In the year of grace 1265 (Nicolas begins), about the festival of Saint
Peter _ad Vincula_, the Prince de Gâtinais came to Burgos. Before this
he had lodged for three months in the district of Ponthieu; and the
object of his southern journey was to assure the tenth Alphonso, then
ruling in Castile, that the latter's sister Ellinor, now resident at
Entréchat, was beyond any reasonable doubt the transcendent lady whose
existence old romancers had anticipated, however cloudily, when they
fabled in remote time concerning Queen Heleine of Sparta.
There was a postscript to his news, and a pregnant one. The world knew
that the King of Leon and Castile desired to be King of Germany as
well, and that at present a single vote in the Diet would decide
between his claims and those of his competitor, Earl Richard of
Cornwall. De Gâtinais chaffered fairly; he had a vote, Alphonso had a
sister. So that, in effect--ohé, in effect, he made no question that
his Majesty understood!
The Astronomer twitched his beard and demanded if the fact that Ellinor
had been a married woman these ten years past was not an obstacle to
the plan which his fair cousin had proposed?
Here the Prince was accoutred cap-à-pie, and in consequence hauled out
a paper. Dating from Viterbo, Clement, Bishop of Rome, servant to the
servants of God, desirous of all health and apostolical blessing for
his well-beloved son in Christ, stated that a compact between a boy of
fifteen and a girl of ten was an affair of no particular moment; and
that in consideration of the covenanters never having clapped eyes upon
each other since the wedding-day--even had not the precontract of
marriage between the groom's father and the bride's mother rendered a
consummation of the childish oath an obvious and a most heinous
enormity--why, that, in a sentence, and for all his coy verbosity, the
new pontiff was perfectly amenable to reason.
So in a month it was settled. Alphonso would give his sister to de
Gâtinais, and in exchange get the latter's vote; and Gui Foulques of
Sabionetta--now Clement, fourth Pope to assume that name--would annul
the previous marriage, they planned, and in exchange get an armament to
serve him against Manfred, the late and troublesome tyrant of Sicily
and Apulia. The scheme promised to each one of them that which he in
particular desired, and messengers were presently sent into Ponthieu.
It is now time we put aside these Castilian matters and speak of other
things. In England, Prince Edward had fought, and won, a shrewd battle
at Evesham; the barons' power was demolished, there would be no more
internecine war; and spurred by the unaccustomed idleness, he began to
think of the foreign girl he had not seen since the day he wedded her.
She would be a woman by this, and it was befitting that he claim his
wife. He rode with Hawise d'Ebernoe to Ambresbury, and at the gate of
the nunnery they parted, with what agonies are immaterial to this
history's progression; the tale merely tells that latterly the Prince
went into Lower Picardy alone, riding at adventure as he loved to do,
and thus came to Entréchat, where his wife resided with her mother, the
Countess Johane.
In a wood near the castle he approached a company of Spaniards, four in
number, their horses tethered while these men (Oviedans, as they told
him) drank about a great stone which served them for a table. Being
thirsty, he asked and was readily accorded hospitality, so that within
the instant these five fell into an amicable discourse. One fellow
asked his name and business in those parts, and the Prince gave each
without hesitancy as he reached for the bottle, and afterward dropped
it just in time to catch, cannily, with his naked left hand, the
knife-blade with which the rascal had dug at the unguarded ribs. The
Prince was astounded, but he was never a subtle man: here were four
knaves who, for reasons unexplained--but to them of undoubted
cogency--desired the death of Sire Edward, the King of England's son:
and manifestly there was here an actionable difference of opinion; so
he had his sword out and presently killed the four of them.
Anon there came to him an apple-cheeked boy, habited as a page, who,
riding jauntily through the forest, lighted upon the Prince, now in
bottomless vexation. The lad drew rein, and his lips outlined a
whistle. At his feet were several dead men in a very untidy condition.
And seated among them, as throned upon the boulder, was a gigantic and
florid person, so tall that the heads of few people reached to his
shoulder; a person of handsome exterior, blond, and chested like a
stallion, whose left eyebrow drooped so oddly that even in anger the
stupendous man appeared to assure you, quite confidentially, that the
dilapidation he threatened was an excellent jest.
"Fair friend," said the page. "God give you joy! and why have you
converted this forest into a shambles?"
The Prince told him of the half-hour's action as has been narrated. "I
have perhaps been rather hasty," he considered by way of peroration,
"and it vexes me that I did not spare, say, one of these lank
Spaniards, if only long enough to ascertain why, in the name of
Termagaunt, they should have desired my destruction."
But midway in his talc the boy had dismounted with a gasp, and he was
now inspecting the features of one carcass. "Felons, my Prince! You
have slain some eight yards of felony which might have cheated the
gallows had they got the Princess Ellinor safe to Burgos. Only two
days ago this chalk-eyed fellow conveyed to her a letter."
Prince Edward said, "You appear, lad, to be somewhat over heels in the
confidence of my wife."
Now the boy arose and defiantly flung back his head in shrill laughter.
"Your wife! Oh, God ha' mercy! Your wife, and for ten years left to
her own devices! Why, look you, to-day you and your wife would not
know each other were you twain brought face to face."
Prince Edward said, "That is very near the truth." But, indeed, it was
the absolute truth, and as concerned himself already attested.
"Sire Edward," the boy then said, "your wife has wearied of this long
waiting till you chose to whistle for her. Last summer the young
Prince de Gâtinais came a-wooing--and he is a handsome man." The page
made known all which de Gâtinais and King Alphonso planned, the words
jostling as they came in torrents, but so that one might understand.
"I am her page, my lord. I was to follow her. These fellows were to
be my escort, were to ward off possible pursuit. Cry haro, beau sire!
Cry haro, and lustily, for your wife in company with six other knaves
is at large between here and Burgos--that unreasonable wife who grew
dissatisfied after a mere ten years of neglect."
"I have been remiss," the Prince said, and one huge hand strained at
his chin; "yes, perhaps I have been remiss. Yet it had appeared to
me-- But as it is, I bid you mount, my lad!" he cried, in a new voice.