A FENCING BOUT
After he had talked for a short time with Mistress De Courcy, Edgar
went to the fencing-room with Sir Ralph, and they there put on helmets
and quilted leather jerkins, with chains sewn on at the shoulders.
"Now, you are to do your best," Sir Ralph said, as he handed a sword to
Edgar, and took one himself.
So long as they played gently Edgar had all the advantage.
"You have learned your tricks well," Sir Ralph said, good-temperedly,
"and, in truth, your quick returns puzzle me greatly, and I admit that
were we both unprotected I should have no chance with you, but let us
see what you could do were we fighting in earnest," and he took down a
couple of suits of complete body armour from the wall.
Albert, who was looking on, fastened the buckles for both of them.
"Ah, you know how the straps go," Sir Ralph said, in a tone of
satisfaction. "Well, it is something to know that, even if you don't
know what to do with it when you have got it on. Now, Master Edgar,
have at you."
Edgar stood on the defence, but, strong as his arm was from constant
exercise, he had some difficulty to save his head from the sweeping
blows that Sir Ralph rained upon it.
"By my faith, young fellow," Sir Ralph said as, after three or four
minutes, he drew back breathless from his exertions, "your muscles seem
to be made of iron, and you are fit to hold your own in a serious
_mêlée_. You were wrong not to strike, for I know that more than once
there was an opening had you been quick."
Edgar was well aware of the fact, but he had not taken advantage of it,
for he felt that at his age it was best to abstain from trying to gain
a success that could not be pleasant for the good knight.
"Well, well, we will fight no more," the latter said.
When Albert had unbuckled his father's armour and hung it up, Edgar
said: "Now, Albert, let us have a bout."
The lad coloured hotly, and the knight burst into a hearty laugh.
"You might as soon challenge my daughter Aline. Well, put on the
jerkin, Albert; it were well that you should feel what a poor creature
a man is who has never had a sword in his hand."
Albert silently obeyed his father's orders and stood up facing Edgar.
They were about the same height, though Albert looked slim and delicate
by the side of his friend.
"By St. George!" his father exclaimed, "you do not take up a bad
posture, Albert. You have looked at Edgar often enough at his exercises
to see how you ought to place yourself. I have never seen you look so
manly since the day you were born. Now, strike in."
Sir Ralph's surprise at his son's attitude grew to amazement as the
swords clashed together, and he saw that, although Edgar was not
putting out his full strength and skill, his son, instead of being
scarce able, as he had expected, to raise the heavy sword, not only
showed considerable skill, but even managed to parry some of the tricks
of the weapon to which he himself had fallen a victim.
"Stop, stop!" he said, at last. "Am I dreaming, or has someone else
taken the place of my son? Take off your helmet. It is indeed Albert!"
he said, as they uncovered. "What magic is this?"
"It is a little surprise that we have prepared for you, Sir Ralph,"
Edgar said, "and I trust that you will not be displeased. Two years ago
I persuaded Albert that there was no reason why even a priest should
not have a firm hand and a steady eye, and that this would help him to
overcome his nervousness, and would make him strong in body as well as
in arm. Since that time he has practised with me almost daily after he
had finished his studies at St. Alwyth, and my masters have done their
best for him. Though, of course, he has not my strength, as he lacks
the practice I have had, he has gained wonderfully of late, and would
in a few years match me in skill, for what he wants in strength he
makes up in activity."
"Master Ormskirk," the knight said, "I am beholden to you more than I
can express. His mother and I have observed during the last two years
that he has gained greatly in health and has widened out in the
shoulders. I understand now how it has come about. We have never
questioned him about it; indeed, I should as soon have thought of
asking him whether he had made up his mind to become king, as whether
he had begun to use a sword. Why, I see that you have taught him
already some of the tricks that you have just learnt."
"I have not had time to instruct him in many of them, Sir Ralph, but I
showed him one or two, and he acquired them so quickly that in another
month I have no doubt he will know them as well as I do."
"By St. George, you have done wonders, Edgar. As for you, Albert, I am
as pleased as if I had heard that the king had made me an earl. Truly,
indeed, did Master Ormskirk tell you that it would do you good to learn
to use a sword. 'Tis not a priest's weapon--although many a priest and
bishop have ridden to battle before now--but it has improved your
health and given you ten years more life than you would be likely to
have had without it. It seemed to me strange that any son of my house
should be ignorant as to how to use a sword, and now I consider that
that which seemed to me almost a disgrace is removed. Knows your mother
aught of this?"
"No, sir. When I began I feared that my resolution would soon fade; and
indeed it would have done so had not Edgar constantly encouraged me and
held me to it, though indeed at first it so fatigued me that I could
scarce walk home."
"That I can well understand, my lad. Now you shall come and tell your
mother. I have news for you, dame, that will in no small degree
astonish you," he said, as, followed by the two lads, he returned to
the room where she was sitting. "In the first place, young Master
Ormskirk has proved himself a better man than I with the sword."
"Say not so, I pray you, Sir Ralph," Edgar said. "In skill with the
French tricks I may have had the better of you, but with a mace you
would have dashed my brains out, as I could not have guarded my head
against the blows that you could have struck with it."
"Not just yet, perhaps," the knight said; "but when you get your full
strength you could assuredly do so. He will be a famous knight some
day, dame. But that is not the most surprising piece of news. What
would you say were I to tell you that this weakling of ours, although
far from approaching the skill and strength of his friend, is yet able
to wield a heavy sword manfully and skilfully?"
"I should say that either you were dreaming, or that I was, Sir Ralph."
"Well, I do say so in wide-awake earnest. Master Ormskirk has been his
instructor, and for the last two years the lad has been learning of him
and of his masters. That accounts for the change that we have noticed
in his health and bearing. Faith, he used to go along with stooping
neck, like a girl who has outgrown her strength. Now he carries himself
well, and his health of late has left naught to be desired. It was for
that that his friend invited him to exercise himself with the sword;
and indeed his recipe has done wonders. His voice has gained strength,
and though it still has a girlish ring about it, he speaks more firmly
and assuredly than he used to do."
"That is indeed wonderful news, Sir Ralph, and I rejoice to hear it.
Master Ormskirk, we are indeed beholden to you. For at one time I
doubted whether Albert would ever live to grow into a man; and of late
I have been gladdened at seeing so great a change in him, though I
dreamed not of the cause."
Aline had stood open-mouthed while her father was speaking, and now
stole up to Albert's side.
"I am pleased, brother," she said. "May I tell them now what happened
the other day with the black bull, you charged me to say nothing about?"
"What is this about the black bull, Aline?" her father said, as he
caught the words.
"It was naught, sir," Albert replied, colouring, "save that the black
bull in the lower meadow ran at us, and I frightened him away."
"No, no, father," the girl broke in, "it was not that at all. We were
walking through the meadow together when the black bull ran at us.
Albert said to me, 'Run, run, Aline!' and I did run as hard as I could;
but I looked back for some time as I ran, being greatly terrified as to
what would come to Albert. He stood still. The bull lowered his head
and rushed at him. Then he sprang aside just as I expected to see him
tossed into the air, caught hold of the bull's tail as it went past him
and held on till the bull was close to the fence, and then he let go
and scrambled over, while the bull went bellowing down the field."
"Well done, well done!" Sir Ralph said. "Why, Albert, it seems
marvellous that you should be doing such things; that black bull is a
formidable beast, and the strongest man, if unarmed, might well feel
discomposed if he saw him coming rushing at him. I will wager that if
you had not had that practice with the sword, you would not have had
the quickness of thought that enabled you to get out of the scrape. You
might have stood between the bull and your sister, but if you had done
so you would only have been tossed, and perhaps gored or trampled to
death afterwards. I will have the beast killed, or otherwise he will be
doing mischief. There are not many who pass through the field, still I
don't want to have any of my tenants killed.
"Well, Master Ormskirk, both my wife and I feel grateful to you for
what you have done for Albert. There are the makings of a man in him
now, let him take up what trade he will. I don't say much, boy, it is
not my way; but if you ever want a friend, whether it be at court or
camp, you can rely upon me to do as much for you as I would for one of
my own; maybe more, for I deem that a man cannot well ask for favours
for those of his own blood, but he can speak a good word, and even urge
his suit for one who is no kin to him. So far as I understand, you have
not made up your mind in what path you will embark."
"No, Sir Ralph, for at present, although we can scarce be said to be at
peace with the French, we are not fighting with them. Had it been so I
would willingly have joined the train of some brave knight raising a
force for service there. There is ever fighting in the North, but with
the Scots it is but a war of skirmishes, and not as it was in Edward's
reign. Moreover, by what my father says, there seems no reason for
harrying Scotland far and near, and the fighting at present is scarce
of a nature in which much credit is to be gained."
"You might enter the household of some powerful noble, lad."
"My father spoke to me of that, Sir Ralph, but told me that he would
rather that I were with some simple knight than with a great noble, for
that in the rivalries between these there might be troubles come upon
the land, and maybe even civil strife; that one who might hold his head
highest of all one day might on the morrow have it struck off with the
executioner's axe, and that at any rate it were best at present to live
quietly and see how matters went before taking any step that would bind
me to the fortunes of one man more than another."
"Your father speaks wisely. 'Tis not often that men who live in books,
and spend their time in pouring over mouldy parchments, and in
well-nigh suffocating themselves with stinking fumes have common sense
in worldly matters. But when I have conversed with your father, I have
always found that, although he takes not much interest in public
affairs at present, he is marvellously well versed in our history, and
can give illustrations in support of what he says. Well, whenever the
time comes that he thinks it good for you to leave his fireside and
venture out into the world, you have but to come to me, and I will, so
far as is in my power, further your designs."
"I thank you most heartily, Sir Ralph, and glad am I to have been of
service to Albert, who has been almost as a brother to me since we
first met at St. Alwyth."
"I would go over and see your father, and have a talk with him about
you, but I ride to London to-morrow, and may be forced to tarry there
for some time. When I return I will wait upon him and have a talk as to
his plans for you. Now, I doubt not, you would all rather be wandering
about the garden than sitting here with us, so we will detain you no
longer."
"Albert, I am very angry with you and Master Ormskirk that you did not
take me into your counsel and tell me about your learning to use the
sword," Aline said, later on, as they watched Edgar ride away through
the gateway of the castle. "I call it very unkind of you both."
"We had not thought of being unkind, Aline," Albert said, quietly.
"When we began I did not feel sure that either my strength or my
resolution would suffice to carry me through, and indeed it was at
first very painful work for me, having never before taken any strong
exercise, and often I would have given it up from the pain and fatigue
that it caused me, had not Edgar urged me to persevere, saying that in
time I should feel neither pain nor weariness. Therefore, at first I
said nothing to you, knowing that it would disappoint you did I give it
up, and then when my arm gained strength, and Edgar encouraged me by
praising my progress, and I began to hope that I might yet come to be
strong and gain skill with the weapon, I kept it back in order that I
might, as I have done to-day, have the pleasure of surprising you, as
well as my father, by showing that I was not so great a milksop as you
had rightly deemed me."
"I never thought that you were a milksop, Albert," his sister said,
indignantly. "I knew that you were not strong, and was sorry for it,
but it was much nicer for me that you should be content to walk and
ride with me, and to take interest in things that I like, instead of
being like Henry Nevil or Richard Clairvaux, who are always talking and
thinking of nothing but how they would go to the wars, and what they
would do there."
"There was no need that I should do that, Aline. Edgar is a much better
swordsman than either of them, and knows much more, and is much more
likely to be a famous knight some day than either Nevil or Clairvaux,
but I am certain that you do not hear him talk about it."
"No, Edgar is nice, too," the girl said, frankly, "and very strong. Do
you not remember how he carried me home more than two miles, when a
year ago I fell down when I was out with you, and sprained my ankle.
And now, Albert, perhaps some day you will get so strong that you may
not think of going into the Church and shutting yourself up all your
life in a cloister, but may come to be famous too."
"I have not thought of that, Aline," he said, gravely. "If ever I did
change my mind, it would be that I might always be with Edgar and be
great friends with him, all through our lives, just as we are now."
Sir Ralph and his wife were at the time discussing the same topic. "It
may yet be, Agatha, that, after all, the boy may give up this thought
of being a churchman. I have never said a word against it hitherto,
because it seemed to me that he was fit for nothing else, but now that
one sees that he has spirit, and has, thanks to his friend, acquired a
taste for arms, and has a strength I never dreamt he possessed, the
matter is changed. I say not yet that he is like to become a famous
knight, but it needs not that every one should be able to swing a heavy
mace and hold his own in a _mêlée_. There are many posts at court where
one who is discreet and long-headed may hold his own, and gain honour,
so that he be not a mere feeble weakling who can be roughly pushed to
the wall by every blusterer."
"I would ask him no question concerning it, Sir Ralph," his wife said.
"It may be as you say, but methinks that it will be more likely that he
will turn to it if you ask him no questions, but leave him to think it
out for himself. The lad Edgar has great influence over him, and will
assuredly use it for good. As for myself, it would be no such great
grief were Albert to enter the Church as it would be to you, though I,
too, would prefer that he should not be lost to us, and would rather
that he went to Court and played his part there. I believe that he has
talent. The prior of St. Alwyth said that he and young Ormskirk were by
far his most promising pupils; of course, the latter has now ceased to
study with him, having learned as much as is necessary for a gentleman
to know if he be not intended for the Church. Albert is well aware what
your wishes are, and that if you have said naught against his taking up
that profession, it was but because you deemed him fit for no other.
Now, you will see that, having done so much, he may well do more, and
it may be that in time he may himself speak to you and tell you that he
has changed his mind on the matter."
"Perhaps it would be best so, dame, and I have good hope that it will
be as you say. I care not much for the Court, where Lancaster and
Gloucester overshadow the king. Still, a man can play his part there;
though I would not that he should attach himself to Lancaster's faction
or to Gloucester's, for both are ambitious, and it will be a struggle
between them for supremacy. If he goes he shall go as a king's man.
Richard, as he grows up, will resent the tutelage in which he is held,
but will not be able to shake it off, and he will need men he can rely
upon--prudent and good advisers, the nearer to his own age the better,
and it may well be that Albert would be like to gain rank and honour
more quickly in this way than by doughty deeds in the field. It is good
that each man should stick to his last. As for me, I would rather delve
as a peasant than mix in the intrigues of a Court. But there must be
courtiers as well as fighters, and I say not aught against them.
"The boy with his quiet voice, and his habit of going about making
little more noise than a cat, is far better suited for such a life than
I with my rough speech and fiery temper. For his manner he has also
much to thank young Ormskirk. Edgar caught it from his father, who,
though a strange man according to my thinking, is yet a singularly
courteous gentleman, and Albert has taken it from his friend. Well,
wife, I shall put this down as one of my fortunate days, for never have
I heard better news than that which Albert gave me this afternoon."
When Edgar returned home he told his father what had taken place.
"I thought that Sir Ralph would be mightily pleased some day when he
heard that his son had been so zealously working here with you, and I
too was glad to see it. I am altogether without influence to push your
fortunes. Learning I can give you, but I scarce know a man at Court,
for while I lived at Highgate I seldom went abroad, and save for a
visit now and then from some scholar anxious to consult me, scarce a
being entered my house. Therefore, beyond relating to you such matters
of history as it were well for you to know, and by telling you of the
deeds of Caesar and other great commanders, I could do naught for you."
"You have done a great deal for me, father. You have taught me more of
military matters, and of the history of this country, and of France and
Italy, than can be known to most people, and will assuredly be of much
advantage to me in the future."
"That may be so, Edgar, but the great thing is to make the first start,
and here I could in no way aid you. I have often wondered how this
matter could be brought about, and now you have obtained a powerful
friend; for although Sir Ralph De Courcy is but a simple knight, with
no great heritage, his wife is a daughter of Lord Talbot, and he
himself is one of the most valiant of the nobles and knights who fought
so stoutly in France and Spain, and as such is known to, and respected
by, all those who bore a part in those wars. He therefore can do for
you the service that of all others is the most necessary.
"The king himself is well aware that he was one of the knights in whom
the Black Prince, his father, had the fullest confidence, and to whom
he owed his life more than once in the thick of a _mêlée_. Thus, then,
when the time comes, he will be able to secure for you a post in the
following of some brave leader. I would rather that it were so than in
the household of any great noble, who would assuredly take one side or
other in the factions of the Court. You are too young for this as yet,
being too old to be a page, too young for an esquire, and must
therefore wait until you are old enough to enter service either as an
esquire or as one of the retinue of a military leader."
"I would rather be an esquire and ride to battle to win my spurs. I
should not care to become a knight simply because I was the owner of so
many acres of land, but should wish to be knighted for service in the
field."
"So would I also, Edgar. My holding here is large enough to entitle me
to the rank of knight did I choose to take it up, but indeed it would
be with me as it is with many others, an empty title. Holding land
enough for a knight's fee, I should of course be bound to send so many
men into the field were I called upon to do so, and should send you as
my substitute if the call should not come until you are two or three
years older; but in this way you would be less likely to gain
opportunities for winning honour than if you formed part of the
following of some well-known knight. Were a call to come you could go
with few better than Sir Ralph, who would be sure to be in the thick of
it. But if it comes not ere long, he may think himself too old to take
the field, and his contingent would doubtless be led by some knight as
his substitute."
"I think not, father, that Sir Ralph is likely to regard himself as
lying on the shelf for some time to come; he is still a very strong
man, and he would chafe like a caged eagle were there blows to be
struck in France, and he unable to share in them."
Four days later a man who had been down to the town returned with a
budget of news. Edgar happened to be at the door when he rode past.
"What is the news, Master Clement?" he said, for he saw that the man
looked excited and alarmed.
"There be bad news, young master, mighty bad news. Thou knowest how in
Essex men have refused to pay the poll-tax, but there has been naught
of that on this side of the river as yet, though there is sore
grumbling, seeing that the tax-collectors are not content with drawing
the tax from those of proper age, but often demand payments for boys
and girls, who, as they might see, are still under fourteen. It
happened so to-day at Dartford. One of the tax-collectors went to the
house of Wat the Tyler. His wife had the money for his tax and hers,
but the man insolently demanded tax for the daughter, who is but a girl
of twelve; and when her mother protested that the child was two years
short of the age, he offered so gross an insult to the girl that she
and her mother screamed out. A neighbour ran with the news to Wat, who
was at his work on the roof of a house near, and he, being full of
wrath thereat, ran hastily home, and entering smote the man so heavily
on the head with a hammer he carried, that he killed him on the spot.
"The collectors' knaves would have seized Wat, but the neighbours ran
in and drove them from the town with blows. The whole place is in a
ferment. Many have arms in their hands, and are declaring that they
will submit no more to the exactions, and will fight rather than pay,
for that their lives are of little value to them if they are to be
ground to the earth by these leeches. The Fleming traders in the town
have hidden away, for in their present humour the mob might well fall
upon them and kill them."
It was against the Flemings indeed that the feelings of the country
people ran highest. This tax was not, as usual, collected by the royal
officers, but by men hired by the Flemish traders settled in England.
The proceeds of it had been bestowed upon several young nobles,
intimates of the king. These had borrowed money from the Flemings on
the security of the tax; the amount that it was likely to produce had
been considerably overrated, and the result was that the Flemings,
finding that they would be heavy losers by the transaction, ordered
their collectors to gather in as much as possible. These obeyed the
instructions, rendering by their conduct the exaction of the poll-tax
even more unpopular than it would have been had it been collected by
the royal officers, who would have been content with the sum that could
be legally demanded.
"This is serious news," Edgar said, gravely, "and I fear that much
trouble may come of it. Doubtless the tax-collector misbehaved himself
grossly, but his employers will take no heed of that, and will lay
complaints before the king of the slaying of one of their servants and
of the assault upon others by a mob of Dartford, so that erelong we
shall be having a troop of men-at-arms sent hither to punish the town."
"Ay, young master, but not being of Dartford I should not care so much
for that; but there are hot spirits elsewhere, and there are many who
would be like to take up arms as well as the men at Dartford, and to
resist all attacks; then the trouble would spread, and there is no
saying how far it may grow."
"True enough, Clement; well, we may hope that when men's minds become
calmer the people of Dartford will think it best to offer to pay a fine
in order to escape bloodshed."
"It may be so," the man said, shaking his head, "though I doubt it.
There has been too much preaching of sedition. I say not that the
people have not many and real grievances, but the way to right them is
not by the taking up of arms, but by petition to the crown and
parliament."
He rode on, and Edgar, going in to his father, told him what he had
heard from Clement.
"'Tis what I feared," Mr. Ormskirk said. "The English are a patient
race, and not given, as are those of foreign nations, to sudden bursts
of rage. So long as the taxation was legal they would pay, however
hardly it pressed them, but when it comes to demanding money for
children under the age, and to insulting them, it is pushing matters
too far, and I fear with you, Edgar, that the trouble will spread. I am
sorry for these people, for however loudly they may talk and however
valiant they may be, they can assuredly offer but a weak resistance to
a strong body of men-at-arms, and they will but make their case worse
by taking up arms.
"History shows that mobs are seldom able to maintain a struggle against
authority. Just at first success may attend them, but as soon as those
who govern recover from their first surprise they are not long before
they put down the movement. I am sorry, not only for the men
themselves, but for others who, like myself, altogether disapprove of
any rising. Just at first the mob may obey its leaders and act with
moderation; but they are like wild beasts--the sight of blood maddens
them--and if this rising should become a serious one, you will see that
there will be burnings and ravagings. Heads will be smitten off, and
after slaying those they consider the chief culprits, they will turn
against all in a better condition than themselves.
"The last time Sir Ralph De Courcy was over here he told me that the
priest they called Jack Straw and many others were, he heard, not only
preaching sedition against the government, but the seizure of the goods
of the wealthy, the confiscation of the estates of the monasteries, and
the division of the wealth of the rich. A nice programme, and just the
one that would be acceptable to men without a penny in their pockets.
Sir Ralph said that he would give much if he, with half a dozen
men-at-arms, could light upon a meeting of these people, when he would
give them a lesson that would silence their saucy tongues for a long
time to come. I told him I was glad that he had not the opportunity,
for that methought it would do more harm than good. 'You won't think
so,' he said, 'when there is a mob of these rascals thundering at your
door, and resolved to make a bonfire of your precious manuscripts and
to throw you into the midst of it.' 'I have no doubt,' I replied, 'that
at such a time I should welcome the news of the arrival of you and the
men-at-arms, but I have no store of goods that would attract their
cupidity.' 'No,' the knight said, 'but you know that among the common
people you are accounted a magician, because you are wiser than they
are.'
"'I know that,' I replied; 'it is the same in all countries. The
credulous mob think that a scholar, although he may spend his life in
trying to make a discovery that will be of inestimable value to them,
is a magician and in league with the devil. However, although not a
fighting man, I may possess means of defence that are to the full as
serviceable as swords and battle-axes. I have long foreseen that should
trouble arise, the villagers of St. Alwyth would be like enough to
raise the cry of magician, and to take that opportunity of ridding
themselves of one they vaguely fear, and many months ago I made some
preparations to meet such a storm and to show them that a magician is
not altogether defenceless, and that the compounds in his power are
well-nigh as dangerous as they believe, only not in the same way.'
"'Well, I hope that you will find it so if there is any trouble; but I
recommend you, if you hear that there is any talk in the village of
making an assault upon you that you send a messenger to me straightway,
and you may be sure that ere an hour has passed I will be here with
half a dozen stout fellows who will drive this rabble before them like
sheep.'
"'I thank you much for the offer, Sir Ralph, and will bear it in mind
should there be an occasion, but I think that I may be able to manage
without need for bloodshed. You are a vastly more formidable enemy than
I am, but I imagine that they have a greater respect for my supposed
magical powers than they have for the weight of your arm, heavy though
it be.'
"'Perhaps it is so, my friend,' Sir Ralph said, grimly, 'for they have
not felt its full weight yet, though I own that I myself would rather
meet the bravest knight in battle than raise my hand against a man whom
I believed to be possessed of magical powers.'
"I laughed, and said that so far as I knew no such powers existed.
'Your magicians are but chemists,' I said. 'Their object of search is
the Elixir of Life or the Philosopher's Stone; they may be powerful for
good, but they are assuredly powerless for evil.'
"'But surely you believe in the power of sorcery?' he said. 'All men
know that there are sorcerers who can command the powers of the air and
bring terrible misfortunes down on those that oppose them.'
"'I do not believe that there are men who possess such powers,' I said.
'There are knaves who may pretend to have such powers, but it is only
to gain money from the credulous. In all my reading I have never come
upon a single instance of any man who has really exercised such powers,
nor do I believe that such powers exist. Men have at all times believed
in portents, and even a Roman army would turn back were it on the march
against an enemy, if a hare ran across the road they were following; I
say not that there may not be something in such portents, though even
of this I have doubts. Still, like dreams, they may be sent to warn us,
but assuredly man has naught to do with their occurrence, and I would,
were I not a peaceful man, draw my sword as readily against the most
famous enchanter as against any other man of the same strength and
skill, with his weapon.'
"I could see that the good knight was shocked at the light way in which
I spoke of magicians; and, indeed, the power of superstition over men,
otherwise sensible, is wonderful. However, he took his leave without
saying more than that he and the men-at-arms would be ready if I sent
for them."