as
+they described the weapons.
+
+"Nay, nay, Master Myles," said he, when Myles had ended by telling the
+use to which he intended putting them. "Thou art going all wrong in this
+matter. With such blades, ere this battle is ended, some one would be
+slain, and so murder done. Then the family of him who was killed would
+haply have ye cited, and mayhap it might e'en come to the hanging, for
+some of they boys ha' great folkeys behind them. Go ye to Tom Fletcher,
+Master Myles, and buy of him good yew staves, such as one might break a
+head withal, and with them, gin ye keep your wits, ye may hold your own
+against knives or short swords. I tell thee, e'en though my trade be
+making of blades, rather would I ha' a good stout cudgel in my hand than
+the best dagger that ever was forged."
+
+Myles stood thoughtfully for a moment or two; then, looking up,
+"Methinks thou speaketh truly, Robin," said he; "and it were ill done to
+have blood upon our hands."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 15
+
+From the long, narrow stone-paved Armory Court, and connecting it with
+the inner Buttery Court, ran a narrow arched passage-way, in which was
+a picket-gate, closed at night and locked from within. It was in this
+arched passage-way that, according to little Robert Ingoldsby's report,
+the bachelors were lying in wait for Myles. Gascoyne's plan was that
+Myles should enter the court alone, the Knights of the Rose lying
+ambushed behind the angle of the armory building until the bachelors
+should show themselves.
+
+It was not without trepidation that Myles walked alone into the court,
+which happened then to be silent and empty. His heart beat more quickly
+than it was wont, and he gripped his cudgel behind his back, looking
+sharply this way and that, so as not to be taken unawares by a flank
+movement of his enemies. Midway in the court he stopped and hesitated
+for a moment; then he turned as though to enter the armory. The next
+moment he saw the bachelors come pouring out from the archway.
+
+Instantly he turned and rushed back towards where his friends lay
+hidden, shouting: "To the rescue! To the rescue!"
+
+"Stone him!" roared Blunt. "The villain escapes!"
+
+He stopped and picked up a cobble-stone as he spoke, flinging it after
+his escaping prey. It narrowly missed Myles's head; had it struck him,
+there might have been no more of this story to tell.
+
+"To the rescue! To the rescue!" shouted Myles's friends in answer, and
+the next moment he was surrounded by them. Then he turned, and swinging
+his cudgel, rushed back upon his foes.
+
+The bachelors stopped short at the unexpected sight of the lads with
+their cudgels. For a moment they rallied and drew their knives; then
+they turned and fled towards their former place of hiding.
+
+One of them turned for a moment, and flung his knife at Myles with a
+deadly aim; but Myles, quick as a cat, ducked his body, and the weapon
+flew clattering across the stony court. Then he who had flung it turned
+again to fly, but in his attempt he had delayed one instant too long.
+Myles reached him with a long-arm stroke of his cudgel just as he
+entered the passage-way, knocking him over like a bottle, stunned and
+senseless.
+
+The next moment the picket-gate was banged in their faces and the bolt
+shot in the staples, and the Knights of the Rose were left shouting and
+battering with their cudgels against the palings.
+
+By this time the uproar of fight had aroused those in the rooms and
+offices fronting upon the Armory Court; heads were thrust from many of
+the windows with the eager interest that a fight always evokes.
+
+"Beware!" shouted Myles. "Here they come again!" He bore back towards
+the entrance of the alley-way as he spoke, those behind him scattering
+to right and left, for the bachelors had rallied, and were coming again
+to the attack, shouting.
+
+They were not a moment too soon in this retreat, either, for the next
+instant the pickets flew open, and a volley of stones flew after the
+retreating Knights of the Rose. One smote Wilkes upon the head,
+knocking him down headlong. Another struck Myles upon his left shoulder,
+benumbing his arm from the finger-tips to the armpit, so that he thought
+at first the limb was broken.
+
+"Get ye behind the buttresses!" shouted those who looked down upon the
+fight from the windows--"get ye behind the buttresses!" And in answer
+the lads, scattering like a newly-flushed covey of partridges, fled
+to and crouched in the sheltering angles of masonry to escape from the
+flying stones.
+
+And now followed a lull in the battle, the bachelors fearing to leave
+the protection of the arched passage-way lest their retreat should be
+cut off, and the Knights of the Rose not daring to quit the shelter of
+the buttresses and angles of the wall lest they should be knocked down
+by the stones.
+
+The bachelor whom Myles had struck down with his cudgel was sitting up
+rubbing the back of his head, and Wilkes had gathered his wits enough to
+crawl to the shelter of the nearest buttress. Myles, peeping around the
+corner behind which he stood, could see that the bachelors were gathered
+into a little group consulting together. Suddenly it broke asunder, and
+Blunt turned around.
+
+"Ho, Falworth!" he cried. "Wilt thou hold truce whiles we parley with
+ye?"
+
+"Aye," answered Myles.
+
+"Wilt thou give me thine honor that ye will hold your hands from harming
+us whiles we talk together?"
+
+"Yea," said Myles, "I will pledge thee mine honor."
+
+"I accept thy pledge. See! here we throw aside our stones and lay
+down our knives. Lay ye by your clubs, and meet us in parley at the
+horse-block yonder."
+
+"So be it," said Myles, and thereupon, standing his cudgel in the angle
+of the wall, he stepped boldly out into the open court-yard. Those of
+his party came scatteringly from right and left, gathering about him;
+and the bachelors advanced in a body, led by the head squire.
+
+"Now what is it thou wouldst have, Walter Blunt?" said Myles, when both
+parties had met at the horse-block.
+
+"It is to say this to thee, Myles Falworth," said the other. "One time,
+not long sin, thou didst challenge me to meet thee hand to hand in the
+dormitory. Then thou didst put a vile affront upon me, for the which I
+ha' brought on this battle to-day, for I knew not then that thou wert
+going to try thy peasant tricks of wrestling, and so, without guarding
+myself, I met thee as thou didst desire."
+
+"But thou hadst thy knife, and would have stabbed him couldst thou ha'
+done so," said Gascoyne.
+
+"Thou liest!" said Blunt. "I had no knife." And then, without giving
+time to answer, "Thou canst not deny that I met thee then at thy
+bidding, canst thou, Falworth?"
+
+"Nay," said Myles, "nor haply canst thou deny it either." And at this
+covert reminder of his defeat Myles's followers laughed scoffingly and
+Blunt bit his lip.
+
+"Thou hast said it," said he. "Then sin. I met thee at thy bidding,
+I dare to thee to meet me now at mine, and to fight this battle out
+between our two selves, with sword and buckler and bascinet as gentles
+should, and not in a wrestling match like two country hodges."
+
+"Thou art a coward caitiff, Walter Blunt!" burst out Wilkes, who stood
+by with a swelling lump upon his head, already as big as a walnut. "Well
+thou knowest that Falworth is no match for thee at broadsword play. Is
+he not four years younger than thou, and hast thou not had three times
+the practice in arms that he hath had? I say thou art a coward to seek
+to fight with cutting weapons."
+
+Blunt made no answer to Wilkes's speech, but gazed steadfastly at Myles,
+with a scornful smile curling the corners of his lips. Myles stood
+looking upon the ground without once lifting his eyes, not knowing what
+to answer, for he was well aware that he was no match for Blunt with the
+broadsword.
+
+"Thou art afraid to fight me, Myles Falworth," said Blunt, tauntingly,
+and the bachelors gave a jeering laugh in echo.
+
+Then Myles looked up, and I cannot say that his face was not a trifle
+whiter than usual. "Nay," said he, "I am not afraid, and I will fight
+thee, Blunt."
+
+"So be it," said Blunt. "Then let us go at it straightway in the armory
+yonder, for they be at dinner in the Great Hall, and just now there
+be'st no one by to stay us."
+
+"Thou shalt not fight him, Myles!" burst out Gascoyne. "He will murther
+thee! Thou shalt not fight him, I say!"
+
+Myles turned away without answering him.
+
+"What is to do?" called one of those who were still looking out of the
+windows as the crowd of boys passed beneath.
+
+"Blunt and Falworth are going to fight it out hand to hand in the
+armory," answered one of the bachelors, looking up.
+
+The brawling of the squires was a jest to all the adjoining part of the
+house. So the heads were withdrawn again, some laughing at the "sparring
+of the cockerels."
+
+But it was no jesting matter to poor Myles.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 16
+
+I have no intention to describe the fight between Myles Falworth and
+Walter Blunt. Fisticuffs of nowadays are brutal and debasing enough, but
+a fight with a sharp-edged broadsword was not only brutal and debasing,
+but cruel and bloody as well.
+
+From the very first of the fight Myles Falworth was palpably and
+obviously overmatched. After fifteen minutes had passed, Blunt stood
+hale and sound as at first; but poor Myles had more than one red stain
+of warm blood upon doublet and hose, and more than one bandage had been
+wrapped by Gascoyne and Wilkes about sore wounds.
+
+He had received no serious injury as yet, for not only was his body
+protected by a buckler, or small oblong shield, which he carried upon
+his left arm, and his head by a bascinet, or light helmet of steel, but
+perhaps, after all, Blunt was not over-anxious to do him any dangerous
+harm. Nevertheless, there could be but one opinion as to how the fight
+tended, and Myles's friends were gloomy and downcast; the bachelors
+proportionately exultant, shouting with laughter, and taunting Myles at
+every unsuccessful stroke.
+
+Once, as he drew back panting, leaning upon Gascoyne's shoulder, the
+faithful friend whispered, with trembling lips: "Oh, dear Myles, carry
+it no further. Thou hurtest him not, and he will slay thee ere he have
+done with thee."
+
+Thereupon Blunt, who caught the drift of the speech, put in a word.
+"Thou art sore hurt, Myles Falworth," said he, "and I would do thee no
+grievous harm. Yield thee and own thyself beaten, and I will forgive
+thee. Thou hast fought a good fight, and there is no shame in yielding
+now."
+
+"Never!" cried Myles, hoarsely--"never will I yield me! Thou mayst slay
+me, Walter Blunt, and I reck not if thou dost do so, but never else wilt
+thou conquer me."
+
+There was a tone of desperation in his voice that made all look serious.
+
+"Nay," said Blunt; "I will fight thee no more, Myles Falworth; thou hast
+had enough."
+
+"By heavens!" cried Myles, grinding his teeth, "thou shalt fight me,
+thou coward! Thou hast brought this fight upon us, and either thou or I
+get our quittance here. Let go, Gascoyne!" he cried, shaking loose his
+friend's hold; "I tell thee he shall fight me!"
+
+From that moment Blunt began to lose his head. No doubt he had not
+thought of such a serious fight as this when he had given his challenge,
+and there was a savage bull-dog tenacity about Myles that could not but
+have had a somewhat demoralizing effect upon him.
+
+A few blows were given and taken, and then Myles's friends gave a shout.
+Blunt drew back, and placed his hand to his shoulder. When he drew
+it away again it was stained with red, and another red stain grew and
+spread rapidly down the sleeve of his jacket. He stared at his hand for
+a moment with a half-dazed look, and then glanced quickly to right and
+left.
+
+"I will fight no more," said he, sullenly.
+
+"Then yield thee!" cried Myles, exultantly.
+
+The triumphant shouts of the Knights of the Rose stung Blunt like a
+lash, and the battle began again. Perhaps some of the older lads were of
+a mind to interfere at this point, certainly some looked very serious,
+but before they interposed, the fight was ended.
+
+Blunt, grinding his teeth, struck one undercut at his opponent--the
+same undercut that Myles had that time struck at Sir James Lee at the
+knight's bidding when he first practised at the Devlen pels. Myles
+met the blow as Sir James had met the blow that he had given, and then
+struck in return as Sir James had struck--full and true. The bascinet
+that Blunt wore glanced the blow partly, but not entirely. Myles felt
+his sword bite through the light steel cap, and Blunt dropped his own
+blade clattering upon the floor. It was all over in an instant, but in
+that instant what he saw was stamped upon Myles's mind with an indelible
+imprint. He saw the young man stagger backward; he saw the eyes roll
+upward; and a red streak shoot out from under the cap and run down
+across the cheek.
+
+Blunt reeled half around, and then fell prostrate upon his face; and
+Myles stood staring at him with the delirious turmoil of his battle
+dissolving rapidly into a dumb fear at that which he had done.
+
+Once again he had won the victory--but what a victory! "Is he dead?" he
+whispered to Gascoyne.
+
+"I know not," said Gascoyne, with a very pale face. "But come away,
+Myles." And he led his friend out of the room.
+
+Some little while later one of the bachelors came to the dormitory where
+Myles, his wounds smarting and aching and throbbing, lay stretched upon
+his cot, and with a very serious face bade him to go presently to Sir
+James, who had just come from dinner, and was then in his office.
+
+By this time Myles knew that he had not slain his enemy, and his heart
+was light in spite of the coming interview. There was no one in
+the office but Sir James and himself, and Myles, without concealing
+anything, told, point by point, the whole trouble. Sir James sat looking
+steadily at him for a while after he had ended.
+
+"Never," said he, presently, "did I know any one of ye squires, in all
+the time that I have been here, get himself into so many broils as thou,
+Myles Falworth. Belike thou sought to take this lad's life."
+
+"Nay," said Myles, earnestly; "God forbid!"
+
+"Ne'theless," said Sir James, "thou fetched him a main shrewd blow; and
+it is by good hap, and no fault of thine, that he will live to do more
+mischief yet. This is thy second venture at him; the third time, haply,
+thou wilt end him for good." Then suddenly assuming his grimmest and
+sternest manner: "Now, sirrah, do I put a stop to this, and no more
+shall ye fight with edged tools. Get thee to the dormitory, and abide
+there a full week without coming forth. Michael shall bring thee bread
+and water twice a day for that time. That is all the food thou shalt
+have, and we will see if that fare will not cool thy hot humors withal."
+
+Myles had expected a punishment so much more severe than that which was
+thus meted to him, that in the sudden relief he broke into a convulsive
+laugh, and then, with a hasty sweep, wiped a brimming moisture from his
+eyes.
+
+Sir James looked keenly at him for a moment. "Thou art white i' the
+face," said he. "Art thou wounded very sorely?"
+
+"Nay" said Myles, "it is not much; but I be sick in my stomach."
+
+"Aye, aye," said Sir James; "I know that feeling well. It is thus
+that one always feeleth in coming out from a sore battle when one hath
+suffered wounds and lost blood. An thou wouldst keep thyself hale, keep
+thyself from needless fighting. Now go thou to the dormitory, and, as I
+said, come thou not forth again for a week. Stay, sirrah!" he added; "I
+will send Georgebarber to thee to look to thy sores. Green wounds are
+best drawn and salved ere they grow cold."
+
+I wonder what Myles would have thought had he known that so soon as
+he had left the office, Sir James had gone straight to the Earl and
+recounted the whole matter to him, with a deal of dry gusto, and that
+the Earl listened laughing.
+
+"Aye," said he, when Sir James had done, "the boy hath mettle, sure.
+Nevertheless, we must transplant this fellow Blunt to the office of
+gentleman-in-waiting. He must be old enough now, and gin he stayeth in
+his present place, either he will do the boy a harm, or the boy will do
+him a harm."
+
+So Blunt never came again to trouble the squires' quarters; and
+thereafter the youngsters rendered no more service to the elders.
+
+Myles's first great fight in life was won.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 17
+
+The summer passed away, and the bleak fall came. Myles had long since
+accepted his position as one set apart from the others of his kind, and
+had resigned himself to the evident fact that he was never to serve
+in the household in waiting upon the Earl. I cannot say that it never
+troubled him, but in time there came a compensation of which I shall
+have presently to speak.
+
+And then he had so much the more time to himself. The other lads were
+sometimes occupied by their household duties when sports were afoot
+in which they would liked to have taken part. Myles was always free
+to enter into any matter of the kind after his daily exercise had been
+performed at the pels, the butts, or the tilting-court.
+
+But even though he was never called to do service in "my Lord's house,"
+he was not long in gaining a sort of second-hand knowledge of all the
+family. My Lady, a thin, sallow, faded dame, not yet past middle age,
+but looking ten years older. The Lady Anne, the daughter of the house;
+a tall, thin, dark-eyed, dark-haired, handsome young dame of twenty or
+twenty-one years of age, hawk-nosed like her father, and silent, proud,
+and haughty, Myles heard the squires say. Lady Alice, the Earl of
+Mackworth's niece and ward, a great heiress in her own right, a
+strikingly pretty black-eyed girl of fourteen or fifteen.
+
+These composed the Earl's personal family; but besides them was Lord
+George Beaumont, his Earl's brother, and him Myles soon came to know
+better than any of the chief people of the castle excepting Sir James
+Lee.
+
+For since Myles's great battle in the armory, Lord George had taken a
+laughing sort of liking to the lad, encouraging him at times to talk of
+his adventures, and of his hopes and aspirations.
+
+Perhaps the Earl's younger brother--who was himself somewhat a soldier
+of fortune, having fought in Spain, France, and Germany--felt a certain
+kinship in spirit with the adventurous youngster who had his unfriended
+way to make in the world. However that might have been, Lord George was
+very kind and friendly to the lad, and the willing service that Myles
+rendered him reconciled him not a little to the Earl's obvious neglect.
+
+Besides these of the more immediate family of the Earl were a number
+of knights, ladies, and gentlemen, some of them cadets, some of them
+retainers, of the house of Beaumont, for the princely nobles of those
+days lived in state little less royal than royalty itself.
+
+Most of the knights and gentlemen Myles soon came to know by sight,
+meeting them in Lord George's apartments in the south wing of the great
+house, and some of them, following the lead of Lord George, singled him
+out for friendly notice, giving him a nod or a word in passing.
+
+
+Every season has its pleasures for boys, and the constant change that
+they bring is one of the greatest delights of boyhood's days.
+
+All of us, as we grow older, have in our memory pictures of by-gone
+times that are somehow more than usually vivid, the colors of some not
+blurring by time as others do. One of which, in remembering, always
+filled Myles's heart in after-years with an indefinable pleasure, was
+the recollection of standing with others of his fellow squires in the
+crisp brown autumn grass of the paddock, and shooting with the long-bow
+at wildfowl, which, when the east wind was straining, flew low overhead
+to pitch to the lake in the forbidden precincts of the deer park beyond
+the brow of the hill. More than once a brace or two of these wildfowl,
+shot in their southward flight by the lads and cooked by fat,
+good-natured Mother Joan, graced the rude mess-table of the squires in
+the long hall, and even the toughest and fishiest drake, so the fruit
+of their skill, had a savor that, somehow or other, the daintiest fare
+lacked in after-years.
+
+Then fall passed and winter came, bleak, cold, and dreary--not winter as
+we know it nowadays, with warm fires and bright lights to make the long
+nights sweet and cheerful with comfort, but winter with all its grimness
+and sternness. In the great cold stone-walled castles of those days the
+only fire and almost the only light were those from the huge blazing
+logs that roared and crackled in the great open stone fireplace, around
+which the folks gathered, sheltering their faces as best they could from
+the scorching heat, and cloaking their shoulders from the biting cold,
+for at the farther end of the room, where giant shadows swayed and
+bowed and danced huge and black against the high walls, the white frost
+glistened in the moonlight on the stone pavements, and the breath went
+up like smoke.
+
+In those days were no books to read, but at the best only rude stories
+and jests, recited by some strolling mummer or minstrel to the listening
+circle, gathered around the blaze and welcoming the coarse, gross jests,
+and coarser, grosser songs with roars of boisterous laughter.
+
+Yet bleak and dreary as was the winter in those days, and cold and
+biting as was the frost in the cheerless, windy halls and corridors of
+the castle, it was not without its joys to the young lads; for then, as
+now, boys could find pleasure even in slushy weather, when the sodden
+snow is fit for nothing but to make snowballs of.
+
+Thrice that bitter winter the moat was frozen over, and the lads, making
+themselves skates of marrow-bones, which they bought from the hall cook
+at a groat a pair, went skimming over the smooth surface, red-checked
+and shouting, while the crows and the jackdaws looked down at them from
+the top of the bleak gray walls.
+
+Then at Yule-tide, which was somewhat of a rude semblance to the Merry
+Christmas season of our day, a great feast was held in the hall, and all
+the castle folk were fed in the presence of the Earl and the Countess.
+Oxen and sheep were roasted whole; huge suet puddings, made of barley
+meal sweetened with honey and stuffed with plums, were boiled in great
+caldrons in the open courtyard; whole barrels of ale and malmsey were
+broached, and all the folk, gentle and simple, were bidden to the feast.
+Afterwards the minstrels danced and played a rude play, and in the
+evening a miracle show was performed on a raised platform in the north
+hall.
+
+For a week afterwards the castle was fed upon the remains of the good
+things left from that great feast, until everyone grew to loathe fine
+victuals, and longed for honest beef and mustard again.
+
+Then at last in that constant change the winter was gone, and even the
+lads who had enjoyed its passing were glad when the winds blew warm once
+more, and the grass showed green in sunny places, and the leader of the
+wild-fowl blew his horn, as they who in the fall had flown to the south
+flew, arrow-like, northward again; when the buds swelled and the leaves
+burst forth once more, and crocuses and then daffodils gleamed in the
+green grass, like sparks and flames of gold.
+
+With the spring came the out-door sports of the season; among others
+that of ball--for boys were boys, and played at ball even in those
+faraway days--a game called trap-ball. Even yet in some parts of England
+it is played just as it was in Myles Falworth's day, and enjoyed just as
+Myles and his friends enjoyed it.
+
+So now that the sun was warm and the weather pleasant the game of
+trap-ball was in full swing every afternoon, the play-ground being an
+open space between the wall that surrounded the castle grounds and that
+of the privy garden--the pleasance in which the ladies of the Earl's
+family took the air every day, and upon which their apartments opened.
+
+Now one fine breezy afternoon, when the lads were shouting and playing
+at this, then their favorite game, Myles himself was at the trap
+barehanded and barearmed. The wind was blowing from behind him, and,
+aided perhaps by it, he had already struck three of four balls nearly
+the whole length of the court--an unusual distance--and several of the
+lads had gone back almost as far as the wall of the privy garden to
+catch any ball that might chance to fly as far as that. Then once more
+Myles struck, throwing all his strength into the blow. The ball shot up
+into the air, and when it fell, it was to drop within the privy garden.
+
+The shouts of the young players were instantly stilled, and Gascoyne,
+who stood nearest Myles, thrust his hands into his belt, giving a long
+shrill whistle.
+
+"This time thou hast struck us all out, Myles," said he. "There be no
+more play for us until we get another ball."
+
+The outfielders came slowly trooping in until they had gathered in a
+little circle around Myles.
+
+"I could not help it," said Myles, in answer to their grumbling. "How
+knew I the ball would fly so far? But if I ha' lost the ball, I can get
+it again. I will climb the wall for it."
+
+"Thou shalt do naught of the kind, Myles," said Gascoyne, hastily.
+"Thou art as mad as a March hare to think of such a venture! Wouldst get
+thyself shot with a bolt betwixt the ribs, like poor Diccon Cook?"
+
+Of all places about the castle the privy garden was perhaps the most
+sacred. It was a small plot of ground, only a few rods long and wide,
+and was kept absolutely private for the use of the Countess and her
+family. Only a little while before Myles had first come to Devlen,
+one of the cook's men had been found climbing the wall, whereupon the
+soldier who saw him shot him with his cross bow. The poor fellow dropped
+from the wall into the garden, and when they found him, he still held
+a bunch of flowers in his hand, which he had perhaps been gathering for
+his sweetheart.
+
+Had Myles seen him carried on a litter to the infirmary as Gascoyne
+and some of the others had done, he might have thought twice before
+venturing to enter the ladies' private garden. As it was, he only shook
+his stubborn head, and said again, "I will climb the wall and fetch it."
+
+Now at the lower extremity of the court, and about twelve or fifteen
+feet distant from the garden wall, there grew a pear-tree, some of the
+branches of which overhung into the garden beyond. So, first making sure
+that no one was looking that way, and bidding the others keep a sharp
+lookout, Myles shinned up this tree, and choosing one of the thicker
+limbs, climbed out upon it for some little distance. Then lowering his
+body, he hung at arm's-length, the branch bending with his weight, and
+slowly let himself down hand under hand, until at last he hung directly
+over the top of the wall, and perhaps a foot above it. Below him he
+could see the leafy top of an arbor covered with a thick growth of
+clematis, and even as he hung there he noticed the broad smooth
+walks, the grassy terrace in front of the Countess's apartments in the
+distance, the quaint flower-beds, the yew-trees trimmed into odd shapes,
+and even the deaf old gardener working bare-armed in the sunlight at a
+flower-bed in the far corner by the tool-house.
+
+The top of the wall was pointed like a house roof, and immediately below
+him was covered by a thick growth of green moss, and it flashed through
+his mind as he hung there that maybe it would offer a very slippery
+foothold for one dropping upon the steep slopes of the top. But it was
+too late to draw back now.
+
+Bracing himself for a moment, he loosed his hold upon the limb above.
+The branch flew back with a rush, and he dropped, striving to grasp the
+sloping angle with his feet. Instantly the treacherous slippery moss
+slid away from beneath him; he made a vain clutch at the wall, his
+fingers sliding over the cold stones, then, with a sharp exclamation,
+down he pitched bodily into the garden beneath! A thousand thoughts
+flew through his brain like a cloud of flies, and then a leafy greenness
+seemed to strike up against him. A splintering crash sounded in his
+ears as the lattice top of the arbor broke under him, and with one final
+clutch at the empty air he fell heavily upon the ground beneath.
+
+He heard a shrill scream that seemed to find an instant echo; even as
+he fell he had a vision of faces and bright colors, and when he sat up,
+dazed and bewildered, he found himself face to face with the Lady Anne,
+the daughter of the house, and her cousin, the Lady Alice, who clutching
+one another tightly, stood staring at him with wide scared eyes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 18
+
+For a little time there was a pause of deep silence, during which the
+fluttering leaves came drifting down from the broken arbor above.
+
+It was the Lady Anne who first spoke. "Who art thou, and whence comest
+thou?" said she, tremulously.
+
+Then Myles gathered himself up sheepishly. "My name is Myles Falworth,"
+said he, "and I am one of the squires of the body."
+
+"Oh! aye!" said the Lady Alice, suddenly. "Me thought I knew thy face.
+Art thou not the young man that I have seen in Lord George's train?"
+
+"Yes, lady," said Myles, wrapping and twining a piece of the broken vine
+in and out among his fingers. "Lord George hath often had me of late
+about his person."
+
+"And what dost thou do here, sirrah?" said Lady Anne, angrily. "How
+darest thou come so into our garden?"
+
+"I meant not to come as I did," said Myles, clumsily, and with a face
+hot and red. "But I slipped over the top of the wall and fell hastily
+into the garden. Truly, lady, I meant ye no harm or fright thereby."
+
+He looked so drolly abashed as he stood before them, with his clothes
+torn and soiled from the fall, his face red, and his eyes downcast, all
+the while industriously twisting the piece of clematis in and around his
+fingers, that Lady Anne's half-frightened anger could not last. She and
+her cousin exchanged glances, and smiled at one another.
+
+"But," said she at last, trying to draw her pretty brows together into a
+frown, "tell me; why didst thou seek to climb the wall?"
+
+"I came to seek a ball," said Myles, "which I struck over hither from
+the court beyond."
+
+"And wouldst thou come into our privy garden for no better reason than
+to find a ball?" said the young lady.
+
+"Nay," said Myles; "it was not so much to find the ball, but, in good
+sooth, I did truly strike it harder than need be, and so, gin I lost the
+ball, I could do no less than come and find it again, else our sport is
+done for the day. So it was I came hither."
+
+The two young ladies had by now recovered from their fright. The Lady
+Anne slyly nudged her cousin with her elbow, and the younger could not
+suppress a half-nervous laugh. Myles heard it, and felt his face grow
+hotter and redder than ever.
+
+"Nay," said Lady Anne, "I do believe Master Giles--"
+
+"My name be'st Myles," corrected Myles.
+
+"Very well, then, Master Myles, I say I do believe that thou meanest
+no harm in coming hither; ne'theless it was ill of thee so to do. An my
+father should find thee here, he would have thee shrewdly punished for
+such trespassing. Dost thou not know that no one is permitted to enter
+this place--no, not even my uncle George? One fellow who came hither to
+steal apples once had his ears shaven close to his head, and not more
+than a year ago one of the cook's men who climbed the wall early one
+morning was shot by the watchman."
+
+"Aye," said Myles, "I knew of him who was shot, and it did go somewhat
+against my stomach to venture, knowing what had happed to him.
+Ne'theless, an I gat not the ball, how were we to play more to-day at
+the trap?"
+
+"Marry, thou art a bold fellow, I do believe me," said the young lady,
+"and sin thou hast come in the face of such peril to get thy ball, thou
+shalt not go away empty. Whither didst thou strike it?"
+
+"Over yonder by the cherry-tree," said Myles, jerking his head in that
+direction. "An I may go get it, I will trouble ye no more." As he spoke
+he made a motion to leave them.
+
+"Stay!" said the Lady Anne, hastily; "remain where thou art. An thou
+cross the open, some one may haply see thee from the house, and will
+give the alarm, and thou wilt be lost. I will go get thy ball."
+
+And so she left Myles and her cousin, crossing the little plots of grass
+and skirting the rosebushes to the cherry-tree.
+
+When Myles found himself alone with Lady Alice, he knew not where to
+look or what to do, but twisted the piece of clematis which he still
+held in and out more industriously than ever.
+
+Lady Alice watched him with dancing eyes for a little while. "Haply thou
+wilt spoil that poor vine," said she by-and-by, breaking the silence and
+laughing, then turning suddenly serious again. "Didst thou hurt thyself
+by thy fall?"
+
+"Nay," said Myles, looking up, "such a fall as that was no great matter.
+Many and many a time I have had worse."
+
+"Hast thou so?" said the Lady Alice. "Thou didst fright me parlously,
+and my coz likewise."
+
+Myles hesitated for a moment, and then blurted out, "Thereat I grieve,
+for thee I would not fright for all the world."
+
+The young lady laughed and blushed. "All the world is a great matter,"
+said she.
+
+"Yea," said he, "it is a great matter; but it is a greater matter to
+fright thee, and so I would not do it for that, and more."
+
+The young lady laughed again, but she did not say anything further, and
+a space of silence fell so long that by-and-by she forced herself to
+say, "My cousin findeth not the ball presently."
+
+"Nay," said Myles, briefly, and then again neither spoke, until
+by-and-by the Lady Anne came, bringing the ball. Myles felt a great
+sense of relief at that coming, and yet was somehow sorry. Then he took
+the ball, and knew enough to bow his acknowledgment in a manner neither
+ill nor awkward.
+
+"Didst thou hurt thyself?" asked Lady Anne.
+
+"Nay," said Myles, giving himself a shake; "seest thou not I be whole,
+limb and bone? Nay, I have had shrewdly worse falls than that. Once I
+fell out of an oak-tree down by the river and upon a root, and bethought
+me I did break a rib or more. And then one time when I was a boy in
+Crosbey-Dale--that was where I lived before I came hither--I did catch
+me hold of the blade of the windmill, thinking it was moving slowly, and
+that I would have a ride i' th' air, and so was like to have had a fall
+ten thousand times worse than this."
+
+"Oh, tell us more of that!" said the Lady Anne, eagerly. "I did never
+hear of such an adventure as that. Come, coz, and sit down here upon the
+bench, and let us have him tell us all of that happening."
+
+Now the lads upon the other side of the wall had been whistling
+furtively for some time, not knowing whether Myles had broken his neck
+or had come off scot-free from his fall. "I would like right well to
+stay with ye," said he, irresolutely, "and would gladly tell ye that and
+more an ye would have me to do so; but hear ye not my friends call me
+from beyond? Mayhap they think I break my back, and are calling to see
+whether I be alive or no. An I might whistle them answer and toss me
+this ball to them, all would then be well, and they would know that I
+was not hurt, and so, haply, would go away."
+
+"Then answer them," said the Lady Anne, "and tell us of that thing thou
+spokest of anon--how thou tookest a ride upon the windmill. We young
+ladies do hear little of such matters, not being allowed to talk with
+lads. All that we hear of perils are of knights and ladies and jousting,
+and such like. It would pleasure us right well to have thee tell of thy
+adventures."
+
+So Myles tossed back the ball, and whistled in answer to his friends.
+
+Then he told the two young ladies not only of his adventure upon the
+windmill, but also of other boyish escapades, and told them well, with
+a straightforward smack and vigor, for he enjoyed adventure and loved to
+talk of it. In a little while he had regained his ease; his shyness and
+awkwardness left him, and nothing remained but the delightful fact that
+he was really and actually talking to two young ladies, and that with
+just as much ease and infinitely more pleasure than could be had in
+discourse with his fellow-squires. But at last it was time for him to
+go. "Marry," said he, with a half-sigh, "methinks I did never ha' so
+sweet and pleasant a time in all my life before. Never did I know a
+real lady to talk with, saving only my mother, and I do tell ye
+plain methinks I would rather talk with ye than with any he in
+Christendom--saving, perhaps, only my friend Gascoyne. I would I might
+come hither again."
+
+The honest frankness of his speech was irresistible; the two girls
+exchanged glances and then began laughing. "Truly," said Lady Anne, who,
+as was said before, was some three or four years older than Myles,
+"thou art a bold lad to ask such a thing. How wouldst thou come hither?
+Wouldst tumble through our clematis arbor again, as thou didst this
+day?"
+
+"Nay," said Myles, "I would not do that again, but if ye will bid me do
+so, I will find the means to come hither."
+
+"Nay," said Lady Anne, "I dare not bid thee do such a foolhardy thing.
+Nevertheless, if thou hast the courage to come--"
+
+"Yea," said Myles, eagerly, "I have the courage."
+
+"Then, if thou hast so, we will be here in the garden on Saturday next
+at this hour. I would like right well to hear more of thy adventures.
+But what didst thou say was thy name? I have forgot it again."
+
+"It is Myles Falworth."
+
+"Then we shall yclep thee Sir Myles, for thou art a soothly
+errant-knight. And stay! Every knight must have a lady to serve. How
+wouldst thou like my Cousin Alice here for thy true lady?"
+
+"Aye," said Myles, eagerly, "I would like it right well." And then he
+blushed fiery red at his boldness.
+
+"I want no errant-knight to serve me," said the Lady Alice, blushing,
+in answer. "Thou dost ill tease me, coz! An thou art so free in choosing
+him a lady to serve, thou mayst choose him thyself for thy pains."
+
+"Nay," said the Lady Anne, laughing; "I say thou shalt be his true lady,
+and he shall be thy true knight. Who knows? Perchance he may serven thee
+in some wondrous adventure, like as Chaucer telleth of. But now, Sir
+Errant-Knight, thou must take thy leave of us, and I must e'en let thee
+privily out by the postern-wicket. And if thou wilt take the risk upon
+thee and come hither again, prithee be wary in that coming, lest in
+venturing thou have thine ears clipped in most unknightly fashion."
+
+That evening, as he and Gascoyne sat together on a bench under the trees
+in the great quadrangle, Myles told of his adventure of the afternoon,
+and his friend listened with breathless interest.
+
+"But, Myles," cried Gascoyne, "did the Lady Anne never once seem proud
+and unkind?"
+
+"Nay," said Myles; "only at first, when she chid me for falling through
+the roof of their arbor. And to think, Francis! Lady Anne herself
+bade me hold the Lady Alice as my true lady, and to serve her in all
+knightliness!" Then he told his friend that he was going to the privy
+garden again on the next Saturday, and that the Lady Anne had given him
+permission so to do.
+
+Gascoyne gave a long, wondering whistle, and then sat quite still,
+staring into the sky. By-and-by he turned to his friend and said, "I
+give thee my pledge, Myles Falworth, that never in all my life did I
+hear of any one that had such marvellous strange happenings befall him
+as thou."
+
+
+Whenever the opportunity occurred for sending a letter to Crosbey-Holt,
+Myles wrote one to his mother; and one can guess how they were treasured
+by the good lady, and read over and over again to the blind old Lord as
+he sat staring into darkness with his sightless eyes.
+
+About the time of this escapade he wrote a letter telling of those
+doings, wherein, after speaking of his misadventure of falling from the
+wall, and of his acquaintance with the young ladies, he went on to speak
+of the matter in which he repeated his visits. The letter was worded
+in the English of that day--the quaint and crabbed language in which
+Chaucer wrote. Perhaps few boys could read it nowadays, so, modernizing
+it somewhat, it ran thus:
+
+"And now to let ye weet that thing that followed that happening that
+made me acquaint with they two young Damoiselles. I take me to the south
+wall of that garden one day four and twenty great spikes, which Peter
+Smith did forge for me and for which I pay him fivepence, and that all
+the money that I had left of my half-year's wage, and wot not where I
+may get more at these present, withouten I do betake me to Sir James,
+who, as I did tell ye, hath consented to hold those moneys that Prior
+Edward gave me till I need them.
+
+"Now these same spikes, I say, I take me them down behind the corner of
+the wall, and there drave them betwixt the stones, my very dear comrade
+and true friend Gascoyne holping me thereto to do. And so come Saturday,
+I climb me over the wall and to the roof of the tool-house below,
+seeking a fitting opportunity when I might so do without being in too
+great jeopardy.
+
+"Yea; and who should be there but they two ladies, biding my coming,
+who, seeing me, made as though they had expected me not, and gave me
+greatest rebuke for adventuring so moughtily. Yet, methinks, were they
+right well pleasured that I should so aventure, which indeed I might not
+otherwise do, seeing as I have telled to thee, that one of them is mine
+own true lady for to serven, and so was the only way that I might come
+to speech with her."
+
+Such was Myles's own quaint way of telling how he accomplished his aim
+of visiting the forbidden garden, and no doubt the smack of adventure
+and the savor of danger in the undertaking recommended him not a little
+to the favor of the young ladies.
+
+After this first acquaintance perhaps a month passed, during which Myles
+had climbed the wall some half a dozen times (for the Lady Anne
+would not permit of too frequent visits), and during which the first
+acquaintance of the three ripened rapidly to an honest, pleasant
+friendship. More than once Myles, when in Lord George's train, caught
+a covert smile or half nod from one or both of the girls, not a little
+delightful in its very secret friendliness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 19
+
+As was said, perhaps a month passed; then Myles's visits came to an
+abrupt termination, and with it ended, in a certain sense, a chapter of
+his life.
+
+One Saturday afternoon he climbed the garden wall, and skirting behind
+a long row of rosebushes that screened him from the Countess's terrace,
+came to a little summer-house where the two young ladies had appointed
+to meet him that day.
+
+A pleasant half-hour or so was passed, and then it was time for Myles
+to go. He lingered for a while before he took his final leave, leaning
+against the door-post, and laughingly telling how he and some of his
+brother squires had made a figure of straw dressed in men's clothes, and
+had played a trick with it one night upon a watchman against whom they
+bore a grudge.
+
+The young ladies were listening with laughing faces, when suddenly, as
+Myles looked, he saw the smile vanish from Lady Alice's eyes and a wide
+terror take its place. She gave a half-articulate cry, and rose abruptly
+from the bench upon which she was sitting.
+
+Myles turned sharply, and then his very heart seemed to stand still
+within him; for there, standing in the broad sunlight without, and
+glaring in upon the party with baleful eyes, was the Earl of Mackworth
+himself.
+
+How long was the breathless silence that followed, Myles could never
+tell. He knew that the Lady Anne had also risen, and that she and her
+cousin were standing as still as statues. Presently the Earl pointed to
+the house with his staff, and Myles noted stupidly how it trembled in
+his hand.
+
+"Ye wenches," said he at last, in a hard, harsh voice--"ye wenches, what
+meaneth this? Would ye deceive me so, and hold parlance thus secretly
+with this fellow? I will settle with him anon. Meantime get ye
+straightway to the house and to your rooms, and there abide until I give
+ye leave to come forth again. Go, I say!"
+
+"Father," said Lady Anne, in a breathless voice--she was as white as
+death, and moistened her lips with her tongue before she spoke--"father,
+thou wilt not do harm to this young man. Spare him, I do beseech thee,
+for truly it was I who bade him come hither. I know that he would not
+have come but at our bidding."
+
+The Earl stamped his foot upon the gravel. "Did ye not hear me?" said
+he, still pointing towards the house with his trembling staff. "I bade
+ye go to your rooms. I will settle with this fellow, I say, as I deem
+fitting."
+
+"Father," began Lady Anne again; but the Earl made such a savage gesture
+that poor Lady Alice uttered a faint shriek, and Lady Anne stopped
+abruptly, trembling. Then she turned and passed out the farther door of
+the summerhouse, poor little Lady Alice following, holding her tight
+by the skirts, and trembling and shuddering as though with a fit of the
+ague.
+
+The Earl stood looking grimly after them from under his shaggy eyebrows,
+until they passed away behind the yew-trees, appeared again upon the
+terrace behind, entered the open doors of the women's house, and were
+gone. Myles heard their footsteps growing fainter and fainter, but he
+never raised his eyes. Upon the ground at his feet were four pebbles,
+and he noticed how they almost made a square, and would do so if he
+pushed one of them with his toe, and then it seemed strange to him that
+he should think of such a little foolish thing at that dreadful time.
+
+He knew that the Earl was looking gloomily at him, and that his face
+must be very pale. Suddenly Lord Mackworth spoke. "What hast thou to
+say?" said he, harshly.
+
+Then Myles raised his eyes, and the Earl smiled grimly as he looked his
+victim over. "I have naught to say," said the lad, huskily.
+
+"Didst thou not hear what my daughter spake but now?" said the Earl.
+"She said that thou came not of thy own free-will; what sayst thou to
+that, sirrah--is it true?"
+
+Myles hesitated for a moment or two; his throat was tight and dry.
+"Nay," said he at last, "she belieth herself. It was I who first came
+into the garden. I fell by chance from the tree yonder--I was seeking
+a ball--then I asked those two if I might not come hither again, and so
+have done some several times in all. But as for her--nay; it was not at
+her bidding that I came, but through mine own asking."
+
+The Earl gave a little grunt in his throat. "And how often hast thou
+been here?" said he, presently.
+
+Myles thought a moment or two. "This maketh the seventh time," said he.
+
+Another pause of silence followed, and Myles began to pluck up some
+heart that maybe all would yet be well. The Earl's next speech dashed
+that hope into a thousand fragments. "Well thou knowest," said he, "that
+it is forbid for any to come here. Well thou knowest that twice have men
+been punished for this thing that thou hast done, and yet thou camest in
+spite of all. Now dost thou know what thou wilt suffer?"
+
+Myles picked with nervous fingers at a crack in the oaken post against
+which he leaned. "Mayhap thou wilt kill me," said he at last, in a dull,
+choking voice.
+
+Again the Earl smiled a grim smile. "Nay," said he, "I would not slay
+thee, for thou hast gentle blood. But what sayest thou should I shear
+thine ears from thine head, or perchance have thee scourged in the great
+court?"
+
+The sting of the words sent the blood flying back to Myles's face again,
+and he looked quickly up. "Nay," said he, with a boldness that surprised
+himself; "thou shalt do no such unlordly thing upon me as that. I be thy
+peer, sir, in blood; and though thou mayst kill me, thou hast no right
+to shame me."
+
+Lord Mackworth bowed with a mocking courtesy. "Marry!" said he.
+"Methought it was one of mine own saucy popinjay squires that I caught
+sneaking here and talking to those two foolish young lasses, and lo! it
+is a young Lord--or mayhap thou art a young Prince--and commandeth
+me that I shall not do this and I shall not do that. I crave your
+Lordship's honorable pardon, if I have said aught that may have galled
+you."
+
+The fear Myles had felt was now beginning to dissolve in rising wrath.
+"Nay," said he, stoutly, "I be no Lord and I be no Prince, but I be as
+good as thou. For am I not the son of thy onetime very true comrade and
+thy kinsman--to wit, the Lord Falworth, whom, as thou knowest, is poor
+and broken, and blind, and helpless, and outlawed, and banned? Yet,"
+cried he, grinding his teeth, as the thought of it all rushed in upon
+him, "I would rather be in his place than in yours; for though he be
+ruined, you--"
+
+He had just sense enough to stop there.
+
+The Earl, gripping his staff behind his back, and with his head a little
+bent, was looking keenly at the lad from under his shaggy gray brows.
+"Well," said he, as Myles stopped, "thou hast gone too far now to draw
+back. Say thy say to the end. Why wouldst thou rather be in thy father's
+stead than in mine?"
+
+Myles did not answer.
+
+"Thou shalt finish thy speech, or else show thyself a coward. Though thy
+father is ruined, thou didst say I am--what?"
+
+Myles keyed himself up to the effort, and then blurted out, "Thou art
+attainted with shame."
+
+A long breathless silence followed.
+
+"Myles Falworth," said the Earl at last (and even in the whirling of his
+wits Myles wondered that he had the name so pat)--"Myles Falworth, of
+all the bold, mad, hare-brained fools, thou art the most foolish. How
+dost thou dare say such words to me? Dost thou not know that thou makest
+thy coming punishment ten times more bitter by such a speech?"
+
+"Aye!" cried Myles, desperately; "but what else could I do? An I did not
+say the words, thou callest me coward, and coward I am not."
+
+"By 'r Lady!" said the Earl, "I do believe thee. Thou art a bold,
+impudent varlet as ever lived--to beard me so, forsooth! Hark'ee; thou
+sayst I think naught of mine old comrade. I will show thee that thou
+dost belie me. I will suffer what thou hast said to me for his sake, and
+for his sake will forgive thee thy coming hither--which I would not do
+in another case to any other man. Now get thee gone straightway, and
+come hither no more. Yonder is the postern-gate; mayhap thou knowest the
+way. But stay! How camest thou hither?"
+
+Myles told him of the spikes he had driven in the wall, and the Earl
+listened, stroking his beard. When the lad had ended, he fixed a sharp
+look upon him. "But thou drove not those spikes alone," said he; "who
+helped thee do it?"
+
+"That I may not tell," said Myles, firmly.
+
+"So be it," said the Earl. "I will not ask thee to tell his name. Now
+get thee gone! And as for those spikes, thou mayst e'en knock them out
+of the wall, sin thou drave them in. Play no more pranks an thou wouldst
+keep thy skin whole. And now go, I say!"
+
+Myles needed no further bidding, but turned and left the Earl without
+another word. As he went out the postern-gate he looked over his
+shoulder, and saw the tall figure, in its long fur-trimmed gown, still
+standing in the middle of the path, looking after him from under the
+shaggy eyebrows.
+
+As he ran across the quadrangle, his heart still fluttering in his
+breast, he muttered to himself, "The old grizzle-beard; an I had not
+faced him a bold front, mayhap he would have put such shame upon me
+as he said. I wonder why he stood so staring after me as I left the
+garden."
+
+Then for the time the matter slipped from his mind, saving only that
+part that smacked of adventure.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 20
+
+So for a little while Myles was disposed to congratulate himself upon
+having come off so well from his adventure with the Earl. But after a
+day or two had passed, and he had time for second thought, he began to
+misdoubt whether, after all, he might not have carried it with a better
+air if he had shown more chivalrous boldness in the presence of his true
+lady; whether it would not have redounded more to his credit if he had
+in some way asserted his rights as the young dame's knight-errant and
+defender. Was it not ignominious to resign his rights and privileges so
+easily and tamely at a signal from the Earl?
+
+"For, in sooth," said he to Gascoyne, as the two talked the matter over,
+"she hath, in a certain way, accepted me for her knight, and yet I stood
+me there without saying so much as one single word in her behalf."
+
+"Nay," said Gascoyne, "I would not trouble me on that score. Methinks
+that thou didst come off wondrous well out of the business. I would not
+have thought it possible that my Lord could ha' been so patient with
+thee as he showed himself. Methinks, forsooth, he must hold thee privily
+in right high esteem."
+
+"Truly," said Myles, after a little pause of meditative silence, "I know
+not of any esteem, yet I do think he was passing patient with me in this
+matter. But ne'theless, Francis, that changeth not my stand in the case.
+Yea, I did shamefully, so to resign my lady without speaking one word;
+nor will I so resign her even yet. I have bethought me much of this
+matter of late, Francis, and now I come to thee to help me from my evil
+case. I would have thee act the part of a true friend to me--like that
+one I have told thee of in the story of the Emperor Justinian. I would
+have thee, when next thou servest in the house, to so contrive that my
+Lady Alice shall get a letter which I shall presently write, and wherein
+I may set all that is crooked straight again."
+
+"Heaven forbid," said Gascoyne, hastily, "that I should be such a fool
+as to burn my fingers in drawing thy nuts from the fire! Deliver thy
+letter thyself, good fellow!"
+
+So spoke Gascoyne, yet after all he ended, as he usually did, by
+yielding to Myles's superior will and persistence. So the letter was
+written and one day the good-natured Gascoyne carried it with him to the
+house, and the opportunity offering, gave it to one of the young ladies
+attendant upon the Countess's family--a lass with whom he had friendly
+intimacy--to be delivered to Lady Alice.
+
+But if Myles congratulated himself upon the success of this new
+adventure, it was not for long. That night, as the crowd of pages and
+squires were making themselves ready for bed, the call came through the
+uproar for "Myles Falworth! Myles Falworth!"
+
+"Here I be," cried Myles, standing up on his cot. "Who calleth me?"
+
+It was the groom of the Earl's bedchamber, and seeing Myles standing
+thus raised above the others, he came walking down the length of the
+room towards him, the wonted hubbub gradually silencing as he advanced
+and the youngsters turning, staring, and wondering.
+
+"My Lord would speak with thee, Myles Falworth," said the groom, when he
+had come close enough to where Myles stood. "Busk thee and make ready;
+he is at livery even now."
+
+The groom's words fell upon Myles like a blow. He stood for a while
+staring wide-eyed. "My Lord speak with me, sayst thou!" he ejaculated at
+last.
+
+"Aye," said the other, impatiently; "get thee ready quickly. I must
+return anon."
+
+Myles's head was in a whirl as he hastily changed his clothes for a
+better suit, Gascoyne helping him. What could the Earl want with him at
+this hour? He knew in his heart what it was; the interview could concern
+nothing but the letter that he had sent to Lady Alice that day. As he
+followed the groom through the now dark and silent courts, and across
+the corner of the great quadrangle, and so to the Earl's house, he tried
+to brace his failing courage to meet the coming interview. Nevertheless,
+his heart beat tumultuously as he followed the other down the long
+corridor, lit only by a flaring link set in a wrought-iron bracket. Then
+his conductor lifted the arras at the door of the bedchamber, whence
+came the murmuring sound of many voices, and holding it aside, beckoned
+him to enter, and Myles passed within. At the first, he was conscious
+of nothing but a crowd of people, and of the brightness of many lighted
+candles; then he saw that he stood in a great airy room spread with a
+woven mat of rushes. On three sides the walls were hung with tapestry
+representing hunting and battle scenes, at the farther end, where the
+bed stood, the stone wall of the fourth side was covered with cloth of
+blue, embroidered with silver goshawks. Even now, in the ripe springtime
+of May, the room was still chilly, and a great fire roared and crackled
+in the huge gaping mouth of the stone fireplace. Not far from the blaze
+were clustered the greater part of those present, buzzing in talk, now
+and then swelled by murmuring laughter. Some of those who knew Myles
+nodded to him, and two or three spoke to him as he stood waiting, whilst
+the groom went forward to speak to the Earl; though what they said and
+what he answered, Myles, in his bewilderment and trepidation, hardly
+knew.
+
+As was said before, the livery was the last meal of the day, and was
+taken in bed. It was a simple repast--a manchette, or small loaf of
+bread of pure white flour, a loaf of household bread, sometimes a lump
+of cheese, and either a great flagon of ale or of sweet wine, warm
+and spiced. The Earl was sitting upright in bed, dressed in a furred
+dressing-gown, and propped up by two cylindrical bolsters of crimson
+satin. Upon the coverlet, and spread over his knees, was a large wide
+napkin of linen fringed with silver thread, and on it rested a silver
+tray containing the bread and some cheese. Two pages and three gentlemen
+were waiting upon him, and Mad Noll, the jester, stood at the head of
+the bed, now and then jingling his bawble and passing some quaint jest
+upon the chance of making his master smile. Upon a table near by were
+some dozen or so waxen tapers struck upon as many spiked candlesticks
+of silver-gilt, and illuminating that end of the room with their bright
+twinkling flames. One of the gentlemen was in the act of serving the
+Earl with a goblet of wine, poured from a silver ewer by one of the
+squires, as the groom of the chamber came forward and spoke. The Earl,
+taking the goblet, turned his head, and as Myles looked, their eyes met.
+Then the Earl turned away again and raised the cup to his lips, while
+Myles felt his heart beat more rapidly than ever.
+
+But at last the meal was ended, and the Earl washed his hands and his
+mouth and his beard from a silver basin of scented water held by another
+one of the squires. Then, leaning back against the pillows, he beckoned
+to Myles.
+
+In answer Myles walked forward the length of the room, conscious that
+all eyes were fixed upon him. The Earl said something, and those who
+stood near drew back as he came forward. Then Myles found himself
+standing beside the bed, looking down upon the quilted counterpane,
+feeling that the other was gazing fixedly at him.
+
+"I sent for thee," said the Earl at last, still looking steadily at
+him, "because this afternoon came a letter to my hand which thou hadst
+written to my niece, the Lady Alice. I have it here," said he, thrusting
+his hand under the bolster, "and have just now finished reading it."
+Then, after a moment's pause, whilst he opened the parchment and scanned
+it again, "I find no matter of harm in it, but hereafter write no more
+such." He spoke entirely without anger, and Myles looked up in wonder.
+"Here, take it," said the Earl, folding the letter and tossing it to
+Myles, who instinctively caught it, "and henceforth trouble thou my
+niece no more either by letter or any other way. I thought haply thou
+wouldst be at some such saucy trick, and I made Alice promise to let me
+know when it happed. Now, I say, let this be an end of the matter. Dost
+thou not know thou mayst injure her by such witless folly as that of
+meeting her privily, and privily writing to her?"
+
+"I meant no harm," said Myles.
+
+"I believe thee," said the Earl. "That will do now; thou mayst go."
+
+Myles hesitated.
+
+"What wouldst thou say?" said Lord Mackworth.
+
+"Only this," said Myles, "an I have thy leave so to do, that the Lady
+Alice hath chosen me to be her knight, and so, whether I may see her or
+speak with her or no, the laws of chivalry give me, who am gentle born,
+the right to serve her as a true knight may."
+
+"As a true fool may," said the Earl, dryly. "Why, how now, thou art not
+a knight yet, nor anything but a raw lump of a boy. What rights do the
+laws of chivalry give thee, sirrah? Thou art a fool!"
+
+Had the Earl been ever so angry, his words would have been less bitter
+to Myles than his cool, unmoved patience; it mortified his pride and
+galled it to the quick.
+
+"I know that thou dost hold me in contempt," he mumbled.
+
+"Out upon thee!" said the Earl, testily. "Thou dost tease me beyond
+patience. I hold thee in contempt, forsooth! Why, look thee, hadst thou
+been other than thou art, I would have had thee whipped out of my house
+long since. Thinkest thou I would have borne so patiently with another
+one of ye squires had such an one held secret meeting with my daughter
+and niece, and tampered, as thou hast done, with my household, sending
+through one of my people that letter? Go to; thou art a fool, Myles
+Falworth!"
+
+Myles stood staring at the Earl without making an effort to speak. The
+words that he had heard suddenly flashed, as it were, a new light into
+his mind. In that flash he fully recognized, and for the first time,
+the strange and wonderful forbearance the great Earl had shown to him,
+a poor obscure boy. What did it mean? Was Lord Mackworth his secret
+friend, after all, as Gascoyne had more than once asserted? So Myles
+stood silent, thinking many things.
+
+Meantime the other lay back upon the cylindrical bolsters, looking
+thoughtfully at him. "How old art thou?" said he at last.
+
+"Seventeen last April," answered Myles.
+
+"Then thou art old enough to have some of the thoughts of a man, and to
+lay aside those of a boy. Haply thou hast had foolish things in thy
+head this short time past; it is time that thou put them away. Harkee,
+sirrah! the Lady Alice is a great heiress in her own right, and mayst
+command the best alliance in England--an Earl--a Duke. She groweth apace
+to a woman, and then her kind lieth in Courts and great houses. As for
+thee, thou art but a poor lad, penniless and without friends to aid thee
+to open advancement. Thy father is attainted, and one whisper of where
+he lieth hid would bring him thence to the Tower, and haply to the
+block. Besides that, he hath an enemy, as Sir James Lee hath already
+told thee--an enemy perhaps more great and powerful than myself. That
+enemy watcheth for thy father and for thee; shouldst thou dare raise thy
+head or thy fortune ever so little, he would haply crop them both, and
+that parlously quick. Myles Falworth, how dost thou dare to lift thine
+eyes to the Lady Alice de Mowbray?"
+
+Poor Myles stood silent and motionless. "Sir," said he at last, in a
+dry choking voice, "thou art right, and I have been a fool. Sir, I will
+never raise mine eyes to look upon the Lady Alice more."
+
+"I say not that either, boy," said the Earl; "but ere thou dost so dare,
+thou must first place thyself and thy family whence ye fell. Till then,
+as thou art an honest man, trouble her not. Now get thee gone."
+
+As Myles crossed the dark and silent courtyards, and looked up at the
+clear, still twinkle of the stars, he felt a kind of dull wonder that
+they and the night and the world should seem so much the same, and he be
+so different.
+
+The first stroke had been given that was to break in pieces his boyhood
+life--the second was soon to follow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 21
+
+There are now and then times in the life of every one when new and
+strange things occur with such rapidity that one has hardly time to
+catch one's breath between the happenings. It is as though the old were
+crumbling away--breaking in pieces--to give place to the new that is
+soon to take its place.
+
+So it was with Myles Falworth about this time. The very next day after
+this interview in the bed-chamber, word came to him that Sir James Lee
+wished to speak with him in the office. He found the lean, grizzled old
+knight alone, sitting at the heavy oaken table with a tankard of spiced
+ale at his elbow, and a dish of wafers and some fragments of cheese on a
+pewter platter before him. He pointed to his clerk's seat--a joint stool
+somewhat like a camp-chair, but made of heavy oaken braces and with a
+seat of hog-skin--and bade Myles be seated.
+
+It was the first time that Myles had ever heard of such courtesy being
+extended to one of the company of squires, and, much wondering, he
+obeyed the invitation, or rather command, and took the seat.
+
+The old knight sat regarding him for a while in silence, his one eye,
+as bright and as steady as that of a hawk, looking keenly from under the
+penthouse of its bushy brows, the while he slowly twirled and twisted
+his bristling wiry mustaches, as was his wont when in meditation. At
+last he broke the silence. "How old art thou?" said he, abruptly.
+
+"I be turned seventeen last April," Myles answered, as he had the
+evening before to Lord Mackworth.
+
+"Humph!" said Sir James; "thou be'st big of bone and frame for thine
+age. I would that thy heart were more that of a man likewise, and less
+that of a giddy, hare-brained boy, thinking continually of naught but
+mischief."
+
+Again he fell silent, and Myles sat quite still, wondering if it was
+on account of any special one of his latest escapades that he had been
+summoned to the office--the breaking of the window in the Long Hall by
+the stone he had flung at the rook, or the climbing of the South Tower
+for the jackdaw's nest.
+
+"Thou hast a friend," said Sir James, suddenly breaking into his
+speculations, "of such a kind that few in this world possess. Almost
+ever since thou hast been here he hath been watching over thee. Canst
+thou guess of whom I speak?"
+
+"Haply it is Lord George Beaumont," said Myles; "he hath always been
+passing kind to me.
+
+"Nay," said Sir James, "it is not of him that I speak, though methinks
+he liketh thee well enow. Canst thou keep a secret, boy?" he asked,
+suddenly.
+
+"Yea," answered Myles.
+
+"And wilt thou do so in this case if I tell thee who it is that is thy
+best friend here?"
+
+"Yea."
+
+"Then it is my Lord who is that friend--the Earl himself; but see that
+thou breathe not a word of it."
+
+Myles sat staring at the old knight in utter and profound amazement, and
+presently Sir James continued: "Yea, almost ever since thou hast come
+here my Lord hath kept oversight upon all thy doings, upon all thy mad
+pranks and thy quarrels and thy fights, thy goings out and comings in.
+What thinkest thou of that, Myles Falworth?"
+
+Again the old knight stopped and regarded the lad, who sat silent,
+finding no words to answer. He seemed to find a grim pleasure in the
+youngster's bewilderment and wonder. Then a sudden thought came to
+Myles.
+
+"Sir," said he, "did my Lord know that I went to the privy garden as I
+did?"
+
+"Nay," said Sir James; "of that he knew naught at first until thy father
+bade thy mother write and tell him."
+
+"My father!" ejaculated Myles.
+
+"Aye," said Sir James, twisting his mustaches more vigorously than ever.
+"So soon as thy father heard of that prank, he wrote straightway to
+my Lord that he should put a stop to what might in time have bred
+mischief."
+
+"Sir," said Myles, in an almost breathless voice, "I know not how to
+believe all these things, or whether I be awake or a-dreaming."
+
+"Thou be'st surely enough awake," answered the old man; "but there are
+other matters yet to be told. My Lord thinketh, as others of us do--Lord
+George and myself--that it is now time for thee to put away thy boyish
+follies, and learn those things appertaining to manhood. Thou hast been
+here a year now, and hast had freedom to do as thou might list; but,
+boy,"--and the old warrior spoke seriously, almost solemnly--"upon thee
+doth rest matters of such great import that did I tell them to thee thou
+couldst not grasp them. My Lord deems that thou hast, mayhap, promise
+beyond the common of men; ne'theless it remaineth yet to be seen an he
+be right; it is yet to test whether that promise may be fulfilled. Next
+Monday I and Sir Everard Willoughby take thee in hand to begin training
+thee in the knowledge and the use of the jousting lance, of arms, and of
+horsemanship. Thou art to go to Ralph Smith, and have him fit a suit of
+plain armor to thee which he hath been charged to make for thee against
+this time. So get thee gone, think well over all these matters, and
+prepare thyself by next Monday. But stay, sirrah," he added, as Myles,
+dazed and bewildered, turned to obey; "breathe to no living soul what
+I ha' told thee--that my Lord is thy friend--neither speak of anything
+concerning him. Such is his own heavy command laid upon thee."
+
+Then Myles turned again without a word to leave the room. But as he
+reached the door Sir James stopped him a second time.
+
+"Stay!" he called. "I had nigh missed telling thee somewhat else. My
+Lord hath made thee a present this morning that thou wottest not of. It
+is"--then he stopped for a few moments, perhaps to enjoy the full flavor
+of what he had to say--"it is a great Flemish horse of true breed and
+right mettle; a horse such as a knight of the noblest strain might be
+proud to call his own. Myles Falworth, thou wert born upon a lucky day!"
+
+"Sir," cried Myles, and then stopped short. Then, "Sir," he cried again,
+"didst thou say it--the horse--was to be mine?"
+
+"Aye, it is to be thine."
+
+"My very own?"
+
+"Thy very own."
+
+How Myles Falworth left that place he never knew. He was like one in
+some strange, some wonderful dream. He walked upon air, and his heart
+was so full of joy and wonder and amazement that it thrilled almost to
+agony. Of course his first thought was of Gascoyne. How he ever found
+him he never could tell, but find him he did.
+
+"Come, Francis!" he cried, "I have that to tell thee so marvellous that
+had it come upon me from paradise it could not be more strange."
+
+Then he dragged him away to their Eyry--it had been many a long day
+since they had been there--and to all his friend's speeches, to all his
+wondering questions, he answered never a word until they had climbed the
+stairs, and so come to their old haunt. Then he spoke.
+
+"Sit thee down, Francis," said he, "till I tell thee that which passeth
+wonder." As Gascoyne obeyed, he himself stood looking about him. "This
+is the last time I shall ever come hither," said he. And thereupon he
+poured out his heart to his listening friend in the murmuring solitude
+of the airy height. He did not speak of the Earl, but of the wonderful
+new life that had thus suddenly opened before him, with its golden
+future of limitless hopes, of dazzling possibilities, of heroic
+ambitions. He told everything, walking up and down the while--for he
+could not remain quiet--his cheeks glowing and his eyes sparkling.
+
+Gascoyne sat quite still, staring straight before him. He knew that his
+friend was ruffling eagle pinions for a flight in which he could never
+hope to follow, and somehow his heart ached, for he knew that this must
+be the beginning of the end of the dear, delightful friendship of the
+year past.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 22
+
+And so ended Myles Falworth's boyhood. Three years followed, during
+which he passed through that state which immediately follows boyhood in
+all men's lives--a time when they are neither lads nor grown men, but
+youths passing from the one to the other period through what is often an
+uncouth and uncomfortable age.
+
+He had fancied, when he talked with Gascoyne in the Eyry that time,
+that he was to become a man all at once; he felt just then that he had
+forever done with boyish things. But that is not the way it happens in
+men's lives. Changes do not come so suddenly and swiftly as that, but by
+little and little. For three or four days, maybe, he went his new way of
+life big with the great change that had come upon him, and then, now
+in this and now in that, he drifted back very much into his old ways
+of boyish doings. As was said, one's young days do not end all at once,
+even when they be so suddenly and sharply shaken, and Myles was not
+different from others. He had been stirred to the core by that first
+wonderful sight of the great and glorious life of manhood opening before
+him, but he had yet many a sport to enjoy, many a game to play, many a
+boisterous romp to riot in the dormitory, many an expedition to make
+to copse and spinney and river on days when he was off duty, and when
+permission had been granted.
+
+Nevertheless, there was a great and vital change in his life; a change
+which he hardly felt or realized. Even in resuming his old life there
+was no longer the same vitality, the same zest, the same enjoyment in
+all these things. It seemed as though they were no longer a part of
+himself. The savor had gone from them, and by-and-by it was pleasanter
+to sit looking on at the sports and the games of the younger lads than
+to take active part in them.
+
+These three years of his life that had thus passed had been very full;
+full mostly of work, grinding and monotonous; of training dull, dry,
+laborious. For Sir James Lee was a taskmaster as hard as iron and
+seemingly as cold as a stone. For two, perhaps for three, weeks Myles
+entered into his new exercises with all the enthusiasm that novelty
+brings; but these exercises hardly varied a tittle from day to day, and
+soon became a duty, and finally a hard and grinding task. He used, in
+the earlier days of his castle life, to hate the dull monotony of the
+tri-weekly hacking at the pels with a heavy broadsword as he hated
+nothing else; but now, though he still had that exercise to perform, it
+was almost a relief from the heavy dulness of riding, riding, riding in
+the tilt-yard with shield and lance--couch--recover--en passant.
+
+But though he had nowadays but little time for boyish plays and
+escapades, his life was not altogether without relaxation. Now and
+then he was permitted to drive in mock battle with other of the younger
+knights and bachelors in the paddock near the outer walls. It was a
+still more welcome change in the routine of his life when, occasionally,
+he would break a light lance in the tilting-court with Sir Everard
+Willoughby; Lord George, perhaps, and maybe one or two others of the
+Hall folk, looking on.
+
+Then one gilded day, when Lord Dudleigh was visiting at Devlen, Myles
+ran a course with a heavier lance in the presence of the Earl, who came
+down to the tilt-yard with his guest to see the young novitiate ride
+against Sir Everard. He did his best, and did it well. Lord Dudleigh
+praised his poise and carriage, and Lord George, who was present, gave
+him an approving smile and nod. But the Earl of Mackworth only sat
+stroking his beard impassively, as was his custom. Myles would have
+given much to know his thoughts.
+
+In all these years Sir James Lee almost never gave any expression either
+of approbation or disapproval--excepting when Myles exhibited some
+carelessness or oversight. Then his words were sharp and harsh enough.
+More than once Myles's heart failed him, and bitter discouragement
+took possession of him; then nothing but his bull-dog tenacity and
+stubbornness brought him out from the despondency of the dark hours.
+
+"Sir," he burst out one day, when his heart was heavy with some failure,
+"tell me, I beseech thee, do I get me any of skill at all? Is it in me
+ever to make a worthy knight, fit to hold lance and sword with other
+men, or am I only soothly a dull heavy block, worth naught of any good?"
+
+"Thou art a fool, sirrah!" answered Sir James, in his grimmest tones.
+"Thinkest thou to learn all of knightly prowess in a year and a half?
+Wait until thou art ripe, and then I will tell thee if thou art fit to
+couch a lance or ride a course with a right knight."
+
+"Thou art an old bear!" muttered Myles to himself, as the old one-eyed
+knight turned on his heel and strode away. "Beshrew me! an I show thee
+not that I am as worthy to couch a lance as thou one of these fine
+days!"
+
+However, during the last of the three years the grinding routine of his
+training had not been quite so severe as at first. His exercises took
+him more often out into the fields, and it was during this time of his
+knightly education that he sometimes rode against some of the castle
+knights in friendly battle with sword or lance or wooden mace. In these
+encounters he always held his own; and held it more than well, though,
+in his boyish simplicity, he was altogether unconscious of his own
+skill, address, and strength. Perhaps it was his very honest modesty
+that made him so popular and so heartily liked by all.
+
+He had by this time risen to the place of head squire or chief bachelor,
+holding the same position that Walter Blunt had occupied when he himself
+had first come, a raw country boy, to Devlen. The lesser squires
+and pages fairly worshipped him as a hero, albeit imposing upon his
+good-nature. All took a pride in his practice in knightly exercises, and
+fabulous tales were current among the young fry concerning his strength
+and skill.
+
+Yet, although Myles was now at the head of his class, he did not,
+as other chief bachelors had done, take a leading position among the
+squires in the Earl's household service. Lord Mackworth, for his own
+good reasons, relegated him to the position of Lord George's especial
+attendant. Nevertheless, the Earl always distinguished him from the
+other esquires, giving him a cool nod whenever they met; and Myles, upon
+his part--now that he had learned better to appreciate how much his Lord
+had done for him--would have shed the last drop of blood in his veins
+for the head of the house of Beaumont.
+
+As for the two young ladies, he often saw them, and sometimes, even
+in the presence of the Earl, exchanged a few words with them, and Lord
+Mackworth neither forbade it nor seemed to notice it.
+
+Towards the Lady Anne he felt the steady friendly regard of a lad for a
+girl older than himself; towards the Lady Alice, now budding into ripe
+young womanhood, there lay deep in his heart the resolve to be some day
+her true knight in earnest as he had been her knight in pretence in that
+time of boyhood when he had so perilously climbed into the privy garden.
+
+In body and form he was now a man, and in thought and heart was quickly
+ripening to manhood, for, as was said before, men matured quickly in
+those days. He was a right comely youth, for the promise of his boyish
+body had been fulfilled in a tall, powerful, well-knit frame. His face
+was still round and boyish, but on cheek and chin and lip was the curl
+of adolescent beard--soft, yellow, and silky. His eyes were as blue
+as steel, and quick and sharp in glance as those of a hawk; and as he
+walked, his arms swung from his broad, square shoulders, and his body
+swayed with pent-up strength ready for action at any moment.
+
+If little Lady Alice, hearing much talk of his doings and of his promise
+in these latter times, thought of him now and then it is a matter not
+altogether to be wondered at.
+
+Such were the changes that three years had wrought. And from now the
+story of his manhood really begins.
+
+
+Perhaps in all the history of Devlen Castle, even at this, the high tide
+of pride and greatness of the house of Beaumont, the most notable time
+was in the early autumn of the year 1411, when for five days King Henry
+IV was entertained by the Earl of Mackworth. The King was at that time
+making a progress through certain of the midland counties, and with him
+travelled the Comte de Vermoise. The Count was the secret emissary of
+the Dauphin's faction in France, at that time in the very bitterest
+intensity of the struggle with the Duke of Burgundy, and had come to
+England seeking aid for his master in his quarrel.
+
+It was not the first time that royalty had visited Devlen. Once, in Earl
+Robert's day, King Edward II had spent a week at the castle during the
+period of the Scottish wars. But at that time it was little else than a
+military post, and was used by the King as such. Now the Beaumonts were
+in the very flower of their prosperity, and preparations were made
+for the coming visit of royalty upon a scale of such magnificence and
+splendor as Earl Robert, or perhaps even King Edward himself, had never
+dreamed.
+
+For weeks the whole castle had been alive with folk hurrying hither and
+thither; and with the daily and almost hourly coming of pack-horses,
+laden with bales and boxes, from London. From morning to night one heard
+the ceaseless chip-chipping of the masons' hammers, and saw carriers
+of stones and mortar ascending and descending the ladders of the
+scaffolding that covered the face of the great North Hall. Within, that
+part of the building was alive with the scraping of the carpenters'
+saws, the clattering of lumber, and the rapping and banging of hammers.
+
+The North Hall had been assigned as the lodging place for the King and
+his court, and St. George's Hall (as the older building adjoining it was
+called) had been set apart as the lodging of the Comte de Vermoise and
+the knights and gentlemen attendant upon him.
+
+The great North Hall had been very much altered and changed for the
+accommodation of the King and his people; a beautiful gallery of carved
+wood-work had been built within and across the south end of the room for
+the use of the ladies who were to look down upon the ceremonies below.
+Two additional windows had been cut through the wall and glazed, and
+passage-ways had been opened connecting with the royal apartments
+beyond. In the bedchamber a bed of carved wood and silver had been
+built into the wall, and had been draped with hangings of pale blue and
+silver, and a magnificent screen of wrought-iron and carved wood had
+been erected around the couch; rich and beautiful tapestries brought
+from Italy and Flanders were hung upon the walls; cushions of velvets
+and silks stuffed with down covered benches and chairs. The floor of
+the hall was spread with mats of rushes stained in various colors, woven
+into curious patterns, and in the smaller rooms precious carpets of
+arras were laid on the cold stones.
+
+All of the cadets of the House had been assembled; all of the
+gentlemen in waiting, retainers and clients. The castle seemed full to
+overflowing; even the dormitory of the squires was used as a lodging
+place for many of the lesser gentry.
+
+So at last, in the midst of all this bustle of preparation, came the day
+of days when the King was to arrive. The day before a courier had come
+bringing the news that he was lodging at Donaster Abbey overnight, and
+would make progress the next day to Devlen.
+
+That morning, as Myles was marshalling the pages and squires, and, with
+the list of names in his hand, was striving to evolve some order out
+of the confusion, assigning the various individuals their special
+duties--these to attend in the household, those to ride in the
+escort--one of the gentlemen of Lord George's household came with an
+order for him to come immediately to the young nobleman's apartments.
+Myles hastily turned over his duties to Gascoyne and Wilkes, and then
+hurried after the messenger. He found Lord George in the antechamber,
+three gentlemen squires arming him in a magnificent suit of ribbed
+Milan.
+
+He greeted Myles with a nod and a smile as the lad entered. "Sirrah,"
+said he, "I have had a talk with Mackworth this morn concerning thee,
+and have a mind to do thee an honor in my poor way. How wouldst thou
+like to ride to-day as my special squire of escort?"
+
+Myles flushed to the roots of his hair. "Oh, sir!" he cried, eagerly,
+"an I be not too ungainly for thy purpose, no honor in all the world
+could be such joy to me as that!"
+
+Lord George laughed. "A little matter pleases thee hugely," said he;
+"but as to being ungainly, who so sayeth that of thee belieth thee,
+Myles; thou art not ungainly, sirrah. But that is not to the point. I
+have chosen thee for my equerry to-day; so make thou haste and don thine
+armor, and then come hither again, and Hollingwood will fit thee with a
+wreathed bascinet I have within, and a juppon embroidered with my arms
+and colors."
+
+When Myles had made his bow and left his patron, he flew across the
+quadrangle, and burst into the armory upon Gascoyne, whom he found still
+lingering there, chatting with one or two of the older bachelors.
+
+"What thinkest thou, Francis?" he cried, wild with excitement. "An honor
+hath been done me this day I could never have hoped to enjoy. Out of
+all this household, Lord George hath chose me his equerry for the day to
+ride to meet the King. Come, hasten to help me to arm! Art thou not glad
+of this thing for my sake, Francis?"
+
+"Aye, glad am I indeed!" cried Gascoyne, that generous friend; "rather
+almost would I have this befall thee than myself!" And indeed he was
+hardly less jubilant than Myles over the honor.
+
+Five minutes later he was busy arming him in the little room at the end
+of the dormitory which had been lately set apart for the use of the head
+bachelor. "And to think," he said, looking up as he kneeled, strapping
+the thigh-plates to his friend's legs, "that he should have chosen thee
+before all others of the fine knights and lords and gentlemen of quality
+that are here!"
+
+"Yea," said Myles, "it passeth wonder. I know not why he should so
+single me out for such an honor. It is strangely marvellous."
+
+"Nay," said Gascoyne, "there is no marvel in it, and I know right well
+why he chooseth thee. It is because he sees, as we all see, that thou
+art the stoutest and the best-skilled in arms, and most easy of carriage
+of any man in all this place."
+
+Myles laughed. "An thou make sport of me," said he, "I'll rap thy head
+with this dagger hilt. Thou art a silly fellow, Francis, to talk so. But
+tell me, hast thou heard who rides with my Lord?"
+
+"Yea, I heard Wilkes say anon that it was Sir James Lee."
+
+"I am right glad of that," said Myles; "for then he will show me what to
+do and how to bear myself. It frights me to think what would hap should
+I make some mistake in my awkwardness. Methinks Lord George would never
+have me with him more should I do amiss this day."
+
+"Never fear," said Gascoyne; "thou wilt not do amiss."
+
+And now, at last, the Earl, Lord George, and all their escort were
+ready; then the orders were given to horse, the bugle sounded, and away
+they all rode, with clashing of iron hoofs and ringing and jingling
+of armor, out into the dewy freshness of the early morning, the slant
+yellow sun of autumn blazing and flaming upon polished helmets and
+shields, and twinkling like sparks of fire upon spear points. Myles's
+heart thrilled within him for pure joy, and he swelled out his sturdy
+young breast with great draughts of the sweet fresh air that came
+singing across the sunny hill-tops. Sir James Lee, who acted as the
+Earl's equerry for the day, rode at a little distance, and there was an
+almost pathetic contrast between the grim, steadfast impassiveness of
+the tough old warrior and Myles's passionate exuberance of youth.
+
+At the head of the party rode the Earl and his brother side by side,
+each clad cap-a-pie in a suit of Milan armor, the cuirass of each
+covered with a velvet juppon embroidered in silver with the arms and
+quarterings of the Beaumonts. The Earl wore around his neck an "S S"
+collar, with a jewelled St. George hanging from it, and upon his head a
+vizored bascinet, ornamented with a wreath covered with black and yellow
+velvet and glistening with jewels.
+
+Lord George, as was said before, was clad in a beautiful suit of ribbed
+Milan armor. It was rimmed with a thin thread of gold, and, like his
+brother, he wore a bascinet wreathed with black and yellow velvet.
+
+Behind the two brothers and their equerries rode the rest in their
+proper order--knights, gentlemen, esquires, men-at-arms--to the number,
+perhaps, of two hundred and fifty; spears and lances aslant, and
+banners, permons, and pencels of black and yellow fluttering in the warm
+September air.
+
+From the castle to the town they rode, and then across the bridge, and
+thence clattering up through the stony streets, where the folk looked
+down upon them from the windows above, or crowded the fronts of the
+shops of the tradesmen. Lusty cheers were shouted for the Earl, but the
+great Lord rode staring ever straight before him, as unmoved as a stone.
+Then out of the town they clattered, and away in a sweeping cloud of
+dust across the country-side.
+
+It was not until they had reached the windy top of Willoughby Croft, ten
+miles away, that they met the King and his company. As the two parties
+approached to within forty or fifty yards of one another they stopped.
+
+As they came to a halt, Myles observed that a gentleman dressed in
+a plain blue-gray riding-habit, and sitting upon a beautiful white
+gelding, stood a little in advance of the rest of the party, and he knew
+that that must be the King. Then Sir James nodded to Myles, and leaping
+from his horse, flung the reins to one of the attendants. Myles did
+the like; and then, still following Sir James's lead as he served
+Lord Mackworth, went forward and held Lord George's stirrup while he
+dismounted. The two noblemen quickly removed each his bascinet, and
+Myles, holding the bridle-rein of Lord George's horse with his left
+hand, took the helmet in his right, resting it upon his hip.
+
+Then the two brothers walked forward bare-headed, the Earl, a little in
+advance. Reaching the King he stopped, and then bent his knee--stiffly
+in the armored plates--until it touched the ground. Thereupon the King
+reached him his hand, and he, rising again, took it, and set it to his
+lips.
+
+Then Lord George, advancing, kneeled as his brother had kneeled, and to
+him also the King gave his hand.
+
+Myles could hear nothing, but he could see that a few words of greeting
+passed between the three, and then the King, turning, beckoned to a
+knight who stood just behind him and a little in advance of the others
+of the troop. In answer, the knight rode forward; the King spoke a few
+words of introduction, and the stranger, ceremoniously drawing off his
+right gauntlet, clasped the hand, first of the Earl, and then of Lord
+George. Myles knew that he must be the great Comte de Vermoise, of whom
+he had heard so much of late.
+
+A few moments of conversation followed, and then the King bowed
+slightly. The French nobleman instantly reined back his horse, an order
+was given, and then the whole company moved forward, the two brothers
+walking upon either side of the King, the Earl lightly touching the
+bridle-rein with his bare hand.
+
+Whilst all this was passing, the Earl of Mackworth's company had been
+drawn up in a double line along the road-side, leaving the way open to
+the other party. As the King reached the head of the troop, another halt
+followed while he spoke a few courteous words of greeting to some of the
+lesser nobles attendant upon the Earl whom he knew.
+
+In that little time he was within a few paces of Myles, who stood
+motionless as a statue, holding the bascinet and the bridle-rein of Lord
+George's horse.
+
+What Myles saw was a plain, rather stout man, with a face fat, smooth,
+and waxy, with pale-blue eyes, and baggy in the lids; clean shaven,
+except for a mustache and tuft covering lips and chin. Somehow he felt
+a deep disappointment. He had expected to see something lion-like,
+something regal, and, after all, the great King Henry was commonplace,
+fat, unwholesome-looking. It came to him with a sort of a shock that,
+after all, a King was in nowise different from other men.
+
+Meanwhile the Earl and his brother replaced their bascinets, and
+presently the whole party moved forward upon the way to Mackworth.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 23
+
+That same afternoon the squires' quarters were thrown into such a
+ferment of excitement as had, perhaps, never before stirred them. About
+one o'clock in the afternoon the Earl himself and Lord George came
+walking slowly across the Armory Court wrapped in deep conversation, and
+entered Sir James Lee's office.
+
+All the usual hubbub of noise that surrounded the neighborhood of the
+dormitory and the armory was stilled at their coming, and when the two
+noblemen had entered Sir James's office, the lads and young men gathered
+in knots discussing with an almost awesome interest what that visit
+might portend.
+
+After some time Sir James Lee came to the door at the head of the long
+flight of stone steps, and whistling, beckoned one of the smaller pages
+to him. He gave a short order that sent the little fellow flying on some
+mission. In the course of a few minutes he returned, hurrying across
+the stony court with Myles Falworth, who presently entered Sir James's
+office. It was then and at this sight that the intense half-suppressed
+excitement reached its height of fever-heat. What did it all mean? The
+air was filled with a thousand vague, wild rumors--but the very wildest
+surmises fell short of the real truth.
+
+Perhaps Myles was somewhat pale when he entered the office; certainly
+his nerves were in a tremor, for his heart told him that something very
+portentous was about to befall him. The Earl sat at the table, and in
+the seat that Sir James Lee usually occupied; Lord George half sat, half
+leaned in the window-place. Sir James stood with his back to the
+empty fireplace, and his hands clasped behind him. All three were very
+serious.
+
+"Give thee good den, Myles Falworth," said the Earl, as Myles bowed
+first to him and then to the others; "and I would have thee prepare
+thyself for a great happening." Then, continuing directly to the point:
+"Thou knowest, sirrah, why we have been training thee so closely these
+three years gone; it is that thou shouldst be able to hold thine own
+in the world. Nay, not only hold thine own, but to show thyself to be
+a knight of prowess shouldst it come to a battle between thee and thy
+father's enemy; for there lieth no half-way place for thee, and thou
+must be either great or else nothing. Well, sir, the time hath now come
+for thee to show thy mettle. I would rather have chosen that thou hadst
+labored a twelvemonth longer; but now, as I said, hath come a chance to
+prove thyself that may never come again. Sir James tells me that thou
+art passably ripe in skill. Thou must now show whether that be so or no.
+Hast thou ever heard of the Sieur de la Montaigne?"
+
+"Yea, my Lord. I have heard of him often," answered Myles. "It was he
+who won the prize at the great tourney at Rochelle last year."
+
+"I see that thou hast his fame pat to thy tongue's end," said the Earl;
+"he is the chevalier of whom I speak, and he is reckoned the best knight
+of Dauphiny. That one of which thou spokest was the third great tourney
+in which he was adjudged the victor. I am glad that thou holdest his
+prowess highly. Knowest thou that he is in the train of the Comte de
+Vermoise?"
+
+"Nay," said Myles, flushing; "I did hear news he was in England, but
+knew not that he was in this place."
+
+"Yea," said Lord Mackworth; "he is here." He paused for a moment; then
+said, suddenly. "Tell me, Myles Falworth, an thou wert a knight and of
+rank fit to run a joust with the Sieur de la Montaigne, wouldst thou
+dare encounter him in the lists?"
+
+The Earl's question fell upon Myles so suddenly and unexpectedly that
+for a moment or so he stood staring at the speaker with mouth agape.
+Meanwhile the Earl sat looking calmly back at him, slowly stroking his
+beard the while.
+
+It was Sir James Lee's voice that broke the silence. "Thou heardst thy
+Lord speak," said he, harshly. "Hast thou no tongue to answer, sirrah?"
+
+"Be silent, Lee," said Lord Mackworth, quietly. "Let the lad have time
+to think before he speaketh."
+
+The sound of the words aroused Myles. He advanced to the table, and
+rested his hand upon it. "My Lord--my Lord," said he, "I know not what
+to say, I--I am amazed and afeard."
+
+"How! how!" cried Sir James Lee, harshly. "Afeard, sayst thou? An thou
+art afeard, thou knave, thou needst never look upon my face or speak to
+me more! I have done with thee forever an thou art afeard even were the
+champion a Sir Alisander."
+
+"Peace, peace, Lee," said the Earl, holding up his hand. "Thou art too
+hasty. The lad shall have his will in this matter, and thou and no one
+shall constrain him. Methinks, also, thou dost not understand him. Speak
+from thy heart, Myles; why art thou afraid?"
+
+"Because," said Myles, "I am so young, sir; I am but a raw boy. How
+should I dare be so hardy as to venture to set lance against such an one
+as the Sieur de la Montaigne? What would I be but a laughing-stock for
+all the world who would see me so foolish as to venture me against one
+of such prowess and skill?"
+
+"Nay, Myles," said Lord George, "thou thinkest not well enough of thine
+own skill and prowess. Thinkest thou we would undertake to set thee
+against him, an we did not think that thou couldst hold thine own fairly
+well?"
+
+"Hold mine own?" cried Myles, turning to Lord George. "Sir; thou dost
+not mean--thou canst not mean, that I may hope or dream to hold mine own
+against the Sieur de la Montaigne."
+
+"Aye," said Lord George, "that was what I did mean."
+
+"Come, Myles," said the Earl; "now tell me: wilt thou fight the Sieur de
+la Montaigne?"
+
+"Yea," said Myles, drawing himself to his full height and throwing out
+his chest. "Yea," and his cheeks and forehead flushed red; "an thou bid
+me do so, I will fight him."
+
+"There spake my brave lad!" cried Lord George heartily.
+
+"I give thee joy, Myles," said the Earl, reaching him his hand, which
+Myles took and kissed. "And I give thee double joy. I have talked with
+the King concerning thee this morning, and he hath consented to knight
+thee--yea, to knight thee with all honors of the Bath--provided thou
+wilt match thee against the Sieur de la Montaigne for the honor of
+England and Mackworth. Just now the King lieth to sleep for a little
+while after his dinner; have thyself in readiness when he cometh forth,
+and I will have thee presented."
+
+Then the Earl turned to Sir James Lee, and questioned him as to how the
+bachelors were fitted with clothes. Myles listened, only half hearing
+the words through the tumbling of his thoughts. He had dreamed in his
+day-dreams that some time he might be knighted, but that time always
+seemed very, very distant. To be knighted now, in his boyhood, by the
+King, with the honors of the Bath, and under the patronage of the
+Earl of Mackworth; to joust--to actually joust--with the Sieur de la
+Montaigne, one of the most famous chevaliers of France! No wonder he
+only half heard the words; half heard the Earl's questions concerning
+his clothes and the discussion which followed; half heard Lord George
+volunteer to array him in fitting garments from his own wardrobe.
+
+"Thou mayst go now," said the Earl, at last turning to him. "But be thou
+at George's apartments by two of the clock to be dressed fittingly for
+the occasion."
+
+Then Myles went out stupefied, dazed, bewildered. He looked around,
+but he did not see Gascoyne. He said not a word to any of the others in
+answer to the eager questions poured upon him by his fellow-squires,
+but walked straight away. He hardly knew where he went, but by-and-by
+he found himself in a grassy angle below the end of the south stable; a
+spot overlooking the outer wall and the river beyond. He looked around;
+no one was near, and he flung himself at length, burying his face in
+his arms. How long he lay there he did not know, but suddenly some
+one touched him upon the shoulder, and he sprang up quickly. It was
+Gascoyne.
+
+"What is to do, Myles?" said his friend, anxiously. "What is all this
+talk I hear concerning thee up yonder at the armory?"
+
+"Oh, Francis!" cried Myles, with a husky choking voice: "I am to be
+knighted--by the King--by the King himself; and I--I am to fight the
+Sieur de la Montaigne."
+
+He reached out his hand, and Gascoyne took it. They stood for a while
+quite silent, and when at last the stillness was broken, it was Gascoyne
+who spoke, in a choking voice.
+
+"Thou art going to be great, Myles," said he. "I always knew that it
+must be so with thee, and now the time hath come. Yea, thou wilt be
+great, and live at court amongst noble folk, and Kings haply. Presently
+thou wilt not be with me any more, and wilt forget me by-and-by."
+
+"Nay, Francis, never will I forget thee!" answered Myles, pressing
+his friend's hand. "I will always love thee better than any one in the
+world, saving only my father and my mother."
+
+Gascoyne shook his head and looked away, swallowing at the dry lump in
+his throat. Suddenly he turned to Myles. "Wilt thou grant me a boon?"
+
+"Yea," answered Myles. "What is it?"
+
+"That thou wilt choose me for thy squire."
+
+"Nay," said Myles; "how canst thou think to serve me as squire? Thou
+wilt be a knight thyself some day, Francis, and why dost thou wish now
+to be my squire?"
+
+"Because," said Gascoyne, with a short laugh, "I would rather be in thy
+company as a squire than in mine own as a knight, even if I might be
+banneret."
+
+Myles flung his arm around his friend's neck, and kissed him upon the
+cheek. "Thou shalt have thy will," said he; "but whether knight or
+squire, thou art ever mine own true friend."
+
+Then they went slowly back together, hand in hand, to the castle world
+again.
+
+At two o'clock Myles went to Lord George's apartments, and there his
+friend and patron dressed him out in a costume better fitted for the
+ceremony of presentation--a fur-trimmed jacket of green brocaded velvet
+embroidered with golden thread, a black velvet hood-cap rolled like a
+turban and with a jewel in the front, a pair of crimson hose, and a pair
+of black velvet shoes trimmed and stitched with gold-thread. Myles had
+never worn such splendid clothes in his life before, and he could not
+but feel that they became him well.
+
+"Sir," said he, as he looked down at himself, "sure it is not lawful for
+me to wear such clothes as these."
+
+In those days there was a law, known as a sumptuary law, which regulated
+by statute the clothes that each class of people were privileged to
+wear. It was, as Myles said, against the law for him to wear such
+garments as those in which he was clad--either velvet, crimson stuff,
+fur or silver or gold embroidery--nevertheless such a solemn ceremony as
+presentation to the King excused the temporary overstepping of the law,
+and so Lord George told him. As he laid his hand upon the lad's shoulder
+and held him off at arm's-length, he added, "And I pledge thee my word,
+Myles, that thou art as lusty and handsome a lad as ever mine eyes
+beheld."
+
+"Thou art very kind to me, sir," said Myles, in answer.
+
+Lord George laughed; and then giving him a shake, let go his shoulder.
+
+It was about three o'clock when little Edmond de Montefort, Lord
+Mackworth's favorite page, came with word that the King was then walking
+in the Earl's pleasance.
+
+"Come, Myles," said Lord George, and then Myles arose from the
+seat where he had been sitting, his heart palpitating and throbbing
+tumultuously.
+
+At the wicket-gate of the pleasance two gentlemen-at-arms stood guard in
+half-armor; they saluted Lord George, and permitted him to pass with his
+protege. As he laid his hand upon the latch of the wicket he paused for
+a moment and turned.
+
+"Myles," said he, in a low voice, "thou art a thoughtful and cautious
+lad; for thy father's sake be thoughtful and cautious now. Do not
+speak his name or betray that thou art his son." Then he opened the
+wicket-gate and entered.
+
+Any lad of Myles's age, even one far more used to the world than he,
+would perhaps have felt all the oppression that he experienced under the
+weight of such a presentation. He hardly knew what he was doing as
+Lord George led him to where the King stood, a little apart from
+the attendants, with the Earl and the Comte de Vermoise. Even in his
+confusion he knew enough to kneel, and somehow his honest, modest
+diffidence became the young fellow very well. He was not awkward, for
+one so healthful in mind and body as he could not bear himself very ill,
+and he felt the assurance that in Lord George he had a kind friend at
+his side, and one well used to court ceremonies to lend him countenance.
+Then there is something always pleasing in frank, modest manliness such
+as was stamped on Myles's handsome, sturdy face. No doubt the King's
+heart warmed towards the fledgling warrior kneeling in the pathway
+before him. He smiled very kindly as he gave the lad his hand to kiss,
+and that ceremony done, held fast to the hard, brown, sinewy fist of the
+young man with his soft white hand, and raised him to his feet.
+
+"By the mass!" said he, looking Myles over with smiling eyes, "thou art
+a right champion in good sooth. Such as thou art haply was Sir Galahad
+when he came to Arthur's court. And so they tell me, thou hast stomach
+to brook the Sieur de la Montaigne, that tough old boar of Dauphiny.
+Hast thou in good sooth the courage to face him? Knowest thou what a
+great thing it is that thou hast set upon thyself--to do battle, even in
+sport, with him?"
+
+"Yea, your Majesty," answered Myles, "well I wot it is a task haply
+beyond me. But gladly would I take upon me even a greater venture, and
+one more dangerous, to do your Majesty's pleasure!"
+
+The King looked pleased. "Now that was right well said, young man," said
+he, "and I like it better that it came from such young and honest lips.
+Dost thou speak French?"
+
+"Yea, your Majesty," answered Myles. "In some small measure do I so."
+
+"I am glad of that," said the King; "for so I may make thee acquainted
+with Sieur de la Montaigne."
+
+He turned as he ended speaking, and beckoned to a heavy, thick-set,
+black-browed chevalier who stood with the other gentlemen attendants at
+a little distance. He came instantly forward in answer to the summons,
+and the King introduced the two to one another. As each took the other
+formally by the hand, he measured his opponent hastily, body and limb,
+and perhaps each thought that he had never seen a stronger, stouter,
+better-knit man than the one upon whom he looked. But nevertheless
+the contrast betwixt the two was very great--Myles, young, boyish,
+fresh-faced; the other, bronzed, weather beaten, and seamed with a great
+white scar that ran across his forehead and cheek; the one a novice, the
+other a warrior seasoned in twoscore battles.
+
+A few polite phrases passed between the two, the King listening smiling,
+but with an absent and far-away look gradually stealing upon his face.
+As they ended speaking, a little pause of silence followed, and then the
+King suddenly aroused himself.
+
+"So," said he, "I am glad that ye two are acquainted. And now we will
+leave our youthful champion in thy charge, Beaumont--and in thine, Mon
+Sieur, as well--and so soon as the proper ceremonies are ended, we will
+dub him knight with our own hands. And now, Mackworth, and thou my Lord
+Count, let us walk a little; I have bethought me further concerning
+these threescore extra men for Dauphiny."
+
+Then Myles withdrew, under the charge of Lord George and the Sieur de
+la Montaigne and while the King and the two nobles walked slowly up and
+down the gravel path between the tall rose-bushes, Myles stood
+talking with the gentlemen attendants, finding himself, with a certain
+triumphant exultation, the peer of any and the hero of the hour.
+
+That night was the last that Myles and Gascoyne spent lodging in the
+dormitory in their squirehood service. The next day they were assigned
+apartments in Lord George's part of the house, and thither they
+transported themselves and their belongings, amid the awestruck wonder
+and admiration of their fellow-squires.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 24
+
+In Myles Falworth's day one of the greatest ceremonies of courtly life
+was that of the bestowal of knighthood by the King, with the honors of
+the Bath. By far the greater number of knights were at that time created
+by other knights, or by nobles, or by officers of the crown. To be
+knighted by the King in person distinguished the recipient for life. It
+was this signal honor that the Earl, for his own purposes, wished Myles
+to enjoy, and for this end he had laid not a few plans.
+
+The accolade was the term used for the creation of a knight upon the
+field of battle. It was a reward of valor or of meritorious service, and
+was generally bestowed in a more or less off-hand way; but the ceremony
+of the Bath was an occasion of the greatest courtly moment, and it was
+thus that Myles Falworth was to be knighted in addition to the honor of
+a royal belting.
+
+A quaint old book treating of knighthood and chivalry gives a full and
+detailed account of all the circumstances of the ceremony of a creation
+of a Knight of the Bath. It tells us that the candidate was first
+placed under the care of two squires of honor, "grave and well seen in
+courtship and nurture, and also in feats of chivalry," which same were
+likewise to be governors in all things relating to the coming honors.
+
+First of all, the barber shaved him, and cut his hair in a certain
+peculiar fashion ordained for the occasion, the squires of honor
+supervising the operation. This being concluded, the candidate was
+solemnly conducted to the chamber where the bath of tepid water was
+prepared, "hung within and without with linen, and likewise covered
+with rich cloths and embroidered linen." While in the bath two "ancient,
+grave, and reverend knights" attended the bachelor, giving him "meet
+instructions in the order and feats of chivalry." The candidate was then
+examined as to his knowledge and acquirements, and then, all questions
+being answered to the satisfaction of his examiners, the elder of the
+two dipped a handful of water out from the bath, and poured it upon his
+head, at the same time signing his left shoulder with the sign of the
+cross.
+
+As soon as this ceremony was concluded, the two squires of honor helped
+their charge from the bath, and conducted him to a plain bed without
+hangings, where they let him rest until his body was warm and dry.
+Then they clad him in a white linen shirt, and over it a plain robe of
+russet, "girdled about the loins with a rope, and having a hood like
+unto a hermit."
+
+As soon as the candidate had arisen, the two "ancient knights" returned,
+and all being in readiness he was escorted to the chapel, the two
+walking, one upon either side of him, his squires of honor marching
+before, and the whole party preceded by "sundry minstrels making a loud
+noise of music."
+
+When they came to the chapel, the two knights who escorted him took
+leave of the candidate, each saluting him with a kiss upon the cheek.
+No one remained with him but his squires of honor, the priest, and the
+chandler.
+
+In the mean time the novitiate's armor, sword, lance, and helmet had
+been laid in readiness before the altar. These he watched and guarded
+while the others slept, keeping vigil until sunrise, during which time
+"he shall," says the ancient authority, "pass the night in orisons,
+prayers, and meditation." At daylight he confessed to the priest, heard
+matins, and communicated in mass, and then presented a lighted candle
+at the altar, with a piece of money stuck in it as close to the flame
+as could be done, the candle being offered to the honor of God, and the
+money to the honor of that person who was to make him a knight.
+
+So concluded the sacred ceremony, which being ended his squires
+conducted the candidate to his chamber, and there made him comfortable,
+and left him to repose for a while before the second and final part of
+the ordinance.
+
+Such is a shortened account of the preparatory stages of the ceremonies
+through which Myles Falworth passed.
+
+Matters had come upon him so suddenly one after the other, and had come
+with such bewildering rapidity that all that week was to him like some
+strange, wonderful, mysterious vision. He went through it all like one
+in a dream. Lord George Beaumont was one of his squires of honor; the
+other, by way of a fitting complement to the courage of the chivalrous
+lad, was the Sieur de la Montaigne, his opponent soon to be. They were
+well versed in everything relating to knightcraft, and Myles followed
+all their directions with passive obedience. Then Sir James Lee and the
+Comte de Vermoise administered the ceremony of the Bath, the old knight
+examining him in the laws of chivalry.
+
+It occurs perhaps once or twice in one's lifetime that one passes
+through great happenings--sometimes of joy, sometimes of dreadful
+bitterness--in just such a dazed state as Myles passed through this. It
+is only afterwards that all comes back to one so sharply and keenly that
+the heart thrills almost in agony in living it over again. But perhaps
+of all the memory of that time, when it afterwards came back piece by
+piece, none was so clear to Myles's back-turned vision as the long
+night spent in the chapel, watching his armor, thinking such wonderful
+thoughts, and dreaming such wonderful wide-eyed dreams. At such times
+Myles saw again the dark mystery of the castle chapel; he saw again the
+half-moon gleaming white and silvery through the tall, narrow window,
+and throwing a broad form of still whiteness across stone floor, empty
+seats, and still, motionless figures of stone effigies. At such times
+he stood again in front of the twinkling tapers that lit the altar where
+his armor lay piled in a heap, heard again the deep breathing of his
+companions of the watch sleeping in some empty stall, wrapped each in
+his cloak, and saw the old chandler bestir himself, and rise and come
+forward to snuff the candles. At such times he saw again the day growing
+clearer and clearer through the tall, glazed windows, saw it change to
+a rosy pink, and then to a broad, ruddy glow that threw a halo of light
+around Father Thomas's bald head bowed in sleep, and lit up the banners
+and trophies hanging motionless against the stony face of the west wall;
+heard again the stirring of life without and the sound of his companions
+arousing themselves; saw them come forward, and heard them wish him joy
+that his long watch was ended.
+
+
+It was nearly noon when Myles was awakened from a fitful sleep by
+Gascoyne bringing in his dinner, but, as might be supposed, he had but
+little hunger, and ate sparingly. He had hardly ended his frugal meal
+before his two squires of honor came in, followed by a servant carrying
+the garments for the coming ceremony. He saluted them gravely, and then
+arising, washed his face and hands in a basin which Gascoyne held; then
+kneeled in prayer, the others standing silent at a little distance. As
+he arose, Lord George came forward.
+
+"The King and the company come presently to the Great Hall, Myles," said
+he; "it is needful for thee to make all the haste that thou art able."
+
+Perhaps never had Devlen Castle seen a more brilliant and goodly company
+gathered in the great hall than that which came to witness King Henry
+create Myles Falworth a knight bachelor.
+
+At the upper end of the hall was a raised dais, upon which stood
+a throne covered with crimson satin and embroidered with lions and
+flower-deluces; it was the King's seat. He and his personal attendants
+had not yet come, but the rest of the company were gathered. The day
+being warm and sultry, the balcony was all aflutter with the feather
+fans of the ladies of the family and their attendants, who from this
+high place looked down upon the hall below. Up the centre of the hall
+was laid a carpet of arras, and the passage was protected by wooden
+railings. Upon the one side were tiers of seats for the castle
+gentlefolks and the guests. Upon the other stood the burghers from the
+town, clad in sober dun and russet, and yeomanry in green and brown. The
+whole of the great vaulted hall was full of the dull hum of many people
+waiting, and a ceaseless restlessness stirred the crowded throng. But
+at last a whisper went around that the King was coming. A momentary hush
+fell, and through it was heard the noisy clatter of horses' feet coming
+nearer and nearer, and then stopping before the door. The sudden blare
+of trumpets broke through the hush; another pause, and then in through
+the great door-way of the hall came the royal procession.
+
+First of all marched, in the order of their rank, and to the number of
+a score or more, certain gentlemen, esquires and knights, chosen mostly
+from the King's attendants. Behind these came two pursuivants-at-arms
+in tabards, and following them a party of a dozen more bannerets
+and barons. Behind these again, a little space intervening, came two
+heralds, also in tabards, a group of the greater nobles attendant
+upon the King following in the order of their rank. Next came the
+King-at-arms and, at a little distance and walking with sober slowness,
+the King himself, with the Earl and the Count directly attendant upon
+him--the one marching upon the right hand and the other upon the left.
+A breathless silence filled the whole space as the royal procession
+advanced slowly up the hall. Through the stillness could be heard the
+muffled sound of the footsteps on the carpet, the dry rustling of
+silk and satin garments, and the clear clink and jingle of chains and
+jewelled ornaments, but not the sound of a single voice.
+
+After the moment or two of bustle and confusion of the King taking his
+place had passed, another little space of expectant silence fell. At
+last there suddenly came the noise of acclamation of those who stood
+without the door--cheering and the clapping of hands--sounds heralding
+the immediate advent of Myles and his attendants. The next moment the
+little party entered the hall.
+
+First of all, Gascoyne, bearing Myles's sword in both hands, the hilt
+resting against his breast, the point elevated at an angle of forty-five
+degrees. It was sheathed in a crimson scabbard, and the belt of Spanish
+leather studded with silver bosses was wound crosswise around it. From
+the hilt of the sword dangled the gilt spurs of his coming knighthood.
+At a little distance behind his squire followed Myles, the centre of
+all observation. He was clad in a novitiate dress, arranged under Lord
+George's personal supervision. It had been made somewhat differently
+from the fashion usual at such times, and was intended to indicate in a
+manner the candidate's extreme youthfulness and virginity in arms. The
+outer garment was a tabard robe of white wool, embroidered at the hem
+with fine lines of silver, and gathered loosely at the waist with a belt
+of lavender leather stitched with thread of silver. Beneath he was clad
+in armor (a present from the Earl), new and polished till it shone with
+dazzling brightness, the breastplate covered with a juppon of white
+satin, embroidered with silver. Behind Myles, and upon either hand, came
+his squires of honor, sponsors, and friends--a little company of
+some half-dozen in all. As they advanced slowly up the great, dim,
+high-vaulted room, the whole multitude broke forth into a humming buzz
+of applause. Then a sudden clapping of hands began near the door-way,
+ran down through the length of the room, and was taken up by all with
+noisy clatter.
+
+"Saw I never youth so comely," whispered one of the Lady Anne's
+attendant gentlewomen. "Sure he looketh as Sir Galahad looked when he
+came first to King Arthur's court."
+
+Myles knew that he was very pale; he felt rather than saw the restless
+crowd of faces upon either side, for his eyes were fixed directly before
+him, upon the dais whereon sat the King, with the Earl of Mackworth
+standing at his right hand, the Comte de Vermoise upon the left, and the
+others ranged around and behind the throne. It was with the same tense
+feeling of dreamy unreality that Myles walked slowly up the length of
+the hall, measuring his steps by those of Gascoyne. Suddenly he
+felt Lord George Beaumont touch him lightly upon the arm, and almost
+instinctively he stopped short--he was standing just before the covered
+steps of the throne.
+
+He saw Gascoyne mount to the third step, stop short, kneel, and offer
+the sword and the spurs he carried to the King, who took the weapon
+and laid it across his knees. Then the squire bowed low, and walking
+backward withdrew to one side, leaving Myles standing alone facing the
+throne. The King unlocked the spur chains from the sword-hilt, and
+then, holding the gilt spurs in his hand for a moment, he looked Myles
+straight in the eyes and smiled. Then he turned, and gave one of the
+spurs to the Earl of Mackworth.
+
+The Earl took it with a low bow, turned, and came slowly down the steps
+to where Myles stood. Kneeling upon one knee, and placing Myles's foot
+upon the other, Lord Mackworth set the spur in its place and latched the
+chain over the instep. He drew the sign of the cross upon Myles's bended
+knee, set the foot back upon the ground, rose with slow dignity, and
+bowing to the King, drew a little to one side.
+
+As soon as the Earl had fulfilled his office the King gave the second
+spur to the Comte de Vermoise, who set it to Myles's other foot with the
+same ceremony that the Earl had observed, withdrawing as he had done to
+one side.
+
+An instant pause of motionless silence followed, and then the King
+slowly arose, and began deliberately to unwind the belt from around the
+scabbard of the sword he held. As soon as he stood, the Earl and the
+Count advanced, and taking Myles by either hand, led him forward and up
+the steps of the dais to the platform above. As they drew a little to
+one side, the King stooped and buckled the sword-belt around Myles's
+waist, then, rising again, lifted his hand and struck him upon the
+shoulder, crying, in a loud voice.
+
+"Be thou a good knight!"
+
+Instantly a loud sound of applause and the clapping of hands filled the
+whole hall, in the midst of which the King laid both hands upon Myles's
+shoulders and kissed him upon the right cheek. So the ceremony ended;
+Myles was no longer Myles Falworth, but Sir Myles Falworth, Knight by
+Order of the Bath and by grace of the King!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 25
+
+It was the custom to conclude the ceremonies of the bestowal of
+knighthood by a grand feast given in honor of the newly-created knight.
+But in Myles's instance the feast was dispensed with. The Earl of
+Mackworth had planned that Myles might be created a Knight of the Bath
+with all possible pomp and ceremony; that his personality might be
+most favorably impressed upon the King; that he might be so honorably
+knighted as to make him the peer of any who wore spurs in all England;
+and, finally, that he might celebrate his new honors by jousting with
+some knight of high fame and approved valor. All these desiderata chance
+had fulfilled in the visit of the King to Devlen.
+
+As the Earl had said to Myles, he would rather have waited a little
+while longer until the lad was riper in years and experience, but the
+opportunity was not to be lost. Young as he was, Myles must take
+his chances against the years and grim experience of the Sieur de la
+Montaigne. But it was also a part of the Earl's purpose that the King
+and Myles should not be brought too intimately together just at that
+time. Though every particular of circumstance should be fulfilled in the
+ceremony, it would have been ruination to the Earl's plans to have the
+knowledge come prematurely to the King that Myles was the son of
+the attainted Lord Falworth. The Earl knew that Myles was a shrewd,
+coolheaded lad; but the King had already hinted that the name was
+familiar to his ears, and a single hasty answer or unguarded speech upon
+the young knight's part might awaken him to a full knowledge. Such a
+mishap was, of all things, to be avoided just then, for, thanks to the
+machinations of that enemy of his father of whom Myles had heard so
+much, and was soon to hear more, the King had always retained and still
+held a bitter and rancorous enmity against the unfortunate nobleman.
+
+It was no very difficult matter for the Earl to divert the King's
+attention from the matter of the feast. His Majesty was very intent
+just then upon supplying a quota of troops to the Dauphin, and the chief
+object of his visit to Devlen was to open negotiations with the Earl
+looking to that end. He was interested--much interested in Myles and in
+the coming jousting in which the young warrior was to prove himself, but
+he was interested in it by way of a relaxation from the other and more
+engrossing matter. So, though he made some passing and half preoccupied
+inquiry about the feast he was easily satisfied with the Earl's reasons
+for not holding it: which were that he had arranged a consultation for
+that morning in regard to the troops for the Dauphin, to which meeting
+he had summoned a number of his own more important dependent nobles,
+that the King himself needed repose and the hour or so of rest that
+his barber-surgeon had ordered him to take after his mid-day meal; that
+Father Thomas had laid upon Myles a petty penance--that for the first
+three days of his knighthood he should eat his meals without meat and
+in his own apartment--and various other reasons equally good and
+sufficient. So the King was satisfied, and the feast was dispensed with.
+
+The next morning had been set for the jousting, and all that day the
+workmen were busy erecting the lists in the great quadrangle upon which,
+as was said before, looked the main buildings of the castle. The windows
+of Myles's apartment opened directly upon the bustling scene--the
+carpenters hammering and sawing, the upholsterers snipping, cutting,
+and tacking. Myles and Gascoyne stood gazing out from the open casement,
+with their arms lying across one another's shoulders in the old boyhood
+fashion, and Myles felt his heart shrink with a sudden tight pang as
+the realization came sharply and vividly upon him that all these
+preparations were being made for him, and that the next day he should,
+with almost the certainty of death, meet either glory or failure under
+the eyes not only of all the greater and lesser castle folk, but of the
+King himself and noble strangers critically used to deeds of chivalry
+and prowess. Perhaps he had never fully realized the magnitude of the
+reality before. In that tight pang at his heart he drew a deep breath,
+almost a sigh. Gascoyne turned his head abruptly, and looked at his
+friend, but he did not ask the cause of the sigh. No doubt the same
+thoughts that were in Myles's mind were in his also.
+
+
+It was towards the latter part of the afternoon that a message came from
+the Earl, bidding Myles attend him in his private closet. After Myles
+had bowed and kissed his lordship's hand, the Earl motioned him to
+take a seat, telling him that he had some final words to say that might
+occupy a considerable time. He talked to the young man for about half
+an hour in his quiet, measured voice, only now and then showing a little
+agitation by rising and walking up and down the room for a turn or two.
+Very many things were disclosed in that talk that had caused Myles
+long hours of brooding thought, for the Earl spoke freely, and without
+concealment to him concerning his father and the fortunes of the house
+of Falworth.
+
+Myles had surmised many things, but it was not until then that he knew
+for a certainty who was his father's malignant and powerful enemy--that
+it was the great Earl of Alban, the rival and bitter enemy of the Earl
+of Mackworth. It was not until then that he knew that the present Earl
+of Alban was the Lord Brookhurst, who had killed Sir John Dale in
+the anteroom at Falworth Castle that morning so long ago in his early
+childhood. It was not until then that he knew all the circumstances of
+his father's blindness; that he had been overthrown in the melee at the
+great tournament at York, and that that same Lord Brookhurst had ridden
+his iron-shod war-horse twice over his enemy's prostrate body before his
+squire could draw him from the press, and had then and there given him
+the wound from which he afterwards went blind. The Earl swore to Myles
+that Lord Brookhurst had done what he did wilfully, and had afterwards
+boasted of it. Then, with some hesitation, he told Myles the reason
+of Lord Brookhurst's enmity, and that it had arisen on account of Lady
+Falworth, whom he had one time sought in marriage, and that he had sworn
+vengeance against the man who had won her.
+
+Piece by piece the Earl of Mackworth recounted every circumstance and
+detail of the revenge that the blind man's enemy had afterwards
+wreaked upon him. He told Myles how, when his father was attainted
+of high-treason, and his estates forfeited to the crown, the King had
+granted the barony of Easterbridge to the then newly-created Earl of
+Alban in spite of all the efforts of Lord Falworth's friends to the
+contrary; that when he himself had come out from an audience with the
+King, with others of his father's friends, the Earl of Alban had boasted
+in the anteroom, in a loud voice, evidently intended for them all to
+hear, that now that he had Falworth's fat lands, he would never rest
+till he had hunted the blind man out from his hiding, and brought his
+head to the block.
+
+"Ever since then," said the Earl of Mackworth "he hath been striving by
+every means to discover thy father's place of concealment. Some time,
+haply, he may find it, and then--"
+
+Myles had felt for a long time that he was being moulded and shaped, and
+that the Earl of Mackworth's was the hand that was making him what he
+was growing to be; but he had never realized how great were the things
+expected of him should he pass the first great test, and show himself
+what his friends hoped to see him. Now he knew that all were looking
+upon him to act, sometime, as his father's champion, and when that time
+should come, to challenge the Earl of Alban to the ordeal of single
+combat, to purge his father's name of treason, to restore him to his
+rank, and to set the house of Falworth where it stood before misfortune
+fell upon it.
+
+But it was not alone concerning his and his father's affairs that the
+Earl of Mackworth talked to Myles. He told him that the Earl of Alban
+was the Earl of Mackworth's enemy also; that in his younger days he had
+helped Lord Falworth, who was his kinsman, to win his wife, and that
+then, Lord Brookhurst had sworn to compass his ruin as he had sworn
+to compass the ruin of his friend. He told Myles how, now that Lord
+Brookhurst was grown to be Earl of Alban, and great and powerful, he
+was forever plotting against him, and showed Myles how, if Lord Falworth
+were discovered and arrested for treason, he also would be likely to
+suffer for aiding and abetting him. Then it dawned upon Myles that the
+Earl looked to him to champion the house of Beaumont as well as that of
+Falworth.
+
+"Mayhap," said the Earl, "thou didst think that it was all for the
+pleasant sport of the matter that I have taken upon me this toil and
+endeavor to have thee knighted with honor that thou mightst fight the
+Dauphiny knight. Nay, nay, Myles Falworth, I have not labored so
+hard for such a small matter as that. I have had the King, unknown to
+himself, so knight thee that thou mayst be the peer of Alban himself,
+and now I would have thee to hold thine own with the Sieur de la
+Montaigne, to try whether thou be'st Alban's match, and to approve
+thyself worthy of the honor of thy knighthood. I am sorry, ne'theless,"
+he added, after a moment's pause, "that this could not have been put off
+for a while longer, for my plans for bringing thee to battle with that
+vile Alban are not yet ripe. But such a chance of the King coming hither
+haps not often. And then I am glad of this much--that a good occasion
+offers to get thee presently away from England. I would have thee out
+of the King's sight so soon as may be after this jousting. He taketh
+a liking to thee, and I fear me lest he should inquire more nearly
+concerning thee and so all be discovered and spoiled. My brother George
+goeth upon the first of next month to France to take service with the
+Dauphin, having under his command a company of tenscore men--knights and
+archers; thou shalt go with him, and there stay till I send for thee to
+return."
+
+With this, the protracted interview concluded, the Earl charging Myles
+to say nothing further about the French expedition for the present--even
+to his friend--for it was as yet a matter of secrecy, known only to the
+King and a few nobles closely concerned in the venture.
+
+Then Myles arose to take his leave. He asked and obtained permission for
+Gascoyne to accompany him to France. Then he paused for a moment or two,
+for it was strongly upon him to speak of a matter that had been lying
+in his mind all day--a matter that he had dreamed of much with open eyes
+during the long vigil of the night before.
+
+The Earl looked up inquiringly. "What is it thou wouldst ask?" said he.
+
+Myles's heart was beating quickly within him at the thought of his own
+boldness, and as he spoke his cheeks burned like fire. "Sir," said he,
+mustering his courage at last, "haply thou hast forgot it, but I have
+not; ne'theless, a long time since when I spoke of serving the--the Lady
+Alice as her true knight, thou didst wisely laugh at my words, and bade
+me wait first till I had earned my spurs. But now, sir, I have gotten
+my spurs, and--and do now crave thy gracious leave that I may serve that
+lady as her true knight."
+
+A space of dead silence fell, in which Myles's heart beat tumultuously
+within him.
+
+"I know not what thou meanest," said the Earl at last, in a somewhat
+constrained voice. "How wouldst thou serve her? What wouldst thou have?"
+
+"I would have only a little matter just now," answered Myles. "I would
+but crave of her a favor for to wear in the morrow's battle, so that she
+may know that I hold her for my own true lady, and that I may have the
+courage to fight more boldly, having that favor to defend."
+
+The Earl sat looking at him for a while in brooding silence, stroking
+his beard the while. Suddenly his brow cleared. "So be it," said he.
+"I grant thee my leave to ask the Lady Alice for a favor, and if she
+is pleased to give it to thee, I shall not say thee nay. But I set this
+upon thee as a provision: that thou shalt not see her without the Lady
+Anne be present. Thus it was, as I remember, thou saw her first, and
+with it thou must now be satisfied. Go thou to the Long Gallery, and
+thither they will come anon if naught hinder them."
+
+Myles waited in the Long Gallery perhaps some fifteen or twenty minutes.
+No one was there but himself. It was a part of the castle connecting the
+Earl's and the Countess's apartments, and was used but little. During
+that time he stood looking absently out of the open casement into the
+stony court-yard beyond, trying to put into words that which he had
+to say; wondering, with anxiety, how soon the young ladies would come;
+wondering whether they would come at all. At last the door at the
+farther end of the gallery opened, and turning sharply at the sound, he
+saw the two young ladies enter, Lady Alice leaning upon Lady Anne's arm.
+It was the first time that he had seen them since the ceremony of the
+morning, and as he advanced to meet them, the Lady Anne came frankly
+forward, and gave him her hand, which Myles raised to his lips.
+
+"I give thee joy of thy knighthood, Sir Myles," said she, "and do
+believe, in good sooth, that if any one deserveth such an honor, thou
+art he."
+
+At first little Lady Alice hung back behind her cousin, saying nothing
+until the Lady Anne, turning suddenly, said: "Come, coz, has thou naught
+to say to our new-made knight? Canst thou not also wish him joy of his
+knighthood?"
+
+Lady Alice hesitated a minute, then gave Myles a timid hand, which he,
+with a strange mixture of joy and confusion, took as timidly as it was
+offered. He raised the hand, and set it lightly and for an instant
+to his lips, as he had done with the Lady Anne's hand, but with very
+different emotions.
+
+"I give you joy of your knighthood, sir," said Lady Alice, in a voice so
+low that Myles could hardly hear it.
+
+Both flushed red, and as he raised his head again, Myles saw that the
+Lady Anne had withdrawn to one side. Then he knew that it was to give
+him the opportunity to proffer his request.
+
+A little space of silence followed, the while he strove to key his
+courage to the saying of that which lay at his mind. "Lady," said he at
+last, and then again--"Lady, I--have a favor for to ask thee."
+
+"What is it thou wouldst have, Sir Myles?" she murmured, in reply.
+
+"Lady," said he, "ever sin I first saw thee I have thought that if I
+might choose of all the world, thou only wouldst I choose for--for
+my true lady, to serve as a right knight should." Here he stopped,
+frightened at his own boldness. Lady Alice stood quite still, with her
+face turned away. "Thou--thou art not angered at what I say?" he said.
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I have longed and longed for the time," said he, "to ask a boon of thee,
+and now hath that time come. Lady, to-morrow I go to meet a right good
+knight, and one skilled in arms and in jousting, as thou dost know. Yea,
+he is famous in arms, and I be nobody. Ne'theless, I fight for the honor
+of England and Mackworth--and--and for thy sake. I--Thou art not angered
+at what I say?"
+
+Again the Lady Alice shook her head.
+
+"I would that thou--I would that thou would give me some favor for to
+wear--thy veil or thy necklace."
+
+He waited anxiously for a little while, but Lady Alice did not answer
+immediately.
+
+"I fear me," said Myles, presently, "that I have in sooth offended thee
+in asking this thing. I know that it is a parlous bold matter for one so
+raw in chivalry and in courtliness as I am, and one so poor in rank, to
+ask thee for thy favor. An I ha' offended, I prithee let it be as though
+I had not asked it."
+
+Perhaps it was the young man's timidity that brought a sudden courage to
+Lady Alice; perhaps it was the graciousness of her gentle breeding that
+urged her to relieve Myles's somewhat awkward humility, perhaps it was
+something more than either that lent her bravery to speak, even knowing
+that the Lady Anne heard all. She turned quickly to him: "Nay, Sir
+Myles," she said, "I am foolish, and do wrong thee by my foolishness
+and silence, for, truly, I am proud to have thee wear my favor." She
+unclasped, as she spoke, the thin gold chain from about her neck. "I
+give thee this chain," said she, "and it will bring me joy to have it
+honored by thy true knightliness, and, giving it, I do wish thee all
+success." Then she bowed her head, and, turning, left him holding the
+necklace in his hand.
+
+Her cousin left the window to meet her, bowing her head with a smile
+to Myles as she took her cousin's arm again and led her away. He stood
+looking after them as they left the room, and when they were gone, he
+raised the necklace to his lips with a heart beating tumultuously with a
+triumphant joy it had never felt before.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 26
+
+And now, at last, had come the day of days for Myles Falworth; the day
+when he was to put to the test all that he had acquired in the three
+years of his training, the day that was to disclose what promise of
+future greatness there was in his strong young body. And it was a noble
+day; one of those of late September, when the air seems sweeter and
+fresher than at other times; the sun bright and as yellow as gold, the
+wind lusty and strong, before which the great white clouds go sailing
+majestically across the bright blueness of the sky above, while their
+dusky shadows skim across the brown face of the rusty earth beneath.
+
+As was said before, the lists had been set up in the great quadrangle
+of the castle, than which, level and smooth as a floor, no more fitting
+place could be chosen. The course was of the usual size--sixty paces
+long--and separated along its whole length by a barrier about five feet
+high. Upon the west side of the course and about twenty paces distant
+from it, a scaffolding had been built facing towards the east so as to
+avoid the glare of the afternoon sun. In the centre was a raised dais,
+hung round with cloth of blue embroidered with lions rampant. Upon the
+dais stood a cushioned throne for the King, and upon the steps below,
+ranged in the order of their dignity, were seats for the Earl, his
+guests, the family, the ladies, knights, and gentlemen of the castle.
+In front, the scaffolding was covered with the gayest tapestries and
+brightest-colored hangings that the castle could afford. And above,
+parti-colored pennants and streamers, surmounted by the royal ensign of
+England, waved and fluttered in the brisk wind.
+
+At either end of the lists stood the pavilions of the knights. That of
+Myles was at the southern extremity and was hung, by the Earl's desire,
+with cloth of the Beaumont colors (black and yellow), while a wooden
+shield bearing three goshawks spread (the crest of the house) was nailed
+to the roof, and a long streamer of black and yellow trailed out in the
+wind from the staff above. Myles, partly armed, stood at the door-way of
+the pavilion, watching the folk gathering at the scaffolding. The ladies
+of the house were already seated, and the ushers were bustling hither
+and thither, assigning the others their places. A considerable crowd
+of common folk and burghers from the town had already gathered at
+the barriers opposite, and as he looked at the restless and growing
+multitude he felt his heart beat quickly and his flesh grow cold with a
+nervous trepidation--just such as the lad of to-day feels when he sees
+the auditorium filling with friends and strangers who are to listen
+by-and-by to the reading of his prize poem.
+
+Suddenly there came a loud blast of trumpets. A great gate at the
+farther extremity of the lists was thrown open, and the King appeared,
+riding upon a white horse, preceded by the King-at-arms and the heralds,
+attended by the Earl and the Comte de Vermoise, and followed by a crowd
+of attendants. Just then Gascoyne, who, with Wilkes, was busied lacing
+some of the armor plates with new thongs, called Myles, and he turned
+and entered the pavilion.
+
+As the two squires were adjusting these last pieces, strapping them in
+place and tying the thongs, Lord George and Sir James Lee entered
+the pavilion. Lord George took the young man by the hand, and with a
+pleasant smile wished him success in the coming encounter.
+
+Sir James seemed anxious and disturbed. He said nothing, and after
+Gascoyne had placed the open bascinet that supports the tilting helm
+in its place, he came forward and examined the armor piece by piece,
+carefully and critically, testing the various straps and leather points
+and thongs to make sure of their strength.
+
+"Sir," said Gascoyne, who stood by watching him anxiously, "I do trust
+that I have done all meetly and well."
+
+"I see nothing amiss, sirrah," said the old knight, half grudgingly. "So
+far as I may know, he is ready to mount."
+
+Just then a messenger entered, saying that the King was seated, and Lord
+George bade Myles make haste to meet the challenger.
+
+"Francis," said Myles, "prithee give me my pouch yonder."
+
+Gascoyne handed him the velvet bag, and he opened it, and took out the
+necklace that the Lady Alice had given him the day before.
+
+"Tie me this around my arm," said he. He looked down, keeping his eyes
+studiously fixed on Gascoyne's fingers, as they twined the thin golden
+chain around the iron plates of his right arm, knowing that Lord
+George's eyes were upon him, and blushing fiery red at the knowledge.
+
+Sir James was at that moment examining the great tilting helm, and Lord
+George watched him, smiling amusedly. "And hast thou then already chosen
+thee a lady?" he said, presently.
+
+"Aye, my Lord," answered Myles, simply.
+
+"Marry, I trust we be so honored that she is one of our castle folk,"
+said the Earl's brother.
+
+For a moment Myles did not reply; then he looked up. "My Lord," said he,
+"the favor was given to me by the Lady Alice."
+
+Lord George looked grave for the moment; then he laughed. "Marry, thou
+art a bold archer to shoot for such high game."
+
+Myles did not answer, and at that moment two grooms led his horse up to
+the door of the pavilion. Gascoyne and Wilkes helped him to his saddle,
+and then, Gascoyne holding his horse by the bridle-rein, he rode slowly
+across the lists to the little open space in front of the scaffolding
+and the King's seat just as the Sieur de la Montaigne approached from
+the opposite direction.
+
+As soon as the two knights champion had reached each his appointed
+station in front of the scaffolding, the Marshal bade the speaker read
+the challenge, which, unrolling the parchment, he began to do in a loud,
+clear voice, so that all might hear. It was a quaint document, wrapped
+up in the tangled heraldic verbiage of the time.
+
+The pith of the matter was that the Sieur Brian Philip Francis de la
+Montaigne proclaimed before all men the greater chivalry and skill at
+arms of the knights of France and of Dauphiny, and likewise the greater
+fairness of the ladies of France and Dauphiny, and would there defend
+those sayings with his body without fear or attaint as to the truth of
+the same. As soon as the speaker had ended, the Marshal bade him call
+the defendant of the other side.
+
+Then Myles spoke his part, with a voice trembling somewhat with the
+excitement of the moment, but loudly and clearly enough: "I, Myles
+Edward Falworth, knight, so created by the hand and by the grace of
+his Majesty King Henry IV of England, do take upon me the gage of this
+battle, and will defend with my body the chivalry of the knights of
+England and the fairness of the ladies thereof!"
+
+Then, after the speaker ended his proclamation and had retired to his
+place, the ceremony of claiming and redeeming the helmet, to which
+all young knights were subjected upon first entering the lists, was
+performed.
+
+One of the heralds cried in a loud voice, "I, Gilles Hamerton, herald to
+the most noble Clarencieux King-at-arms, do claim the helm of Sir Myles
+Edward Falworth by this reason, that he hath never yet entered joust or
+tourney."
+
+To which Myles answered, "I do acknowledge the right of that claim, and
+herewith proffer thee in ransom for the same this purse of one hundred
+marks in gold."
+
+As he spoke, Gascoyne stepped forward and delivered the purse, with the
+money, to the Herald. It was a more than usually considerable ransom,
+and had been made up by the Earl and Lord George that morning.
+
+"Right nobly hast thou redeemed thy helm," said the Herald, "and
+hereafter be thou free to enter any jousting whatsoever, and in whatever
+place."
+
+So, all being ended, both knights bowed to the King, and then, escorted
+each by his squire, returned to his pavilion, saluted by the spectators
+with a loud clapping of hands.
+
+Sir James Lee met Myles in front of his tent. Coming up to the side of
+the horse, the old man laid his hand upon the saddle, looking up into
+the young man's face.
+
+"Thou wilt not fail in this venture and bring shame upon me?" said he.
+
+"Nay, my dear master," said Myles; "I will do my best."
+
+"I doubt it not," said the old man; "and I believe me thou wilt come off
+right well. From what he did say this morning, methinks the Sieur de la
+Montaigne meaneth only to break three lances with thee, and will content
+himself therewith, without seeking to unhorse thee. Ne'theless, be thou
+bold and watchful, and if thou find that he endeavor to cast thee, do
+thy best to unhorse him. Remember also those things which I have told
+thee ten thousand times before: hold thy toes well down and grip the
+stirrup hard, more especially at the moment of meeting; bend thy body
+forward, and keep thine elbow close to thy side. Bear thy lance point
+one foot above thine adversary's helm until within two lengths of
+meeting, and strike thou in the very middle of his shield. So, Myles,
+thou mayst hold thine own, and come off with glory."
+
+As he ended speaking he drew back, and Gascoyne, mounting upon a stool,
+covered his friend's head and bascinet with the great jousting helm,
+making fast the leathern points that held it to the iron collar.
+
+As he was tying the last thong a messenger came from the Herald, saying
+that the challenger was ready, and then Myles knew the time had come,
+and reaching down and giving Sir James a grip of the hand, he drew on
+his gauntlet, took the jousting lance that Wilkes handed him, and turned
+his horse's head towards his end of the lists.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 27
+
+As Myles took his place at the south end of the lists, he found the
+Sieur de la Montaigne already at his station. Through the peep-hole in
+the face of the huge helmet, a transverse slit known as the occularium,
+he could see, like a strange narrow picture, the farther end of
+the lists, the spectators upon either side moving and shifting with
+ceaseless restlessness, and in the centre of all, his opponent, sitting
+with spear point directed upward, erect, motionless as a statue of iron,
+the sunlight gleaming and flashing upon his polished plates of steel,
+and the trappings of his horse swaying and fluttering in the rushing of
+the fresh breeze.
+
+Upon that motionless figure his sight gradually centred with every
+faculty of mind and soul. He knew the next moment the signal would be
+given that was to bring him either glory or shame from that iron statue.
+He ground his teeth together with stern resolve to do his best in the
+coming encounter, and murmured a brief prayer in the hallow darkness of
+his huge helm. Then with a shake he settled himself more firmly in his
+saddle, slowly raised his spear point until the shaft reached the exact
+angle, and there suffered it to rest motionless. There was a moment of
+dead, tense, breathless pause, then he rather felt than saw the Marshal
+raise his baton. He gathered himself together, and the next moment a
+bugle sounded loud and clear. In one blinding rush he drove his spurs
+into the sides of his horse, and in instant answer felt the noble steed
+spring forward with a bound.
+
+Through all the clashing of his armor reverberating in the hollow depths
+of his helmet, he saw the mail-clad figure from the other end of the
+lists rushing towards him, looming larger and larger as they came
+together. He gripped his saddle with his knees, clutched the stirrup
+with the soles of his feet, and bent his body still more forward. In the
+instant of meeting, with almost the blindness of instinct, he dropped
+the point of his spear against the single red flower-de-luce in the
+middle of the on-coming shield. There was a thunderous crash that seemed
+to rack every joint, he heard the crackle of splintered wood, he felt
+the momentary trembling recoil of the horse beneath him, and in the next
+instant had passed by. As he checked the onward rush of his horse at the
+far end of the course, he heard faintly in the dim hollow recess of the
+helm the loud shout and the clapping of hands of those who looked on,
+and found himself gripping with nervous intensity the butt of a broken
+spear, his mouth clammy with excitement, and his heart thumping in his
+throat.
+
+Then he realized that he had met his opponent, and had borne the meeting
+well. As he turned his horse's head towards his own end of the lists, he
+saw the other trotting slowly back towards his station, also holding a
+broken spear shaft in his hand.
+
+As he passed the iron figure a voice issued from the helmet, "Well done,
+Sir Myles, nobly done!" and his heart bounded in answer to the words of
+praise. When he had reached his own end of the lists, he flung away his
+broken spear, and Gascoyne came forward with another.
+
+"Oh, Myles!" he said, with sob in his voice, "it was nobly done. Never
+did I see a better ridden course in all my life. I did not believe that
+thou couldst do half so well. Oh, Myles, prithee knock him out of his
+saddle an thou lovest me!"
+
+Myles, in his high-keyed nervousness, could not forbear a short
+hysterical laugh at his friend's warmth of enthusiasm. He took the fresh
+lance in his hand, and then, seeing that his opponent was walking his
+horse slowly up and down at his end of the lists, did the same during
+the little time of rest before the next encounter.
+
+When, in answer to the command of the Marshal, he took his place a
+second time, he found himself calmer and more collected than before, but
+every faculty no less intensely fixed than it had been at first. Once
+more the Marshal raised his baton, once more the horn sounded, and once
+more the two rushed together with the same thunderous crash, the same
+splinter of broken spears, the same momentary trembling recoil of
+the horse, and the same onward rush past one another. Once more the
+spectators applauded and shouted as the two knights turned their horses
+and rode back towards their station.
+
+This time as they met midway the Sieur de la Montaigne reined in his
+horse. "Sir Myles," said his muffled voice, "I swear to thee, by my
+faith, I had not thought to meet in thee such an opponent as thou dost
+prove thyself to be. I had thought to find in thee a raw boy, but find
+instead a Paladin. Hitherto I have given thee grace as I would
+give grace to any mere lad, and thought of nothing but to give thee
+opportunity to break thy lance. Now I shall do my endeavor to unhorse
+thee as I would an acknowledged peer in arms. Nevertheless, on account
+of thy youth, I give thee this warning, so that thou mayst hold thyself
+in readiness."
+
+"I give thee gramercy for thy courtesy, my Lord," answered Myles,
+speaking in French; "and I will strive to encounter thee as best I may,
+and pardon me if I seem forward in so saying, but were I in thy place,
+my Lord, I would change me yon breast-piece and over-girth of my saddle;
+they are sprung in the stitches."
+
+"Nay," said the Sieur de la Montaigne, laughing, "breast-piece and
+over-girth have carried me through more tilts than one, and shall
+through this. An thou give me a blow so true as to burst breast-piece
+and over-girth, I will own myself fairly conquered by thee." So saying,
+he saluted Myles with the butt of the spear he still held, and passed by
+to his end of the lists.
+
+Myles, with Gascoyne running beside him, rode across to his pavilion,
+and called to Edmund Wilkes to bring him a cup of spiced wine. After
+Gascoyne had taken off his helmet, and as he sat wiping the perspiration
+from his face Sir James came up and took him by the hand.
+
+"My dear boy," said he, gripping the hand he held, "never could I hope
+to be so overjoyed in mine old age as I am this day. Thou dost bring
+honor to me, for I tell thee truly thou dost ride like a knight seasoned
+in twenty tourneys."
+
+"It doth give me tenfold courage to hear thee so say, dear master,"
+answered Myles. "And truly," he added, "I shall need all my courage
+this bout, for the Sieur de la Montaigne telleth me that he will ride to
+unhorse me this time."
+
+"Did he indeed so say?" said Sir James. "Then belike he meaneth to
+strike at thy helm. Thy best chance is to strike also at his. Doth thy
+hand tremble?"
+
+"Not now," answered Myles.
+
+"Then keep thy head cool and thine eye true. Set thy trust in God, and
+haply thou wilt come out of this bout honorably in spite of the rawness
+of thy youth."
+
+Just then Edmund Wilkes presented the cup of wine to Myles, who drank it
+off at a draught, and thereupon Gascoyne replaced the helm and tied the
+thongs.
+
+The charge that Sir James Lee had given to Myles to strike at his
+adversary's helm was a piece of advice he probably would not have given
+to so young a knight, excepting as a last resort. A blow perfectly
+delivered upon the helm was of all others the most difficult for the
+recipient to recover from, but then a blow upon the helm was not one
+time in fifty perfectly given. The huge cylindrical tilting helm was so
+constructed in front as to slope at an angle in all directions to one
+point. That point was the centre of a cross formed by two iron bands
+welded to the steel-face plates of the helm where it was weakened by the
+opening slit of the occularium, or peephole. In the very centre of
+this cross was a little flattened surface where the bands were riveted
+together, and it was upon that minute point that the blow must be given
+to be perfect, and that stroke Myles determined to attempt.
+
+As he took his station Edmund Wilkes came running across from the
+pavilion with a lance that Sir James had chosen, and Myles, returning
+the one that Gascoyne had just given him, took it in his hand. It was
+of seasoned oak, somewhat thicker than the other, a tough weapon, not
+easily to be broken even in such an encounter as he was like to have. He
+balanced the weapon, and found that it fitted perfectly to his grasp.
+As he raised the point to rest, his opponent took his station at the
+farther extremity of the lists, and again there was a little space of
+breathless pause. Myles was surprised at his own coolness; every nervous
+tremor was gone. Before, he had been conscious of the critical multitude
+looking down upon him; now it was a conflict of man to man, and such a
+conflict had no terrors for his young heart of iron.
+
+The spectators had somehow come to the knowledge that this was to be
+a more serious encounter than the two which had preceded it, and a
+breathless silence fell for the moment or two that the knights stood in
+place.
+
+Once more he breathed a short prayer, "Holy Mary, guard me!"
+
+Then again, for the third time, the Marshal raised his baton, and the
+horn sounded, and for the third time Myles drove his spurs into his
+horse's flanks. Again he saw the iron figure of his opponent rushing
+nearer, nearer, nearer. He centred, with a straining intensity, every
+faculty of soul, mind, and body upon one point--the cross of the
+occularium, the mark he was to strike. He braced himself for the
+tremendous shock which he knew must meet him, and then in a flash
+dropped lance point straight and true. The next instant there was a
+deafening stunning crash--a crash like the stroke of a thunder-bolt.
+There was a dazzling blaze of blinding light, and a myriad sparks danced
+and flickered and sparkled before his eyes. He felt his horse stagger
+under him with the recoil, and hardly knowing what he did, he drove
+his spurs deep into its sides with a shout. At the same moment there
+resounded in his ears a crashing rattle and clatter, he knew not of
+what, and then, as his horse recovered and sprang forward, and as the
+stunning bewilderment passed, he found that his helmet had been
+struck off. He heard a great shout arise from all, and thought, with a
+sickening, bitter disappointment, that it was because he had lost. At
+the farther end of the course he turned his horse, and then his heart
+gave a leap and a bound as though it would burst, the blood leaped to
+his cheeks tingling, and his bosom thrilled with an almost agonizing
+pang of triumph, of wonder, of amazement.
+
+There, in a tangle of his horse's harness and of embroidered trappings,
+the Sieur de la Montaigne lay stretched upon the ground, with his saddle
+near by, and his riderless horse was trotting aimlessly about at the
+farther end of the lists.
+
+Myles saw the two squires of the fallen knight run across to where their
+master lay, he saw the ladies waving their kerchiefs and veils, and the
+castle people swinging their hats and shouting in an ecstasy of delight.
+Then he rode slowly back to where the squires were now aiding the fallen
+knight to arise. The senior squire drew his dagger, cut the leather
+points, and drew off the helm, disclosing the knight's face--a face
+white as death, and convulsed with rage, mortification, and bitter
+humiliation.
+
+"I was not rightly unhorsed!" he cried, hoarsely and with livid lips,
+to the Marshal and his attendants, who had ridden up. "I unhelmed him
+fairly enough, but my over-girth and breast-strap burst, and my saddle
+slipped. I was not unhorsed, I say, and I lay claim that I unhelmed
+him."
+
+"Sir," said the Marshal calmly, and speaking in French, "surely thou
+knowest that the loss of helmet does not decide an encounter. I need not
+remind thee, my Lord, that it was so awarded by John of Gaunt, Duke of
+Lancaster, when in the jousting match between Reynand de Roye and John
+de Holland, the Sieur Reynand left every point of his helm loosened, so
+that the helm was beaten off at each stroke. If he then was justified in
+doing so of his own choice, and wilfully suffering to be unhelmed, how
+then can this knight be accused of evil who suffered it by chance?"
+
+"Nevertheless," said the Sieur de la Montaigne, in the same hoarse,
+breathless voice, "I do affirm, and will make my affirmation good
+with my body, that I fell only by the breaking of my girth. Who says
+otherwise lies!"
+
+"It is the truth he speaketh," said Myles. "I myself saw the stitches
+were some little what burst, and warned him thereof before we ran this
+course.
+
+"Sir," said the Marshal to the Sieur de la Montaigne, "how can you now
+complain of that thing which your own enemy advised you of and warned
+you against? Was it not right knightly for him so to do?"
+
+The Sieur de la Montaigne stood quite still for a little while, leaning
+on the shoulder of his chief squire, looking moodily upon the ground;
+then, without making answer, he turned, and walked slowly away to his
+pavilion, still leaning on his squire's shoulder, whilst the other
+attendant followed behind, bearing his shield and helmet.
+
+Gascoyne had picked up Myles's fallen helmet as the Sieur de la
+Montaigne moved away, and Lord George and Sir James Lee came walking
+across the lists to where Myles still sat. Then, the one taking his
+horse by the bridle-rein, and the other walking beside the saddle, they
+led him before the raised dais where the King sat.
+
+Even the Comte de Vermoise, mortified and amazed as he must have been
+at the overthrow of his best knight, joined in the praise and
+congratulation that poured upon the young conqueror. Myles, his heart
+swelling with a passion of triumphant delight, looked up and met the
+gaze of Lady Alice fixed intently upon him. A red spot of excitement
+still burned in either cheek, and it flamed to a rosier red as he bowed
+his head to her before turning away.
+
+Gascoyne had just removed Myles's breastplate and gorget, when Sir James
+Lee burst into the pavilion. All his grim coldness was gone, and he
+flung his arms around the young man's neck, hugging him heartily, and
+kissing him upon either cheek.
+
+Ere he let him go, "Mine own dear boy," he said, holding him off at
+arm's-length, and winking his one keen eye rapidly, as though to wink
+away a dampness of which he was ashamed--"mine own dear boy, I do tell
+thee truly this is as sweet to me as though thou wert mine own son;
+sweeter to me than when I first broke mine own lance in triumph, and
+felt myself to be a right knight."
+
+"Sir," answered Myles, "what thou sayest doth rejoice my very heart.
+Ne'theless, it is but just to say that both his breast-piece and
+over-girth were burst in the stitches before he ran his course, for so I
+saw with mine own eyes."
+
+"Burst in the stitches!" snorted Sir James. "Thinkest thou he did not
+know in what condition was his horse's gearing? I tell thee he went down
+because thou didst strike fair and true, and he did not so strike thee.
+Had he been Guy of Warwick he had gone down all the same under such a
+stroke and in such case."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 28
+
+It was not until more than three weeks after the King had left Devlen
+Castle that Lord George and his company of knights and archers were
+ready for the expedition to France. Two weeks of that time Myles spent
+at Crosbey-Dale with his father and mother. It was the first time that
+he had seen them since, four years ago, he had quitted the low, narrow,
+white-walled farmhouse for the castle of the great Earl of Mackworth. He
+had never appreciated before how low and narrow and poor the farm-house
+was. Now, with his eyes trained to the bigness of Devlen Castle,
+he looked around him with wonder and pity at his father's humble
+surroundings. He realized as he never else could have realized how great
+was the fall in fortune that had cast the house of Falworth down from
+its rightful station to such a level as that upon which it now rested.
+And at the same time that he thus recognized how poor was their lot, how
+dependent upon the charity of others, he also recognized how generous
+was the friendship of Prior Edward, who perilled his own safety so
+greatly in affording the family of the attainted Lord an asylum in its
+bitter hour of need and peril.
+
+Myles paid many visits to the gentle old priest during those two weeks'
+visit, and had many long and serious talks with him. One warm bright
+afternoon, as he and the old man walked together in the priory garden,
+after a game or two of draughts, the young knight talked more freely and
+openly of his plans, his hopes, his ambitions, than perhaps he had
+ever done. He told the old man all that the Earl had disclosed to him
+concerning the fallen fortunes of his father's house, and of how all
+who knew those circumstances looked to him to set the family in its old
+place once more. Prior Edward added many things to those which Myles
+already knew--things of which the Earl either did not know, or did not
+choose to speak. He told the young man, among other matters, the reason
+of the bitter and lasting enmity that the King felt for the blind
+nobleman: that Lord Falworth had been one of King Richard's council in
+times past; that it was not a little owing to him that King Henry, when
+Earl of Derby, had been banished from England, and that though he
+was then living in the retirement of private life, he bitterly and
+steadfastly opposed King Richard's abdication. He told Myles that at the
+time when Sir John Dale found shelter at Falworth Castle, vengeance was
+ready to fall upon his father at any moment, and it needed only such a
+pretext as that of sheltering so prominent a conspirator as Sir John to
+complete his ruin.
+
+Myles, as he listened intently, could not but confess in his own mind
+that the King had many rational, perhaps just, grounds for grievance
+against such an ardent opponent as the blind Lord had shown himself to
+be. "But, sir," said he, after a little space of silence, when Prior
+Edward had ended, "to hold enmity and to breed treason are very
+different matters. Haply my father was Bolingbroke's enemy, but, sure,
+thou dost not believe he is justly and rightfully tainted with treason?"
+
+"Nay," answered the priest, "how canst thou ask me such a thing? Did I
+believe thy father a traitor, thinkest thou I would thus tell his son
+thereof? Nay, Myles, I do know thy father well, and have known him for
+many years, and this of him, that few men are so honorable in heart and
+soul as he. But I have told thee all these things to show that the King
+is not without some reason to be thy father's unfriend. Neither, haply,
+is the Earl of Alban without cause of enmity against him. So thou, upon
+thy part, shouldst not feel bitter rancor against the King for what hath
+happed to thy house, nor even against William Brookhurst--I mean the
+Earl of Alban--for, I tell thee, the worst of our enemies and the worst
+of men believe themselves always to have right and justice upon their
+side, even when they most wish evil to others."
+
+So spoke the gentle old priest, who looked from his peaceful haven with
+dreamy eyes upon the sweat and tussle of the world's battle. Had he
+instead been in the thick of the fight, it might have been harder for
+him to believe that his enemies ever had right upon their side.
+
+"But tell me this," said Myles, presently, "dost thou, then, think that
+I do evil in seeking to do a battle of life or death with this wicked
+Earl of Alban, who hath so ruined my father in body and fortune?"
+
+"Nay," said Prior Edward, thoughtfully, "I say not that thou doest evil.
+War and bloodshed seem hard and cruel matters to me; but God hath given
+that they be in the world, and may He forbid that such a poor worm as I
+should say that they be all wrong and evil. Meseems even an evil thing
+is sometimes passing good when rightfully used."
+
+Myles did not fully understand what the old man meant, but this much he
+gathered, that his spiritual father did not think ill of his fighting
+the Earl of Alban for his temporal father's sake.
+
+So Myles went to France in Lord George's company, a soldier of fortune,
+as his Captain was. He was there for only six months, but those six
+months wrought a great change in his life. In the fierce factional
+battles that raged around the walls of Paris; in the evil life which
+he saw at the Burgundian court in Paris itself after the truce--a court
+brilliant and wicked, witty and cruel--the wonderful liquor of youth had
+evaporated rapidly, and his character had crystallized as rapidly into
+the hardness of manhood. The warfare, the blood, the evil pleasures
+which he had seen had been a fiery, crucible test to his soul, and I
+love my hero that he should have come forth from it so well. He was no
+longer the innocent Sir Galahad who had walked in pure white up the
+Long Hall to be knighted by the King, but his soul was of that grim,
+sterling, rugged sort that looked out calmly from his gray eyes upon the
+wickedness and debauchery around him, and loved it not.
+
+Then one day a courier came, bringing a packet. It was a letter from the
+Earl, bidding Myles return straightway to England and to Mackworth House
+upon the Strand, nigh to London, without delay, and Myles knew that his
+time had come.
+
+It was a bright day in April when he and Gascoyne rode clattering out
+through Temple Bar, leaving behind them quaint old London town, its
+blank stone wall, its crooked, dirty streets, its high-gabled wooden
+houses, over which rose the sharp spire of St. Paul's, towering high
+into the golden air. Before them stretched the straight, broad highway
+of the Strand, on one side the great houses and palaces of princely
+priests and powerful nobles; on the other the Covent Garden, (or the
+Convent Garden, as it was then called), and the rolling country, where
+great stone windmills swung their slow-moving arms in the damp, soft
+April breeze, and away in the distance the Scottish Palace, the White
+Hall, and Westminster.
+
+It was the first time that Myles had seen famous London town. In that
+dim and distant time of his boyhood, six months before, he would
+have been wild with delight and enthusiasm. Now he jogged along with
+Gascoyne, gazing about him with calm interest at open shops and booths
+and tall, gabled houses; at the busy throng of merchants and craftsmen,
+jostling and elbowing one another; at townsfolk--men and dames--picking
+their way along the muddy kennel of a sidewalk. He had seen so much of
+the world that he had lost somewhat of interest in new things. So he
+did not care to tarry, but rode, with a mind heavy with graver matters,
+through the streets and out through the Temple Bar direct for Mackworth
+House, near the Savoy Palace.
+
+It was with a great deal of interest that Myles and his patron regarded
+one another when they met for the first time after that half-year which
+the young soldier had spent in France. To Myles it seemed somehow very
+strange that his Lordship's familiar face and figure should look so
+exactly the same. To Lord Mackworth, perhaps, it seemed even more
+strange that six short months should have wrought so great a change in
+the young man. The rugged exposure in camp and field during the hard
+winter that had passed had roughened the smooth bloom of his boyish
+complexion and bronzed his fair skin almost as much as a midsummer's sun
+could have done. His beard and mustache had grown again, (now heavier
+and more mannish from having been shaved), and the white seam of a scar
+over the right temple gave, if not a stern, at least a determined look
+to the strong, square-jawed young face. So the two stood for a while
+regarding one another. Myles was the first to break the silence.
+
+"My Lord," said he, "thou didst send for me to come back to England;
+behold, here am I."
+
+"When didst thou land, Sir Myles?" said the Earl.
+
+"I and my squire landed at Dover upon Tuesday last," answered the young
+man.
+
+The Earl of Mackworth stroked his beard softly. "Thou art marvellous
+changed," said he. "I would not have thought it possible."
+
+Myles smiled somewhat grimly. "I have seen such things, my Lord, in
+France and in Paris," said he, quietly, "as, mayhap, may make a lad a
+man before his time."
+
+"From which I gather," said the Earl, "that many adventures have
+befallen thee. Methought thou wouldst find troublesome times in the
+Dauphin's camp, else I would not have sent thee to France."
+
+A little space of silence followed, during which the Earl sat musingly,
+half absently, regarding the tall, erect, powerful young figure standing
+before him, awaiting his pleasure in motionless, patient, almost dogged
+silence. The strong, sinewy hands were clasped and rested upon the long
+heavy sword, around the scabbard of which the belt was loosely wrapped,
+and the plates of mail caught and reflected in flashing, broken pieces,
+the bright sunlight from the window behind.
+
+"Sir Myles," said the Earl, suddenly, breaking the silence at last,
+"dost thou know why I sent for thee hither?"
+
+"Aye," said Myles, calmly, "how can I else? Thou wouldst not have called
+me from Paris but for one thing. Methinks thou hast sent for me to fight
+the Earl of Alban, and lo! I am here."
+
+"Thou speakest very boldly," said the Earl. "I do hope that thy deeds be
+as bold as thy words."
+
+"That," said Myles, "thou must ask other men. Methinks no one may justly
+call me coward."
+
+"By my troth!" said the Earl, smiling, "looking upon thee--limbs and
+girth, bone and sinew--I would not like to be the he that would dare
+accuse thee of such a thing. As for thy surmise, I may tell thee plain
+that thou art right, and that it was to fight the Earl of Alban I sent
+for thee hither. The time is now nearly ripe, and I will straightway
+send for thy father to come to London. Meantime it would not be safe
+either for thee or for me to keep thee in my service. I have spoken to
+his Highness the Prince of Wales, who, with other of the Princes, is
+upon our side in this quarrel. He hath promised to take thee into his
+service until the fitting time comes to bring thee and thine enemy
+together, and to-morrow I shall take thee to Scotland Yard, where his
+Highness is now lodging."
+
+As the Earl ended his speech, Myles bowed, but did not speak. The Earl
+waited for a little while, as though to give him the opportunity to
+answer.
+
+"Well, sirrah," said he at last, with a shade of impatience, "hast thou
+naught to say? Meseems thou takest all this with marvellous coolness."
+
+"Have I then my Lord's permission to speak my mind?"
+
+"Aye," said the Earl, "say thy say."
+
+"Sir," said Myles, "I have thought and pondered this matter much while
+abroad, and would now ask thee a plain question in all honest an I ha'
+thy leave."
+
+The Earl nodded his head.
+
+"Sir, am I not right in believing that thou hast certain weighty
+purposes and aims of thine own to gain an I win this battle against the
+Earl of Alban?"
+
+"Has my brother George been telling thee aught to such a purpose?" said
+the Earl, after a moment or two of silence.
+
+Myles did not answer.
+
+"No matter," added Lord Mackworth. "I will not ask thee who told thee
+such a thing. As for thy question--well, sin thou ask it frankly, I will
+be frank with thee. Yea, I have certain ends to gain in having the Earl
+of Alban overthrown."
+
+Myles bowed. "Sir," said he, "haply thine ends are as much beyond aught
+that I can comprehend as though I were a little child; only this I know,
+that they must be very great. Thou knowest well that in any case I would
+fight me this battle for my father's sake and for the honor of my house;
+nevertheless, in return for all that it will so greatly advantage thee,
+wilt thou not grant me a boon in return should I overcome mine enemy?"
+
+"What is thy boon, Sir Myles?"
+
+"That thou wilt grant me thy favor to seek the Lady Alice de Mowbray for
+my wife."
+
+The Earl of Mackworth started up from his seat. "Sir Myles Falworth"--he
+began, violently, and then stopped short, drawing his bushy eyebrows
+together into a frown stern, if not sinister.
+
+Myles withstood his look calmly and impassively, and presently the Earl
+turned on his heel, and strode to the open window. A long time passed in
+silence while he stood there, gazing out of the window into the garden
+beyond with his back to the young man.
+
+Suddenly he swung around again. "Sir Myles," said he, "the family of
+Falworth is as good as any in Derbyshire. Just now it is poor and fallen
+in estate, but if it is again placed in credit and honor, thou, who art
+the son of the house, shalt have thy suit weighed with as much respect
+and consideration as though thou wert my peer in all things, Such is my
+answer. Art thou satisfied?"
+
+"I could ask no more," answered Myles.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 29
+
+That night Myles lodged at Mackworth House. The next morning, as soon
+as he had broken his fast, which he did in the privacy of his own
+apartments, the Earl bade him and Gascoyne to make ready for the barge,
+which was then waiting at the river stairs to take them to Scotland
+Yard.
+
+The Earl himself accompanied them, and as the heavy snub-nosed boat,
+rowed by the six oarsmen in Mackworth livery, slid slowly and heavily
+up against the stream, the Earl, leaning back in his cushioned seat,
+pointed out the various inns of the great priests or nobles; palatial
+town residences standing mostly a little distance back from the water
+behind terraced high-walled gardens and lawns. Yon was the Bishop of
+Exeter's Close; yon was the Bishop of Bath's; that was York House; and
+that Chester Inn. So passing by gardens and lawns and palaces, they came
+at last to Scotland Yard stairs, a broad flight of marble steps that led
+upward to a stone platform above, upon which opened the gate-way of the
+garden beyond.
+
+The Scotland Yard of Myles Falworth's day was one of the more
+pretentious and commodious of the palaces of the Strand. It took its
+name from having been from ancient times the London inn which the
+tributary Kings of Scotland occupied when on their periodical visits of
+homage to England. Now, during this time of Scotland's independence, the
+Prince of Wales had taken up his lodging in the old palace, and made it
+noisy with the mad, boisterous mirth of his court.
+
+As the watermen drew the barge close to the landing-place of the stairs,
+the Earl stepped ashore, and followed by Myles and Gascoyne, ascended
+to the broad gate-way of the river wall of the garden. Three men-at-arms
+who lounged upon a bench under the shade of the little pent roof of a
+guard-house beside the wall, arose and saluted as the well-known figure
+of the Earl mounted the steps. The Earl nodded a cool answer, and
+passing unchallenged through the gate, led the way up a pleached walk,
+beyond which, as Myles could see, there stretched a little grassy lawn
+and a stone-paved terrace. As the Earl and the two young men approached
+the end of the walk, they were met by the sound of voices and laughter,
+the clinking of glasses and the rattle of dishes. Turning a corner,
+they came suddenly upon a party of young gentlemen, who sat at a late
+breakfast under the shade of a wide-spreading lime-tree. They had
+evidently just left the tilt-yard, for two of the guests--sturdy,
+thick-set young knights--yet wore a part of their tilting armor.
+
+Behind the merry scene stood the gray, hoary old palace, a steep flight
+of stone steps, and a long, open, stone-arched gallery, which evidently
+led to the kitchen beyond, for along it hurried serving-men, running up
+and down the tall flight of steps, and bearing trays and dishes and cups
+and flagons. It was a merry sight and a pleasant one. The day was warm
+and balmy, and the yellow sunlight fell in waving uncertain patches of
+light, dappling the table-cloth, and twinkling and sparkling upon the
+dishes, cups, and flagons.
+
+At the head of the table sat a young man some three or four years
+older than Myles, dressed in a full suit of rich blue brocaded velvet,
+embroidered with gold-thread and trimmed with black fur. His face, which
+was turned towards them as they mounted from the lawn to the little
+stone-flagged terrace, was frank and open; the cheeks smooth and fair;
+the eyes dark and blue. He was tall and rather slight, and wore his
+thick yellow hair hanging to his shoulders, where it was cut square
+across, after the manner of the times. Myles did not need to be told
+that it was the Prince of Wales.
+
+"Ho, Gaffer Fox!" he cried, as soon as he caught sight of the Earl of
+Mackworth, "what wind blows thee hither among us wild mallard drakes?
+I warrant it is not for love of us, but only to fill thine own larder
+after the manner of Sir Fox among the drakes. Whom hast thou with thee?
+Some gosling thou art about to pluck?"
+
+A sudden hush fell upon the company, and all faces were turned towards
+the visitors.
+
+The Earl bowed with a soft smile. "Your Highness," said he, smoothly,
+"is pleased to be pleasant. Sir, I bring you the young knight of whom I
+spoke to you some time since--Sir Myles Falworth. You may be pleased to
+bring to mind that you so condescended as to promise to take him into
+your train until the fitting time arrived for that certain matter of
+which we spoke."
+
+"Sir Myles," said the Prince of Wales, with a frank, pleasant smile, "I
+have heard great reports of thy skill and prowess in France, both from
+Mackworth and from others. It will pleasure me greatly to have thee in
+my household; more especially," he added, "as it will get thee, callow
+as thou art, out of my Lord Fox's clutches. Our faction cannot do
+without the Earl of Mackworth's cunning wits, Sir Myles; ne'theless I
+would not like to put all my fate and fortune into his hands without
+bond. I hope that thou dost not rest thy fortunes entirely upon his aid
+and countenance."
+
+All who were present felt the discomfort of the Prince's speech, It was
+evident that one of his mad, wild humors was upon him. In another case
+the hare-brained young courtiers around might have taken their cue
+from him, but the Earl of Mackworth was no subject for their gibes
+and witticisms. A constrained silence fell, in which the Earl alone
+maintained a perfect ease of manner.
+
+Myles bowed to hide his own embarrassment. "Your Highness," said he,
+evasively, "I rest my fortune, first of all, upon God, His strength and
+justice."
+
+"Thou wilt find safer dependence there than upon the Lord of Mackworth,"
+said the Prince, dryly. "But come," he added, with a sudden change of
+voice and manner, "these be jests that border too closely upon bitter
+earnest for a merry breakfast. It is ill to idle with edged tools. Wilt
+thou not stay and break thy fast with us, my Lord?"
+
+"Pardon me, your Highness," said the Earl, bowing, and smiling the same
+smooth smile his lips had worn from the first--such a smile as Myles
+had never thought to have seen upon his haughty face; "I crave your good
+leave to decline. I must return home presently, for even now, haply,
+your uncle, his Grace of Winchester, is awaiting my coming upon the
+business you wot of. Haply your Highness will find more joyance in a
+lusty young knight like Sir Myles than in an old fox like myself. So I
+leave him with you, in your good care."
+
+Such was Myles's introduction to the wild young madcap Prince of Wales,
+afterwards the famous Henry V, the conqueror of France.
+
+For a month or more thereafter he was a member of the princely
+household, and, after a little while, a trusted and honored member.
+Perhaps it was the calm sturdy strength, the courage of the young
+knight, that first appealed to the Prince's royal heart; perhaps
+afterwards it was the more sterling qualities that underlaid that
+courage that drew him to the young man; certain it was that in two weeks
+Myles was the acknowledged favorite. He made no protestation of virtue;
+he always accompanied the Prince in those madcap ventures to London,
+where he beheld all manner of wild revelry; he never held himself aloof
+from his gay comrades, but he looked upon all their mad sports with the
+same calm gaze that had carried him without taint through the courts of
+Burgundy and the Dauphin. The gay, roistering young lords and gentlemen
+dubbed him Saint Myles, and jested with him about hair-cloth shirts
+and flagellations, but witticism and jest alike failed to move Myles's
+patient virtue; he went his own gait in the habits of his life, and in
+so going knew as little as the others of the mad court that the Prince's
+growing liking for him was, perhaps, more than all else, on account of
+that very temperance.
+
+Then, by-and-by, the Prince began to confide in him as he did in none of
+the others. There was no great love betwixt the King and his son; it has
+happened very often that the Kings of England have felt bitter jealousy
+towards the heirs-apparent as they have grown in power, and such was the
+case with the great King Henry IV. The Prince often spoke to Myles of
+the clashing and jarring between himself and his father, and the thought
+began to come to Myles's mind by degrees that maybe the King's jealousy
+accounted not a little for the Prince's reckless intemperance.
+
+Once, for instance, as the Prince leaned upon, his shoulder waiting,
+whilst the attendants made ready the barge that was to carry them down
+the river to the city, he said, abruptly: "Myles, what thinkest thou of
+us all? Doth not thy honesty hold us in contempt?"
+
+"Nay, Highness," said Myles. "How could I hold contempt?"
+
+"Marry," said the Prince, "I myself hold contempt, and am not as honest
+a man as thou. But, prithee, have patience with me, Myles. Some day,
+perhaps, I too will live a clean life. Now, an I live seriously, the
+King will be more jealous of me than ever, and that is not a little.
+Maybe I live thus so that he may not know what I really am in soothly
+earnest."
+
+The Prince also often talked to Myles concerning his own affairs; of
+the battle he was to fight for his father's honor, of how the Earl of
+Mackworth had plotted and planned to bring him face to face with the
+Earl of Alban. He spoke to Myles more than once of the many great
+changes of state and party that hung upon the downfall of the enemy
+of the house of Falworth, and showed him how no hand but his own could
+strike that enemy down; if he fell, it must be through the son of
+Falworth. Sometimes it seemed to Myles as though he and his blind father
+were the centre of a great web of plot and intrigue, stretching far and
+wide, that included not only the greatest houses of England, but royalty
+and the political balance of the country as well, and even before the
+greatness of it all he did not flinch.
+
+Then, at last, came the beginning of the time for action. It was in the
+early part of May, and Myles had been a member of the Prince's household
+for a little over a month. One morning he was ordered to attend the
+Prince in his privy cabinet, and, obeying the summons, he found the
+Prince, his younger brother, the Duke of Bedford, and his uncle, the
+Bishop of Winchester, seated at a table, where they had just been
+refreshing themselves with a flagon of wine and a plate of wafers.
+
+"My poor Myles," said the Prince, smiling, as the young knight bowed to
+the three, and then stood erect, as though on duty. "It shames my heart,
+brother--and thou, uncle--it shames my heart to be one privy to this
+thing which we are set upon to do. Here be we, the greatest Lords of
+England, making a cat's-paw of this lad--for he is only yet a boy--and
+of his blind father, for to achieve our ends against Alban's faction. It
+seemeth not over-honorable to my mind."
+
+"Pardon me, your Highness," said Myles, blushing to the roots of his
+hair; "but, an I may be so bold as to speak, I reck nothing of what your
+aims may be; I only look to restoring my father's honor and the honor of
+our house."
+
+"Truly," said the Prince, smiling, "that is the only matter that maketh
+me willing to lay my hands to this business. Dost thou know why I have
+sent for thee? It is because this day thou must challenge the Duke of
+Alban before the King. The Earl of Mackworth has laid all his plans and
+the time is now ripe. Knowest that thy father is at Mackworth House?"
+
+"Nay," said Myles; "I knew it not."
+
+"He hath been there for nearly two days," said the Prince. "Just now the
+Earl hath sent for us to come first to Mackworth House. Then to go
+to the palace, for he hath gained audience with the King, and hath so
+arranged it that the Earl of Alban is to be there as well. We all go
+straightway; so get thyself ready as soon as may be."
+
+Perhaps Myles's heart began beating more quickly within him at the
+nearness of that great happening which he had looked forward to for so
+long. If it did, he made no sign of his emotion, but only asked, "How
+must I clothe myself, your Highness?"
+
+"Wear thy light armor," said the Prince, "but no helmet, a juppon
+bearing the arms and colors that the Earl gave thee when thou wert
+knighted, and carry thy right-hand gauntlet under thy belt for thy
+challenge. Now make haste, for time passes."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 30
+
+Adjoining the ancient palace of Westminster, where King Henry IV was
+then holding his court, was a no less ancient stone building known as
+the Painted Room. Upon the walls were depicted a series of battle scenes
+in long bands reaching around this room, one above another. Some of
+these pictures had been painted as far back as the days of Henry III,
+others had been added since his time. They chronicled the various wars
+of the King of England, and it was from them that the little hall took
+its name of the Painted Room.
+
+This ancient wing, or offshoot, of the main buildings was more retired
+from the hurly-burly of outer life than other parts of the palace, and
+thither the sick King was very fond of retiring from the business of
+State, which ever rested more and more heavily upon his shoulders,
+sometimes to squander in quietness a spare hour or two; sometimes to
+idle over a favorite book; sometimes to play a game of chess with a
+favorite courtier. The cold painted walls had been hung with tapestry,
+and its floor had been spread with arras carpet. These and the cushioned
+couches and chairs that stood around gave its gloomy antiquity an air of
+comfort--an air even of luxury.
+
+It was to this favorite retreat of the King's that Myles was brought
+that morning with his father to face the great Earl of Alban.
+
+In the anteroom the little party of Princes and nobles who escorted
+the father and son had held a brief consultation. Then the others had
+entered, leaving Myles and his blind father in charge of Lord Lumley and
+two knights of the court, Sir Reginald Hallowell and Sir Piers Averell.
+
+Myles, as he stood patiently waiting, with his father's arm resting in
+his, could hear the muffled sound of voices from beyond the arras. Among
+others, he recognized the well-remembered tones of the King. He fancied
+that he heard his own name mentioned more than once, and then the sound
+of talking ceased. The next moment the arras was drawn aside, and the
+Earl entered the antechamber again.
+
+"All is ready, cousin," said he to Lord Falworth, in a suppressed voice.
+"Essex hath done as he promised, and Alban is within there now." Then,
+turning to Myles, speaking in the same low voice, and betraying more
+agitation than Myles had thought it possible for him to show, "Sir
+Myles," said he, "remember all that hath been told thee. Thou knowest
+what thou hast to say and do." Then, without further word, he took Lord
+Falworth by the hand, and led the way into the room, Myles following
+close behind.
+
+The King half sat, half inclined, upon a cushioned seat close to which
+stood the two Princes. There were some dozen others present, mostly
+priests and noblemen of high quality who clustered in a group at a
+little distance. Myles knew most of them at a glance having seen them
+come and go at Scotland Yard. But among them all, he singled out only
+one--the Earl of Alban. He had not seen that face since he was a little
+child eight years old, but now that he beheld it again, it fitted
+instantly and vividly into the remembrance of the time of that terrible
+scene at Falworth Castle, when he had beheld the then Lord Brookhurst
+standing above the dead body of Sir John Dale, with the bloody mace
+clinched in his hand. There were the same heavy black brows, sinister
+and gloomy, the same hooked nose, the same swarthy cheeks. He even
+remembered the deep dent in the forehead, where the brows met in
+perpetual frown. So it was that upon that face his looks centred and
+rested.
+
+The Earl of Alban had just been speaking to some Lord who stood beside
+him, and a half-smile still hung about the corners of his lips. At
+first, as he looked up at the entrance of the newcomers, there was no
+other expression; then suddenly came a flash of recognition, a look of
+wide-eyed amazement; then the blood left the cheeks and the lips, and
+the face grew very pale. No doubt he saw at a flash that some great
+danger overhung him in this sudden coming of his old enemy, for he was
+as keen and as astute a politician as he was a famous warrior. At least
+he knew that the eyes of most of those present were fixed keenly and
+searchingly upon him. After the first start of recognition, his left
+hand, hanging at his side, gradually closed around the scabbard of his
+sword, clutching it in a vice-like grip.
+
+Meantime the Earl of Mackworth had led the blind Lord to the King, where
+both kneeled.
+
+"Why, how now, my Lord?" said the King. "Methought it was our young
+Paladin whom we knighted at Devlen that was to be presented, and here
+thou bringest this old man. A blind man, ha! What is the meaning of
+this?"
+
+"Majesty," said the Earl, "I have taken this chance to bring to thy
+merciful consideration one who hath most wofully and unjustly suffered
+from thine anger. Yonder stands the young knight of whom we spake; this
+is his father, Gilbert Reginald, whilom Lord Falworth, who craves mercy
+and justice at thy hands."
+
+"Falworth," said the King, placing his hand to his head. "The name is
+not strange to mine ears, but I cannot place it. My head hath troubled
+me sorely to-day, and I cannot remember."
+
+At this point the Earl of Alban came quietly and deliberately forward.
+"Sire," said he, "pardon my boldness in so venturing to address you, but
+haply I may bring the name more clearly to your mind. He is, as my Lord
+of Mackworth said, the whilom Baron Falworth, the outlawed, attainted
+traitor; so declared for the harboring of Sir John Dale, who was one of
+those who sought your Majesty's life at Windsor eleven years ago.
+Sire, he is mine enemy as well, and is brought hither by my proclaimed
+enemies. Should aught occur to my harm, I rest my case in your gracious
+hands."
+
+The dusty red flamed into the King's pale, sickly face in answer, and he
+rose hastily from his seat.
+
+"Aye," said he, "I remember me now--I remember me the man and the name!
+Who hath dared bring him here before us?" All the dull heaviness of
+sickness was gone for the moment, and King Henry was the King Henry of
+ten years ago as he rolled his eyes balefully from one to another of the
+courtiers who stood silently around.
+
+The Earl of Mackworth shot a covert glance at the Bishop of Winchester,
+who came forward in answer.
+
+"Your Majesty," said he, "here am I, your brother, who beseech you as
+your brother not to judge over-hastily in this matter. It is true
+that this man has been adjudged a traitor, but he has been so adjudged
+without a hearing. I beseech thee to listen patiently to whatsoever he
+may have to say."
+
+The King fixed the Bishop with a look of the bitterest, deepest anger,
+holding his nether lip tightly under his teeth--a trick he had when
+strongly moved with anger--and the Bishop's eyes fell under the look.
+Meantime the Earl of Alban stood calm and silent. No doubt he saw that
+the King's anger was likely to befriend him more than any words that he
+himself could say, and he perilled his case with no more speech which
+could only prove superfluous.
+
+At last the King turned a face red and swollen with anger to the blind
+Lord, who still kneeled before him.
+
+"What hast thou to say?" he said, in a deep and sullen voice.
+
+"Gracious and merciful Lord," said the blind nobleman, "I come to thee,
+the fountain-head of justice, craving justice. Sire, I do now and here
+deny my treason, which denial I could not before make, being blind and
+helpless, and mine enemies strong and malignant. But now, sire, Heaven
+hath sent me help, and therefore I do acclaim before thee that my
+accuser, William Bushy Brookhurst, Earl of Alban, is a foul and an
+attainted liar in all that he hath accused me of. To uphold which
+allegation, and to defend me, who am blinded by his unknightliness, I do
+offer a champion to prove all that I say with his body in combat."
+
+The Earl of Mackworth darted a quick look at Myles, who came forward the
+moment his father had ended, and kneeled beside him. The King offered no
+interruption to his speech, but he bent a look heavy with anger upon the
+young man.
+
+"My gracious Lord and King," said Myles, "I, the son of the accused, do
+offer myself as his champion in this cause, beseeching thee of thy grace
+leave to prove the truth of the same, being a belted knight by thy grace
+and of thy creation and the peer of any who weareth spurs." Thereupon,
+rising, he drew his iron gauntlet from his girdle, and flung it clashing
+down upon the floor, and with his heart swelling within him with anger
+and indignation and pity of his blind father, he cried, in a loud
+voice, "I do accuse thee, William of Alban, that thou liest vilely as
+aforesaid, and here cast down my gage, daring thee to take it up."
+
+The Earl of Alban made as though he would accept the challenge, but the
+King stopped him hastily.
+
+"Stop!" he cried, harshly. "Touch not the gage! Let it lie--let it lie,
+I tell thee, my Lord! Now then," said he, turning to the others, "tell
+me what meaneth all this coil? Who brought this man hither?"
+
+He looked from one to another of those who stood silently around, but no
+one answered.
+
+"I see," said he, "ye all have had to do with it. It is as my Lord of
+Alban sayeth; ye are his enemies, and ye are my enemies as well. In this
+I do smell a vile plot. I cannot undo what I have done, and since I have
+made this young man a knight with mine own hands, I cannot deny that
+he is fit to challenge my Lord of Alban. Ne'theless, the High Court of
+Chivalry shall adjudge this case. Meantime," said he, turning to the
+Earl Marshal, who was present, "I give thee this attainted Lord in
+charge. Convey him presently to the Tower, and let him abide our
+pleasure there. Also, thou mayst take up yon gage, and keep it till it
+is redeemed according to our pleasure."
+
+He stood thoughtfully for a moment, and then raising his eyes, looked
+fixedly at the Earl of Mackworth. "I know," he said, "that I be a right
+sick man, and there be some who are already plotting to overthrow those
+who have held up my hand with their own strength for all these years."
+Then speaking more directly: "My Lord Earl of Mackworth, I see your hand
+in this before all others. It was thou who so played upon me as to get
+me to knight this young man, and thus make him worthy to challenge my
+Lord of Alban. It was thy doings that brought him here to-day, backed
+by mine own sons and my brother and by these noblemen." Then turning
+suddenly to the Earl of Alban: "Come, my Lord," said he; "I am aweary
+with all this coil. Lend me thine arm to leave this place." So it
+was that he left the room, leaning upon the Earl of Alban's arm, and
+followed by the two or three of the Alban faction who were present.
+
+"Your Royal Highness," said the Earl Marshal, "I must e'en do the King's
+bidding, and take this gentleman into arrest."
+
+"Do thy duty," said the Prince. "We knew it must come to this. Meanwhile
+he is to be a prisoner of honor, and see that he be well lodged and
+cared for. Thou wilt find my barge at the stairs to convey him down the
+river, and I myself will come this afternoon to visit him."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 31
+
+It was not until the end of July that the High Court of Chivalry
+rendered its judgment. There were many unusual points in the case, some
+of which bore heavily against Lord Falworth, some of which were in
+his favor. He was very ably defended by the lawyers whom the Earl
+of Mackworth had engaged upon his side; nevertheless, under ordinary
+circumstances, the judgment, no doubt, would have been quickly rendered
+against him. As it was, however, the circumstances were not ordinary,
+and it was rendered in his favor. The Court besought the King to grant
+the ordeal by battle, to accept Lord Falworth's champion, and to appoint
+the time and place for the meeting.
+
+The decision must have been a most bitter, galling one for the sick
+King. He was naturally of a generous, forgiving nature, but Lord
+Falworth in his time of power had been an unrelenting and fearless
+opponent, and his Majesty who, like most generous men, could on
+occasions be very cruel and intolerant, had never forgiven him. He had
+steadily thrown the might of his influence with the Court against the
+Falworths' case, but that influence was no longer all-powerful for good
+or ill. He was failing in health, and it could only be a matter of a few
+years, probably of only a few months, before his successor sat upon the
+throne.
+
+Upon the other hand, the Prince of Wales's faction had been steadily,
+and of late rapidly, increasing in power, and in the Earl of Mackworth,
+its virtual head, it possessed one of the most capable politicians and
+astute intriguers in Europe. So, as the outcome of all the plotting and
+counter-plotting, scheming and counter-scheming, the case was decided in
+Lord Falworth's favor. The knowledge of the ultimate result was known
+to the Prince of Wales's circle almost a week before it was finally
+decided. Indeed, the Earl of Mackworth had made pretty sure of that
+result before he had summoned Myles from France, but upon the King it
+fell like the shock of a sudden blow. All that day he kept himself in
+moody seclusion, nursing his silent, bitter anger, and making only
+one outbreak, in which he swore by the Holy Rood that should Myles be
+worsted in the encounter, he would not take the battle into his own
+hands, but would suffer him to be slain, and furthermore, that should
+the Earl show signs of failing at any time, he would do all in his power
+to save him. One of the courtiers who had been present, and who was
+secretly inclined to the Prince of Wales's faction, had repeated this
+speech at Scotland Yard, and the Prince had said, "That meaneth, Myles,
+that thou must either win or die."
+
+"And so I would have it to be, my Lord," Myles had answered.
+
+It was not until nearly a fortnight after the decision of the Court of
+Chivalry had been rendered that the King announced the time and place
+of battle--the time to be the 3d of September, the place to be
+Smithfield--a spot much used for such encounters.
+
+During the three weeks or so that intervened between this announcement
+and the time of combat, Myles went nearly every day to visit the lists
+in course of erection. Often the Prince went with him; always two or
+three of his friends of the Scotland Yard court accompanied him.
+
+The lists were laid out in the usual form. The true or principal list in
+which the combatants were to engage was sixty yards long and forty yards
+wide; this rectangular space being surrounded by a fence about six feet
+high, painted vermilion. Between the fence and the stand where the King
+and the spectators sat, and surrounding the central space, was the
+outer or false list, also surrounded by a fence. In the false list the
+Constable and the Marshal and their followers and attendants were to be
+stationed at the time of battle to preserve the general peace during the
+contest between the principals.
+
+One day as Myles, his princely patron, and his friends entered the
+barriers, leaving their horses at the outer gate, they met the Earl of
+Alban and his followers, who were just quitting the lists, which they
+also were in the habit of visiting nearly every day. As the two parties
+passed one another, the Earl spoke to a gentleman walking beside him and
+in a voice loud enough to be clearly overheard by the others: "Yonder
+is the young sprig of Falworth," said he. "His father, my Lords, is
+not content with forfeiting his own life for his treason, but must,
+forsooth, throw away his son's also. I have faced and overthrown many a
+better knight than that boy."
+
+Myles heard the speech, and knew that it was intended for him to hear
+it; but he paid no attention to it, walking composedly at the Prince's
+side. The Prince had also overheard it, and after a little space of
+silence asked, "Dost thou not feel anxiety for thy coming battle,
+Myles?"
+
+"Yea, my Lord," said Myles; "sometimes I do feel anxiety, but not such
+as my Lord of Alban would have me feel in uttering the speech that he
+spake anon. It is anxiety for my father's sake and my mother's sake that
+I feel, for truly there are great matters for them pending upon this
+fight. Ne'theless, I do know that God will not desert me in my cause,
+for verily my father is no traitor."
+
+"But the Earl of Alban," said the Prince, gravely, "is reputed one of
+the best-skilled knights in all England; moreover, he is merciless and
+without generosity, so that an he gain aught advantage over thee, he
+will surely slay thee."
+
+"I am not afraid, my Lord," said Myles, still calmly and composedly.
+
+"Nor am I afraid for thee, Myles," said the Prince, heartily, putting
+his arm, as he spoke, around the young man's shoulder; "for truly, wert
+thou a knight of forty years, instead of one of twenty, thou couldst not
+bear thyself with more courage."
+
+As the time for the duel approached, the days seemed to drag themselves
+along upon leaden feet; nevertheless, the days came and went, as all
+days do, bringing with them, at last, the fateful 3d of September.
+
+Early in the morning, while the sun was still level and red, the Prince
+himself, unattended, came to Myles's apartment, in the outer room of
+which Gascoyne was bustling busily about arranging the armor piece by
+piece; renewing straps and thongs, but not whistling over his work as he
+usually did. The Prince nodded to him, and then passed silently through
+to the inner chamber. Myles was upon his knees, and Father Ambrose,
+the Prince's chaplain, was beside him. The Prince stood silently at the
+door, until Myles, having told his last bead, rose and turned towards
+him.
+
+"My dear Lord," said the young knight, "I give you gramercy for the
+great honor you do me in coming so early for to visit me."
+
+"Nay, Myles, give me no thanks," said the Prince, frankly reaching him
+his hand, which Myles took and set to his lips. "I lay bethinking me of
+thee this morning, while yet in bed, and so, as I could not sleep any
+more, I was moved to come hither to see thee."
+
+Quite a number of the Prince's faction were at the breakfast at Scotland
+Yard that morning; among others, the Earl of Mackworth. All were more or
+less oppressed with anxiety, for nearly all of them had staked much upon
+the coming battle. If Alban conquered, he would be more powerful to harm
+them and to revenge himself upon them than ever, and Myles was a very
+young champion upon whom to depend. Myles himself, perhaps, showed as
+little anxiety as any; he certainly ate more heartily of his breakfast
+that morning than many of the others.
+
+After the meal was ended, the Prince rose. "The boat is ready at the
+stairs," said he; "if thou wouldst go to the Tower to visit thy father,
+Myles, before hearing mass, I and Cholmondeley and Vere and Poins will
+go with thee, if ye, Lords and gentlemen, will grant me your pardon
+for leaving you. Are there any others that thou wouldst have accompany
+thee?"
+
+"I would have Sir James Lee and my squire, Master Gascoyne, if thou art
+so pleased to give them leave to go," answered Myles.
+
+"So be it," said the Prince. "We will stop at Mackworth stairs for the
+knight."
+
+The barge landed at the west stairs of the Tower wharf, and the whole
+party were received with more than usual civilities by the Governor, who
+conducted them at once to the Tower where Lord Falworth was lodged. Lady
+Falworth met them at the head of the stairs; her eyes were very red and
+her face pale, and as Myles raised her hand and set a long kiss upon it,
+her lips trembled, and she turned her face quickly away, pressing
+her handkerchief for one moment to her eyes. Poor lady! What agony of
+anxiety and dread did she not suffer for her boy's sake that day! Myles
+had not hidden both from her and his father that he must either win or
+die.
+
+As Myles turned from his mother, Prior Edward came out from the inner
+chamber, and was greeted warmly by him. The old priest had arrived in
+London only the day before, having come down from Crosbey Priory to be
+with his friend's family during this their time of terrible anxiety.
+
+After a little while of general talk, the Prince and his attendants
+retired, leaving the family together, only Sir James Lee and Gascoyne
+remaining behind.
+
+Many matters that had been discussed before were now finally settled,
+the chief of which was the disposition of Lady Falworth in case the
+battle should go against them. Then Myles took his leave, kissing his
+mother, who began crying, and comforting her with brave assurances.
+Prior Edward accompanied him as far as the head of the Tower stairs,
+where Myles kneeled upon the stone steps, while the good priest blessed
+him and signed the cross upon his forehead. The Prince was waiting in
+the walled garden adjoining, and as they rowed back again up the river
+to Scotland Yard, all were thoughtful and serious, even Poins' and
+Vere's merry tongues being stilled from their usual quips and jesting.
+
+It was about the quarter of the hour before eleven o'clock when Myles,
+with Gascoyne, set forth for the lists. The Prince of Wales, together
+with most of his court, had already gone on to Smithfield, leaving
+behind him six young knights of his household to act as escort to the
+young champion. Then at last the order to horse was given; the great
+gate swung open, and out they rode, clattering and jingling, the
+sunlight gleaming and flaming and flashing upon their polished armor.
+They drew rein to the right, and so rode in a little cloud of dust along
+the Strand Street towards London town, with the breeze blowing merrily,
+and the sunlight shining as sweetly and blithesomely as though they were
+riding to a wedding rather than to a grim and dreadful ordeal that meant
+either victory or death.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 32
+
+In the days of King Edward III a code of laws relating to trial by
+battle had been compiled for one of his sons, Thomas of Woodstock. In
+this work each and every detail, to the most minute, had been arranged
+and fixed, and from that time judicial combats had been regulated in
+accordance with its mandates.
+
+It was in obedience to this code that Myles Falworth appeared at the
+east gate of the lists (the east gate being assigned by law to the
+challenger), clad in full armor of proof, attended by Gascoyne, and
+accompanied by two of the young knights who had acted as his escort from
+Scotland Yard.
+
+At the barriers he was met by the attorney Willingwood, the chief lawyer
+who had conducted the Falworth case before the High Court of Chivalry,
+and who was to attend him during the administration of the oaths before
+the King.
+
+As Myles presented himself at the gate he was met by the Constable, the
+Marshal, and their immediate attendants. The Constable, laying his hand
+upon the bridle-rein, said, in a loud voice: "Stand, Sir Knight, and
+tell me why thou art come thus armed to the gates of the lists. What is
+thy name? Wherefore art thou come?"
+
+Myles answered, "I am Myles Falworth, a Knight of the Bath by grace of
+his Majesty King Henry IV and by his creation, and do come hither to
+defend my challenge upon the body of William Bushy Brookhurst, Earl of
+Alban, proclaiming him an unknightly knight and a false and perjured
+liar, in that he hath accused Gilbert Reginald, Lord Falworth, of
+treason against our beloved Lord, his Majesty the King, and may God
+defend the right!"
+
+As he ended speaking, the Constable advanced close to his side, and
+formally raising the umbril of the helmet, looked him in the face.
+Thereupon, having approved his identity, he ordered the gates to be
+opened, and bade Myles enter the lists with his squire and his friends.
+
+At the south side of the lists a raised scaffolding had been built for
+the King and those who looked on. It was not unlike that which had
+been erected at Devlen Castle when Myles had first jousted as belted
+knight--here were the same raised seat for the King, the tapestries, the
+hangings, the fluttering pennons, and the royal standard floating above;
+only here were no fair-faced ladies looking down upon him, but instead,
+stern-browed Lords and knights in armor and squires, and here were no
+merry laughing and buzz of talk and flutter of fans and kerchiefs, but
+all was very quiet and serious.
+
+Myles riding upon his horse, with Gascoyne holding the bridle-rein,
+and his attorney walking beside him with his hand upon the stirrups,
+followed the Constable across the lists to an open space in front of the
+seat where the King sat. Then, having reached his appointed station, he
+stopped, and the Constable, advancing to the foot of the stair-way that
+led to the dais above, announced in a loud voice that the challenger had
+entered the lists.
+
+"Then called the defendant straightway," said the King, "for noon
+draweth nigh."
+
+The day was very warm, and the sun, bright and unclouded, shone fiercely
+down upon the open lists. Perhaps few men nowadays could bear the
+scorching heat of iron plates such as Myles wore, from which the body
+was only protected by a leathern jacket and hose. But men's bodies in
+those days were tougher and more seasoned to hardships of weather than
+they are in these our times. Myles thought no more of the burning
+iron plates that incased him than a modern soldier thinks of his dress
+uniform in warm weather. Nevertheless, he raised the umbril of his
+helmet to cool his face as he waited the coming of his opponent. He
+turned his eyes upward to the row of seats on the scaffolding above,
+and even in the restless, bewildering multitude of strange faces turned
+towards him recognized those that he knew: the Prince of Wales, his
+companions of the Scotland Yard household, the Duke of Clarence,
+the Bishop of Winchester, and some of the noblemen of the Earl of
+Mackworth's party, who had been buzzing about the Prince for the past
+month or so. But his glance swept over all these, rather perceiving
+than seeing them, and then rested upon a square box-like compartment not
+unlike a prisoner's dock in the courtroom of our day, for in the box sat
+his father, with the Earl of Mackworth upon one side and Sir James Lee
+upon the other. The blind man's face was very pale, but still wore its
+usual expression of calm serenity--the calm serenity of a blind face.
+The Earl was also very pale, and he kept his eyes fixed steadfastly upon
+Myles with a keen and searching look, as though to pierce to the very
+bottom of the young man's heart, and discover if indeed not one little
+fragment of dryrot of fear or uncertainty tainted the solid courage of
+his knighthood.
+
+Then he heard the criers calling the defendant at the four corners of
+the list: "Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! William Bushy Brookhurst, Earl of Alban,
+come to this combat, in which you be enterprised this day to discharge
+your sureties before the King, the Constable, and the Marshal, and to
+encounter in your defence Myles Falworth, knight, the accepted champion
+upon behalf of Gilbert Reginald Falworth, the challenger! Oyez! Oyez!
+Oyez! Let the defendant come!"
+
+So they continued calling, until, by the sudden turning of all faces,
+Myles knew that his enemy was at hand.
+
+Then presently he saw the Earl and his attendants enter the outer gate
+at the west end of the barrier; he saw the Constable and Marshal meet
+him; he saw the formal words of greeting pass; he saw the Constable
+raise the umbril of the helmet. Then the gate opened, and the Earl of
+Alban entered, clad cap-a-pie in a full suit of magnificent Milan armor
+without juppon or adornment of any kind. As he approached across the
+lists, Myles closed the umbril of his helmet, and then sat quite still
+and motionless, for the time was come.
+
+So he sat, erect and motionless as a statue of iron, half hearing the
+reading of the long intricately-worded bills, absorbed in many thoughts
+of past and present things. At last the reading ended, and then he
+calmly and composedly obeyed, under the direction of his attorney,
+the several forms and ceremonies that followed; answered the various
+official questions, took the various oaths. Then Gascoyne, leading the
+horse by the bridle-rein, conducted him back to his station at the east
+end of the lists.
+
+As the faithful friend and squire made one last and searching
+examination of arms and armor, the Marshal and the clerk came to the
+young champion and administered the final oath by which he swore that he
+carried no concealed weapons.
+
+The weapons allowed by the High Court were then measured and attested.
+They consisted of the long sword, the short sword, the dagger, the mace,
+and a weapon known as the hand-gisarm, or glave-lot--a heavy swordlike
+blade eight palms long, a palm in breadth, and riveted to a stout handle
+of wood three feet long.
+
+The usual lance had not been included in the list of arms, the
+hand-gisarm being substituted in its place. It was a fearful and
+murderous weapon, though cumbersome, Unhandy, and ill adapted for quick
+or dexterous stroke; nevertheless, the Earl of Alban had petitioned
+the King to have it included in the list, and in answer to the King's
+expressed desire the Court had adopted it in the stead of the lance,
+yielding thus much to the royal wishes. Nor was it a small concession.
+The hand-gisarm had been a weapon very much in vogue in King Richard's
+day, and was now nearly if not entirely out of fashion with the younger
+generation of warriors. The Earl of Alban was, of course, well used to
+the blade; with Myles it was strange and new, either for attack or in
+defence.
+
+With the administration of the final oath and the examination of the
+weapons, the preliminary ceremonies came to an end, and presently Myles
+heard the criers calling to clear the lists. As those around him moved
+to withdraw, the young knight drew off his mailed gauntlet, and gave
+Gascoyne's hand one last final clasp, strong, earnest, and intense with
+the close friendship of young manhood, and poor Gascoyne looked up at
+him with a face ghastly white.
+
+Then all were gone; the gates of the principal list and that of the
+false list were closed clashing, and Myles was alone, face to face, with
+his mortal enemy.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 33
+
+There was a little while of restless, rustling silence, during which the
+Constable took his place in the seat appointed for him directly in
+front of and below the King's throne. A moment or two when even the
+restlessness and the rustling were quieted, and then the King leaned
+forward and spoke to the Constable, who immediately called out, in a
+loud, clear voice.
+
+"Let them go!" Then again, "Let them go!" Then, for the third and last
+time, "Let them go and do their endeavor, in God's name!"
+
+At this third command the combatants, each of whom had till that moment
+been sitting as motionless as a statue of iron, tightened rein, and rode
+slowly and deliberately forward without haste, yet without hesitation,
+until they met in the very middle of the lists.
+
+In the battle which followed, Myles fought with the long sword, the Earl
+with the hand-gisarm for which he had asked. The moment they met, the
+combat was opened, and for a time nothing was heard but the thunderous
+clashing and clamor of blows, now and then beating intermittently, now
+and then pausing. Occasionally, as the combatants spurred together,
+checked, wheeled, and recovered, they would be hidden for a moment in
+a misty veil of dust, which, again drifting down the wind, perhaps
+revealed them drawn a little apart, resting their panting horses. Then,
+again, they would spur together, striking as they passed, wheeling and
+striking again.
+
+Upon the scaffolding all was still, only now and then for the buzz of
+muffled exclamations or applause of those who looked on. Mostly the
+applause was from Myles's friends, for from the very first he showed and
+steadily maintained his advantage over the older man. "Hah! well struck!
+well recovered!" "Look ye! the sword bit that time!" "Nay, look, saw ye
+him pass the point of the gisarm?" Then, "Falworth! Falworth!" as some
+more than usually skilful stroke or parry occurred.
+
+Meantime Myles's father sat straining his sightless eyeballs, as though
+to pierce his body's darkness with one ray of light that would show him
+how his boy held his own in the fight, and Lord Mackworth, leaning with
+his lips close to the blind man's ear, told him point by point how the
+battle stood.
+
+"Fear not, Gilbert," said he at each pause in the fight. "He holdeth his
+own right well." Then, after a while: "God is with us, Gilbert. Alban
+is twice wounded and his horse faileth. One little while longer and the
+victory is ours!"
+
+A longer and more continuous interval of combat followed this
+last assurance, during which Myles drove the assault fiercely and
+unrelentingly as though to overbear his enemy by the very power
+and violence of the blows he delivered. The Earl defended himself
+desperately, but was borne back, back, back, farther and farther. Every
+nerve of those who looked on was stretched to breathless tensity, when,
+almost as his enemy was against the barriers, Myles paused and rested.
+
+"Out upon it!" exclaimed the Earl of Mackworth, almost shrilly in his
+excitement, as the sudden lull followed the crashing of blows. "Why doth
+the boy spare him? That is thrice he hath given him grace to recover;
+an he had pushed the battle that time he had driven him back against the
+barriers."
+
+It was as the Earl had said; Myles had three times given his enemy grace
+when victory was almost in his very grasp. He had three times spared
+him, in spite of all he and those dear to him must suffer should his
+cruel and merciless enemy gain the victory. It was a false and foolish
+generosity, partly the fault of his impulsive youth--more largely of
+his romantic training in the artificial code of French chivalry. He felt
+that the battle was his, and so he gave his enemy these three chances to
+recover, as some chevalier or knight-errant of romance might have
+done, instead of pushing the combat to a mercifully speedy end--and his
+foolish generosity cost him dear.
+
+In the momentary pause that had thus stirred the Earl of Mackworth to
+a sudden outbreak, the Earl of Alban sat upon his panting, sweating
+war-horse, facing his powerful young enemy at about twelve paces
+distant. He sat as still as a rock, holding his gisarm poised in front
+of him. He had, as the Earl of Mackworth had said, been wounded twice,
+and each time with the point of the sword, so much more dangerous than a
+direct cut with the weapon. One wound was beneath his armor, and no one
+but he knew how serious it might be; the other was under the overlapping
+of the epauhere, and from it a finger's-breadth of blood ran straight
+down his side and over the housings of his horse. From without, the
+still motionless iron figure appeared calm and expressionless; within,
+who knows what consuming blasts of hate, rage, and despair swept his
+heart as with a fiery whirlwind.
+
+As Myles looked at the motionless, bleeding figure, his breast swelled
+with pity. "My Lord," said he, "thou art sore wounded and the fight is
+against thee; wilt thou not yield thee?"
+
+No one but that other heard the speech, and no one but Myles heard the
+answer that came back, hollow, cavernous, "Never, thou dog! Never!"
+
+Then in an instant, as quick as a flash, his enemy spurred straight upon
+Myles, and as he spurred he struck a last desperate, swinging blow, in
+which he threw in one final effort all the strength of hate, of fury,
+and of despair. Myles whirled his horse backward, warding the blow with
+his shield as he did so. The blade glanced from the smooth face of the
+shield, and, whether by mistake or not, fell straight and true, and with
+almost undiminished force, upon the neck of Myles's war-horse, and just
+behind the ears. The animal staggered forward, and then fell upon its
+knees, and at the same instant the other, as though by the impetus of
+the rush, dashed full upon it with all the momentum lent by the weight
+of iron it carried. The shock was irresistible, and the stunned and
+wounded horse was flung upon the ground, rolling over and over. As his
+horse fell, Myles wrenched one of his feet out of the stirrup; the other
+caught for an instant, and he was flung headlong with stunning violence,
+his armor crashing as he fell. In the cloud of dust that arose no
+one could see just what happened, but that what was done was done
+deliberately no one doubted. The earl, at once checking and spurring
+his foaming charger, drove the iron-shod war-horse directly over Myles's
+prostrate body. Then, checking him fiercely with the curb, reined him
+back, the hoofs clashing and crashing, over the figure beneath. So
+he had ridden over the father at York, and so he rode over the son at
+Smithfield.
+
+Myles, as he lay prostrate and half stunned by his fall, had seen his
+enemy thus driving his rearing horse down upon him, but was not able to
+defend himself. A fallen knight in full armor was utterly powerless to
+rise without assistance; Myles lay helpless in the clutch of the very
+iron that was his defence. He closed his eyes involuntarily, and then
+horse and rider were upon him. There was a deafening, sparkling crash,
+a glimmering faintness, then another crash as the horse was reined
+furiously back again, and then a humming stillness.
+
+In a moment, upon the scaffolding all was a tumult of uproar and
+confusion, shouting and gesticulation; only the King sat calm, sullen,
+impassive. The Earl wheeled his horse and sat for a moment or two as
+though to make quite sure that he knew the King's mind. The blow that
+had been given was foul, unknightly, but the King gave no sign either of
+acquiescence or rebuke; he had willed that Myles was to die.
+
+Then the Earl turned again, and rode deliberately up to his prostrate
+enemy.
+
+When Myles opened his eyes after that moment of stunning silence, it was
+to see the other looming above him on his war-horse, swinging his gisarm
+for one last mortal blow--pitiless, merciless.
+
+The sight of that looming peril brought back Myles's wandering senses
+like a flash of lightning. He flung up his shield, and met the blow even
+as it descended, turning it aside. It only protracted the end.
+
+Once more the Earl of Alban raised the gisarm, swinging it twice around
+his head before he struck. This time, though the shield glanced it, the
+blow fell upon the shoulder-piece, biting through the steel plate and
+leathern jack beneath even to the bone. Then Myles covered his head with
+his shield as a last protecting chance for life.
+
+For the third time the Earl swung the blade flashing, and then it fell,
+straight and true, upon the defenceless body, just below the left arm,
+biting deep through the armor plates. For an instant the blade stuck
+fast, and that instant was Myles's salvation. Under the agony of the
+blow he gave a muffled cry, and almost instinctively grasped the shaft
+of the weapon with both hands. Had the Earl let go his end of the
+weapon, he would have won the battle at his leisure and most easily; as
+it was, he struggled violently to wrench the gisarm away from Myles. In
+that short, fierce struggle Myles was dragged to his knees, and then,
+still holding the weapon with one hand, he clutched the trappings of the
+Earl's horse with the other. The next moment he was upon his feet. The
+other struggled to thrust him away, but Myles, letting go the gisarm,
+which he held with his left hand, clutched him tightly by the sword-belt
+in the intense, vise-like grip of despair. In vain the Earl strove to
+beat him loose with the shaft of the gisarm, in vain he spurred and
+reared his horse to shake him off; Myles held him tight, in spite of all
+his struggles.
+
+He felt neither the streaming blood nor the throbbing agony of his
+wounds; every faculty of soul, mind, body, every power of life, was
+centered in one intense, burning effort. He neither felt, thought, nor
+reasoned, but clutching, with the blindness of instinct, the heavy,
+spiked, iron-headed mace that hung at the Earl's saddle-bow, he gave it
+one tremendous wrench that snapped the plaited leathern thongs that held
+it as though they were skeins of thread. Then, grinding his teeth as
+with a spasm, he struck as he had never struck before--once, twice,
+thrice full upon the front of the helmet. Crash! crash! And then, even
+as the Earl toppled sidelong, crash! And the iron plates split and
+crackled under the third blow. Myles had one flashing glimpse of an
+awful face, and then the saddle was empty.
+
+Then, as he held tight to the horse, panting, dizzy, sick to death, he
+felt the hot blood gushing from his side, filling his body armor, and
+staining the ground upon which he stood. Still he held tightly to the
+saddle-bow of the fallen man's horse until, through his glimmering
+sight, he saw the Marshal, the Lieutenant, and the attendants gather
+around him. He heard the Marshal ask him, in a voice that sounded faint
+and distant, if he was dangerously wounded. He did not answer, and one
+of the attendants, leaping from his horse, opened the umbril of his
+helmet, disclosing the dull, hollow eyes, the ashy, colorless lips, and
+the waxy forehead, upon which stood great beads of sweat.
+
+"Water! water!" he cried, hoarsely; "give me to drink!" Then, quitting
+his hold upon the horse, he started blindly across the lists towards the
+gate of the barrier. A shadow that chilled his heart seemed to fall upon
+him. "It is death," he muttered; then he stopped, then swayed for an
+instant, and then toppled headlong, crashing as he fell.
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+But Myles was not dead. Those who had seen his face when the umbril of
+the helmet was raised, and then saw him fall as he tottered across the
+lists, had at first thought so. But his faintness was more from loss
+of blood and the sudden unstringing of nerve and sense from the intense
+furious strain of the last few moments of battle than from the vital
+nature of the wound. Indeed, after Myles had been carried out of the
+lists and laid upon the ground in the shade between the barriers,
+Master Thomas, the Prince's barber-surgeon, having examined the wounds,
+declared that he might be even carried on a covered litter to Scotland
+Yard without serious danger. The Prince was extremely desirous of having
+him under his care, and so the venture was tried. Myles was carried to
+Scotland Yard, and perhaps was none the worse therefore. The Prince, the
+Earl of Mackworth, and two or three others stood silently watching as
+the worthy shaver and leecher, assisted by his apprentice and Gascoyne,
+washed and bathed the great gaping wound in the side, and bound it with
+linen bandages. Myles lay with closed eyelids, still, pallid, weak as
+a little child. Presently he opened his eyes and turned them, dull and
+languid, to the Prince.
+
+"What hath happed my father, my Lord?" said he, in a faint, whispering
+voice.
+
+"Thou hath saved his life and honor, Myles," the Prince answered. "He
+is here now, and thy mother hath been sent for, and cometh anon with the
+priest who was with them this morn."
+
+Myles dropped his eyelids again; his lips moved, but he made no sound,
+and then two bright tears trickled across his white cheek.
+
+"He maketh a woman of me," the Prince muttered through his teeth, and
+then, swinging on his heel, he stood for a long time looking out of the
+window into the garden beneath.
+
+"May I see my father?" said Myles, presently, without opening his eyes.
+
+The Prince turned around and looked inquiringly at the surgeon.
+
+The good man shook his head. "Not to-day," said he; "haply to-morrow he
+may see him and his mother. The bleeding is but new stanched, and such
+matters as seeing his father and mother may make the heart to swell, and
+so maybe the wound burst afresh and he die. An he would hope to live, he
+must rest quiet until to-morrow day."
+
+But though Myles's wound was not mortal, it was very serious. The fever
+which followed lingered longer than common--perhaps because of the hot
+weather--and the days stretched to weeks, and the weeks to months, and
+still he lay there, nursed by his mother and Gascoyne and Prior Edward,
+and now and again by Sir James Lee.
+
+One day, a little before the good priest returned to Saint Mary's
+Priory, as he sat by Myles's bedside, his hands folded, and his sight
+turned inward, the young man suddenly said, "Tell me, holy father, is it
+always wrong for man to slay man?"
+
+The good priest sat silent for so long a time that Myles began to think
+he had not heard the question. But by-and-by he answered, almost with a
+sigh, "It is a hard question, my son, but I must in truth say, meseems
+it is not always wrong."
+
+"Sir," said Myles, "I have been in battle when men were slain, but never
+did I think thereon as I have upon this matter. Did I sin in so slaying
+my father's enemy?"
+
+"Nay," said Prior Edward, quietly, "thou didst not sin. It was for
+others thou didst fight, my son, and for others it is pardonable to do
+battle. Had it been thine own quarrel, it might haply have been more
+hard to have answered thee."
+
+Who can gainsay, even in these days of light, the truth of this that the
+good priest said to the sick lad so far away in the past?
+
+
+One day the Earl of Mackworth came to visit Myles. At that time the
+young knight was mending, and was sitting propped up with pillows, and
+was wrapped in Sir James Lee's cloak, for the day was chilly. After a
+little time of talk, a pause of silence fell.
+
+"My Lord," said Myles, suddenly, "dost thou remember one part of a
+matter we spoke of when I first came from France?"
+
+The Earl made no pretence of ignorance. "I remember," said he, quietly,
+looking straight into the young man's thin white face.
+
+"And have I yet won the right to ask for the Lady Alice de Mowbray to
+wife?" said Myles, the red rising faintly to his cheeks.
+
+"Thou hast won it," said the Earl, with a smile.
+
+Myles's eyes shone and his lips trembled with the pang of sudden joy
+and triumph, for he was still very weak. "My Lord," said he, presently
+"belike thou camest here to see me for this very matter?"
+
+The Earl smiled again without answering, and Myles knew that he had
+guessed aright. He reached out one of his weak, pallid hands from
+beneath the cloak. The Earl of Mackworth took it with a firm pressure,
+then instantly quitting it again, rose, as if ashamed of his emotion,
+stamped his feet, as though in pretence of being chilled, and then
+crossed the room to where the fire crackled brightly in the great stone
+fireplace.
+
+
+Little else remains to be told; only a few loose strands to tie, and the
+story is complete.
+
+Though Lord Falworth was saved from death at the block, though his honor
+was cleansed from stain, he was yet as poor and needy as ever. The
+King, in spite of all the pressure brought to bear upon him, refused to
+restore the estates of Falworth and Easterbridge--the latter of which
+had again reverted to the crown upon the death of the Earl of Alban
+without issue--upon the grounds that they had been forfeited not because
+of the attaint of treason, but because of Lord Falworth having refused
+to respond to the citation of the courts. So the business dragged along
+for month after month, until in January the King died suddenly in the
+Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster. Then matters went smoothly enough, and
+Falworth and Mackworth swam upon the flood-tide of fortune.
+
+
+So Myles was married, for how else should the story end? And one day
+he brought his beautiful young wife home to Falworth Castle, which his
+father had given him for his own, and at the gateway of which he was met
+by Sir James Lee and by the newly-knighted Sir Francis Gascoyne.
+
+One day, soon after this home-coming, as he stood with her at an open
+window into which came blowing the pleasant May-time breeze, he suddenly
+said, "What didst thou think of me when I first fell almost into thy
+lap, like an apple from heaven?"
+
+"I thought thou wert a great, good-hearted boy, as I think thou art
+now," said she, twisting his strong, sinewy fingers in and out.
+
+"If thou thoughtst me so then, what a very fool I must have looked to
+thee when I so clumsily besought thee for thy favor for my jousting at
+Devlen. Did I not so?"
+
+"Thou didst look to me the most noble, handsome young knight that did
+ever live; thou didst look to me Sir Galahad, as they did call thee,
+withouten taint or stain."
+
+Myles did not even smile in answer, but looked at his wife with such a
+look that she blushed a rosy red. Then, laughing, she slipped from his
+hold, and before he could catch her again was gone.
+
+I am glad that he was to be rich and happy and honored and beloved after
+all his hard and noble fighting.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Men of Iron, by Howard Pyle
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