King Richard in Rouen
After brief delay at the gate, the travellers were admitted and escorted
to the place selected for them. As Constance was anxious to meet the
King at once, she sent word to the seneschal and followed him to the
castle, accompanied by Arthur, Höel, and Alan. A marshal met them near
the entrance and called a servant to aid them in dismounting. There was
in the courtyard such a crowd of knights, pages, and court people of
various ranks that they made slow progress. Arthur paid little attention
to the brilliant rooms through which they passed or to the persons who
occupied them. His thoughts were fixed upon one object—to see Richard,
his uncle.
The marshal bade Höel and Alan wait in the great hall, where two
halberdiers kept guard, and then beckoned to a page and ordered him to
wait upon the Duchess. The page disappeared behind a door, which he
almost immediately reopened. Stepping back into an anteroom, he left the
guests free to enter. With rapidly beating heart Arthur crossed the
threshold, following his mother, and found himself in a spacious
apartment, at the upper end of which King Richard rose from a carven
arm-chair and advanced to meet the Duchess.[11] Arthur almost cried out
when he saw the figure of the King before him, just as he had always
imagined him to look, only more stately. The grandeur about him affected
him but little, for his gaze was riveted upon the face of the King,
which revealed dignity joined with strength and goodness, and upon those
eyes which beamed so mildly upon his friends and flashed so terribly
upon his enemies.
He greeted the Duchess cordially, took her hand, and said: “It is long,
dear sister-in-law, since we met, and we have passed through great
sorrows. But you have had one consolation,” he added, placing his hand
upon Arthur’s shoulder. Arthur took the King’s other hand and kissed it.
King Richard invited his guests to be seated and took his place between
them. Then he looked at Arthur again, murmuring to himself, “Geoffrey!
Geoffrey!” Tears filled the Duchess’s eyes as Richard continued: “We
loved each other dearly. Geoffrey was less impulsive, and restrained me
from committing many a rash act, but he stood by me to the last. Do you
know, Lady Constance, when I was engaged in that unfortunate revolt
against my father, how I came to you alone in the darkness of night,
pursued by his soldiers? They demanded me as their prisoner, but
Geoffrey would not surrender me, and we beat our assailants back from
the walls. Geoffrey surely saved his brother, but in doing so he was in
rebellion against his father.”
During this conversation Arthur was lost in contemplation of his uncle.
Even without armor Richard was the ideal of a hero. He was the
incomparable knight who in every tournament dashed horse and rider into
the dust; for whom no foe was too strong, no fortress too secure, and
who, after his victories, sang in competition with the troubadours.
A smile lit up Richard’s face as he noticed the boy’s rapt gaze, and,
turning suddenly, he asked, “What are you thinking about, Arthur?”
“I was thinking,” replied Arthur with a start—“oh, I was thinking that
my father could not help standing by you. As brother and as knight he
could not have done otherwise.”
“And yet,” said Richard, looking at the red cross fastened upon his left
shoulder, “the Church now demands that I shall go to the Holy Land and
make expiation for my resistance to my father’s authority. I have
promised to go, and shall keep my word, though it is hard to leave my
kingdom, which is not yet quieted. Oh, Arthur, if you were only a man
and could fight by my side! There is glory still to be acquired in the
morning-land for him who is victor under the banner of Godfrey of
Bouillon,[12] and the celestial crown of the martyr for him who falls.”
Greatly excited by Richard’s words, Arthur fell upon his knees,
exclaiming, “I will go with you, my uncle and my king: I will be your
page, your servant!”
Constance stretched out her hand as if to restrain him, but Richard said
with a quiet smile: “No, Arthur; wait until you have come to a man’s
strength. There will be great deeds for you to perform later.”
Arthur and the Duchess rose to take leave of the King, who embraced her,
saying: “As you may be in need of rest, I will not detain you longer,
but I will receive you again to-morrow as my guest.”
The King struck a shield hanging upon the wall, whereupon two pages and
the marshal entered, and under their respectful escort the Duchess and
Duke left the castle after they had been rejoined by Höel and Alan.