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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 I + +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--l 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 etext of Men of Iron. + diff --git a/old/femen10.zip b/old/femen10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a6135c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/femen10.zip |