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diff --git a/old/ltduk10.txt b/old/ltduk10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74ca6d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ltduk10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4857 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Little Duke by Charlotte M. Yonge +#6 in our series by Charlotte M. Yonge + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + + + + +THE LITTLE DUKE + + + + +CHAPTER I + + + +On a bright autumn day, as long ago as the year 943, there was a +great bustle in the Castle of Bayeux in Normandy. + +The hall was large and low, the roof arched, and supported on thick +short columns, almost like the crypt of a Cathedral; the walls were +thick, and the windows, which had no glass, were very small, set in +such a depth of wall that there was a wide deep window seat, upon +which the rain might beat, without reaching the interior of the room. +And even if it had come in, there was nothing for it to hurt, for the +walls were of rough stone, and the floor of tiles. There was a fire +at each end of this great dark apartment, but there were no chimneys +over the ample hearths, and the smoke curled about in thick white +folds in the vaulted roof, adding to the wreaths of soot, which made +the hall look still darker. + +The fire at the lower end was by far the largest and hottest. Great +black cauldrons hung over it, and servants, both men and women, with +red faces, bare and grimed arms, and long iron hooks, or pots and +pans, were busied around it. At the other end, which was raised +about three steps above the floor of the hall, other servants were +engaged. Two young maidens were strewing fresh rushes on the floor; +some men were setting up a long table of rough boards, supported on +trestles, and then ranging upon it silver cups, drinking horns, and +wooden trenchers. + +Benches were placed to receive most of the guests, but in the middle, +at the place of honour, was a high chair with very thick crossing +legs, and the arms curiously carved with lions' faces and claws; a +clumsy wooden footstool was set in front, and the silver drinking-cup +on the table was of far more beautiful workmanship than the others, +richly chased with vine leaves and grapes, and figures of little boys +with goats' legs. If that cup could have told its story, it would +have been a strange one, for it had been made long since, in the old +Roman times, and been carried off from Italy by some Northman pirate. + +From one of these scenes of activity to the other, there moved a +stately old lady: her long thick light hair, hardly touched with +grey, was bound round her head, under a tall white cap, with a band +passing under her chin: she wore a long sweeping dark robe, with +wide hanging sleeves, and thick gold ear-rings and necklace, which +had possibly come from the same quarter as the cup. She directed the +servants, inspected both the cookery and arrangements of the table, +held council with an old steward, now and then looked rather +anxiously from the window, as if expecting some one, and began to say +something about fears that these loitering youths would not bring +home the venison in time for Duke William's supper. + +Presently, she looked up rejoiced, for a few notes of a bugle-horn +were sounded; there was a clattering of feet, and in a few moments +there bounded into the hall, a boy of about eight years old, his +cheeks and large blue eyes bright with air and exercise, and his long +light-brown hair streaming behind him, as he ran forward flourishing +a bow in his hand, and crying out, "I hit him, I hit him! Dame +Astrida, do you hear? 'Tis a stag of ten branches, and I hit him in +the neck." + +"You! my Lord Richard! you killed him?" + +"Oh, no, I only struck him. It was Osmond's shaft that took him in +the eye, and--Look you, Fru Astrida, he came thus through the wood, +and I stood here, it might be, under the great elm with my bow thus"- +-And Richard was beginning to act over again the whole scene of the +deer-hunt, but Fru, that is to say, Lady Astrida, was too busy to +listen, and broke in with, "Have they brought home the haunch?" + +"Yes, Walter is bringing it. I had a long arrow--" + +A stout forester was at this instant seen bringing in the venison, +and Dame Astrida hastened to meet it, and gave directions, little +Richard following her all the way, and talking as eagerly as if she +was attending to him, showing how he shot, how Osmond shot, how the +deer bounded, and how it fell, and then counting the branches of its +antlers, always ending with, "This is something to tell my father. +Do you think he will come soon?" + +In the meantime two men entered the hall, one about fifty, the other, +one or two-and-twenty, both in hunting dresses of plain leather, +crossed by broad embroidered belts, supporting a knife, and a bugle- +horn. The elder was broad-shouldered, sun-burnt, ruddy, and rather +stern-looking; the younger, who was also the taller, was slightly +made, and very active, with a bright keen grey eye, and merry smile. +These were Dame Astrida's son, Sir Eric de Centeville, and her +grandson, Osmond; and to their care Duke William of Normandy had +committed his only child, Richard, to be fostered, or brought up. {1} + +It was always the custom among the Northmen, that young princes +should thus be put under the care of some trusty vassal, instead of +being brought up at home, and one reason why the Centevilles had been +chosen by Duke William was, that both Sir Eric and his mother spoke +only the old Norwegian tongue, which he wished young Richard to +understand well, whereas, in other parts of the Duchy, the Normans +had forgotten their own tongue, and had taken up what was then called +the Langued'oui, a language between German and Latin, which was the +beginning of French. + +On this day, Duke William himself was expected at Bayeux, to pay a +visit to his son before setting out on a journey to settle the +disputes between the Counts of Flanders and Montreuil, and this was +the reason of Fru Astrida's great preparations. No sooner had she +seen the haunch placed upon a spit, which a little boy was to turn +before the fire, than she turned to dress something else, namely, the +young Prince Richard himself, whom she led off to one of the upper +rooms, and there he had full time to talk, while she, great lady +though she was, herself combed smooth his long flowing curls, and +fastened his short scarlet cloth tunic, which just reached to his +knee, leaving his neck, arms, and legs bare. He begged hard to be +allowed to wear a short, beautifully ornamented dagger at his belt, +but this Fru Astrida would not allow. + +"You will have enough to do with steel and dagger before your life is +at an end," said she, "without seeking to begin over soon." + +"To be sure I shall," answered Richard. "I will be called Richard of +the Sharp Axe, or the Bold Spirit, I promise you, Fru Astrida. We +are as brave in these days as the Sigurds and Ragnars you sing of! I +only wish there were serpents and dragons to slay here in Normandy." + +"Never fear but you will find even too many of them," said Dame +Astrida; "there be dragons of wrong here and everywhere, quite as +venomous as any in my Sagas." + +"I fear them not," said Richard, but half understanding her, "if you +would only let me have the dagger! But, hark! hark!" he darted to +the window. "They come, they come! There is the banner of +Normandy." + +Away ran the happy child, and never rested till he stood at the +bottom of the long, steep, stone stair, leading to the embattled +porch. Thither came the Baron de Centeville, and his son, to receive +their Prince. Richard looked up at Osmond, saying, "Let me hold his +stirrup," and then sprang up and shouted for joy, as under the arched +gateway there came a tall black horse, bearing the stately form of +the Duke of Normandy. His purple robe was fastened round him by a +rich belt, sustaining the mighty weapon, from which he was called +"William of the long Sword," his legs and feet were cased in linked +steel chain-work, his gilded spurs were on his heels, and his short +brown hair was covered by his ducal cap of purple, turned up with +fur, and a feather fastened in by a jewelled clasp. His brow was +grave and thoughtful, and there was something both of dignity and +sorrow in his face, at the first moment of looking at it, recalling +the recollection that he had early lost his young wife, the Duchess +Emma, and that he was beset by many cares and toils; but the next +glance generally conveyed encouragement, so full of mildness were his +eyes, and so kind the expression of his lips. + +And now, how bright a smile beamed upon the little Richard, who, for +the first time, paid him the duty of a pupil in chivalry, by holding +the stirrup while he sprung from his horse. Next, Richard knelt to +receive his blessing, which was always the custom when children met +their parents. The Duke laid his hand on his head, saying, "God of +His mercy bless thee, my son," and lifting him in his arms, held him +to his breast, and let him cling to his neck and kiss him again and +again, before setting him down, while Sir Eric came forward, bent his +knee, kissed the hand of his Prince, and welcomed him to his Castle. + +It would take too long to tell all the friendly and courteous words +that were spoken, the greeting of the Duke and the noble old Lady +Astrida, and the reception of the Barons who had come in the train of +their Lord. Richard was bidden to greet them, but, though he held +out his hand as desired, he shrank a little to his father's side, +gazing at them in dread and shyness. + +There was Count Bernard, of Harcourt, called the "Dane," {2} with his +shaggy red hair and beard, to which a touch of grey had given a +strange unnatural tint, his eyes looking fierce and wild under his +thick eyebrows, one of them mis-shapen in consequence of a sword cut, +which had left a broad red and purple scar across both cheek and +forehead. There, too, came tall Baron Rainulf, of Ferrieres, cased +in a linked steel hauberk, that rang as he walked, and the men-at- +arms, with helmets and shields, looking as if Sir Eric's armour that +hung in the hail had come to life and was walking about. + +They sat down to Fru Astrida's banquet, the old Lady at the Duke's +right hand, and the Count of Harcourt on his left; Osmond carved for +the Duke, and Richard handed his cup and trencher. All through the +meal, the Duke and his Lords talked earnestly of the expedition on +which they were bound to meet Count Arnulf of Flanders, on a little +islet in the river Somme, there to come to some agreement, by which +Arnulf might make restitution to Count Herluin of Montreuil, for +certain wrongs which he had done him. + +Some said that this would be the fittest time for requiring Arnulf to +yield up some towns on his borders, to which Normandy had long laid +claim, but the Duke shook his head, saying that he must seek no +selfish advantage, when called to judge between others. + +Richard was rather tired of their grave talk, and thought the supper +very long; but at last it was over, the Grace was said, the boards +which had served for tables were removed, and as it was still light, +some of the guests went to see how their steeds had been bestowed, +others to look at Sir Eric's horses and hounds, and others collected +together in groups. + +The Duke had time to attend to his little boy, and Richard sat upon +his knee and talked, told about all his pleasures, how his arrow had +hit the deer to-day, how Sir Eric let him ride out to the chase on +his little pony, how Osmond would take him to bathe in the cool +bright river, and how he had watched the raven's nest in the top of +the old tower. + +Duke William listened, and smiled, and seemed as well pleased to hear +as the boy was to tell. "And, Richard," said he at last, "have you +nought to tell me of Father Lucas, and his great book? What, not a +word? Look up, Richard, and tell me how it goes with the learning." +{3} + +"Oh, father!" said Richard, in a low voice, playing with the clasp of +his father's belt, and looking down, "I don't like those crabbed +letters on the old yellow parchment." + +"But you try to learn them, I hope!" said the Duke. + +"Yes, father, I do, but they are very hard, and the words are so +long, and Father Lucas will always come when the sun is so bright, +and the wood so green, that I know not how to bear to be kept poring +over those black hooks and strokes." + +"Poor little fellow," said Duke William, smiling and Richard, rather +encouraged, went on more boldly. "You do not know this reading, +noble father?" + +"To my sorrow, no," said the Duke. + +"And Sir Eric cannot read, nor Osmond, nor any one, and why must I +read, and cramp my fingers with writing, just as if I was a clerk, +instead of a young Duke?" Richard looked up in his father's face, +and then hung his head, as if half-ashamed of questioning his will, +but the Duke answered him without displeasure. + +"It is hard, no doubt, my boy, to you now, but it will be the better +for you in the end. I would give much to be able myself to read +those holy books which I must now only hear read to me by a clerk, +but since I have had the wish, I have had no time to learn as you +have now." + +"But Knights and Nobles never learn," said Richard. + +"And do you think it a reason they never should? But you are wrong, +my boy, for the Kings of France and England, the Counts of Anjou, of +Provence, and Paris, yes, even King Hako of Norway, {4} can all +read." + +"I tell you, Richard, when the treaty was drawn up for restoring this +King Louis to his throne, I was ashamed to find myself one of the few +crown vassals who could not write his name thereto." + +"But none is so wise or so good as you, father," said Richard, +proudly. "Sir Eric often says so." + +"Sir Eric loves his Duke too well to see his faults," said Duke +William; "but far better and wiser might I have been, had I been +taught by such masters as you may be. And hark, Richard, not only +can all Princes here read, but in England, King Ethelstane would have +every Noble taught; they study in his own palace, with his brothers, +and read the good words that King Alfred the truth-teller put into +their own tongue for them." + +"I hate the English," said Richard, raising his head and looking very +fierce. + +"Hate them? and wherefore?" + +"Because they traitorously killed the brave Sea King Ragnar! Fru +Astrida sings his death-song, which he chanted when the vipers were +gnawing him to death, and he gloried to think how his sons would +bring the ravens to feast upon the Saxon. Oh! had I been his son, +how I would have carried on the feud! How I would have laughed when +I cut down the false traitors, and burnt their palaces!" Richard's +eye kindled, and his words, as he spoke the old Norse language, +flowed into the sort of wild verse in which the Sagas or legendary +songs were composed, and which, perhaps, he was unconsciously +repeating. + +Duke William looked grave. + +"Fru Astrida must sing you no more such Sagas," said he, "if they +fill your mind with these revengeful thoughts, fit only for the +worshippers of Odin and Thor. Neither Ragnar nor his sons knew +better than to rejoice in this deadly vengeance, but we, who are +Christians, know that it is for us to forgive." + +"The English had slain their father!" said Richard, looking up with +wondering dissatisfied eyes. + +"Yes, Richard, and I speak not against them, for they were even as we +should have been, had not King Harold the fair-haired driven your +grandfather from Denmark. They had not been taught the truth, but to +us it has been said, 'Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.' Listen to +me, my son, Christian as is this nation of ours, this duty of +forgiveness is too often neglected, but let it not be so with you. +Bear in mind, whenever you see the Cross {5} marked on our banner, or +carved in stone on the Churches, that it speaks of forgiveness to us; +but of that pardon we shall never taste if we forgive not our +enemies. Do you mark me, boy?" + +Richard hesitated a little, and then said, "Yes, father, but I could +never have pardoned, had I been one of Ragnar's sons." + +"It may be that you will be in their case, Richard," said the Duke, +"and should I fall, as it may well be I shall, in some of the +contests that tear to pieces this unhappy Kingdom of France, then, +remember what I say now. I charge you, on your duty to God and to +your father, that you keep up no feud, no hatred, but rather that you +should deem me best revenged, when you have with heart and hand, +given the fullest proof of forgiveness to your enemy. Give me your +word that you will." + +"Yes, father," said Richard, with rather a subdued tone, and resting +his head on his father's shoulder. There was a silence for a little +space, during which he began to revive into playfulness, to stroke +the Duke's short curled beard, and play with his embroidered collar. + +In so doing, his fingers caught hold of a silver chain, and pulling +it out with a jerk, he saw a silver key attached to it. "Oh, what is +that?" he asked eagerly. "What does that key unlock?" + +"My greatest treasure," replied Duke William, as he replaced the +chain and key within his robe. + +"Your greatest treasure, father! Is that your coronet?" + +"You will know one day," said his father, putting the little hand +down from its too busy investigations; and some of the Barons at that +moment returning into the hall, he had no more leisure to bestow on +his little son. + +The next day, after morning service in the Chapel, and breakfast in +the hall, the Duke again set forward on his journey, giving Richard +hopes he might return in a fortnight's time, and obtaining from him a +promise that he would be very attentive to Father Lucas, and very +obedient to Sir Eric de Centeville. + + + +CHAPTER II + + + +One evening Fru Astrida sat in her tall chair in the chimney corner, +her distaff, with its load of flax in her hand, while she twisted and +drew out the thread, and her spindle danced on the floor. Opposite +to her sat, sleeping in his chair, Sir Eric de Centeville; Osmond was +on a low bench within the chimney corner, trimming and shaping with +his knife some feathers of the wild goose, which were to fly in a +different fashion from their former one, and serve, not to wing the +flight of a harmless goose, but of a sharp arrow. + +The men of the household sat ranged on benches on one side of the +hall, the women on the other; a great red fire, together with an +immense flickering lamp which hung from the ceiling, supplied the +light; the windows were closed with wooden shutters, and the whole +apartment had a cheerful appearance. Two or three large hounds were +reposing in front of the hearth, and among them sat little Richard of +Normandy, now smoothing down their broad silken ears; now tickling +the large cushions of their feet with the end of one of Osmond's +feathers; now fairly pulling open the eyes of one of the good-natured +sleepy creatures, which only stretched its legs, and remonstrated +with a sort of low groan, rather than a growl. The boy's eyes were, +all the time, intently fixed on Dame Astrida, as if he would not lose +one word of the story she was telling him; how Earl Rollo, his +grandfather, had sailed into the mouth of the Seine, and how +Archbishop Franco, of Rouen, had come to meet him and brought him the +keys of the town, and how not one Neustrian of Rouen had met with +harm from the brave Northmen. Then she told him of his grandfather's +baptism, and how during the seven days that he wore his white +baptismal robes, he had made large gifts to all the chief churches in +his dukedom of Normandy. + +"Oh, but tell of the paying homage!" said Richard; "and how Sigurd +Bloodaxe threw down simple King Charles! Ah! how would I have +laughed to see it!" + +"Nay, nay, Lord Richard," said the old lady, "I love not that tale. +That was ere the Norman learnt courtesy, and rudeness ought rather to +be forgotten than remembered, save for the sake of amending it. No, +I will rather tell you of our coming to Centeville, and how dreary I +thought these smooth meads, and broad soft gliding streams, compared +with mine own father's fiord in Norway, shut in with the tall black +rocks, and dark pines above them, and far away the snowy mountains +rising into the sky. Ah! how blue the waters were in the long summer +days when I sat in my father's boat in the little fiord, and--" + +Dame Astrida was interrupted. A bugle note rang out at the castle +gate; the dogs started to their feet, and uttered a sudden deafening +bark; Osmond sprung up, exclaiming, "Hark!" and trying to silence the +hounds; and Richard running to Sir Eric, cried, "Wake, wake, Sir +Eric, my father is come! Oh, haste to open the gate, and admit him." + +"Peace, dogs!" said Sir Eric, slowly rising, as the blast of the horn +was repeated. "Go, Osmond, with the porter, and see whether he who +comes at such an hour be friend or foe. Stay you here, my Lord," he +added, as Richard was running after Osmond; and the little boy +obeyed, and stood still, though quivering all over with impatience. + +"Tidings from the Duke, I should guess," said Fru Astrida. "It can +scarce be himself at such an hour." + +"Oh, it must be, dear Fru Astrida!" said Richard. "He said he would +come again. Hark, there are horses' feet in the court! I am sure +that is his black charger's tread! And I shall not be there to hold +his stirrup! Oh! Sir Eric, let me go." + +Sir Eric, always a man of few words, only shook his head, and at that +moment steps were heard on the stone stairs. Again Richard was about +to spring forward, when Osmond returned, his face showing, at a +glance, that something was amiss; but all that he said was, "Count +Bernard of Harcourt, and Sir Rainulf de Ferrieres," and he stood +aside to let them pass. + +Richard stood still in the midst of the hall, disappointed. Without +greeting to Sir Eric, or to any within the hall, the Count of +Harcourt came forward to Richard, bent his knee before him, took his +hand, and said with a broken voice and heaving breast, "Richard, Duke +of Normandy, I am thy liegeman and true vassal;" then rising from his +knees while Rainulf de Ferrieres went through the same form, the old +man covered his face with his hands and wept aloud. + +"Is it even so?" said the Baron de Centeville; and being answered by +a mournful look and sigh from Ferrieres, he too bent before the boy, +and repeated the words, "I am thy liegeman and true vassal, and swear +fealty to thee for my castle and barony of Centeville." + +"Oh, no, no!" cried Richard, drawing back his hand in a sort of +agony, feeling as if he was in a frightful dream from which he could +not awake. "What means it? Oh! Fru Astrida, tell me what means it? +Where is my father?" + +"Alas, my child!" said the old lady, putting her arm round him, and +drawing him close to her, whilst her tears flowed fast, and Richard +stood, reassured by her embrace, listening with eyes open wide, and +deep oppressed breathing, to what was passing between the four +nobles, who spoke earnestly among themselves, without much heed of +him. + +"The Duke dead!" repeated Sir Eric de Centeville, like one stunned +and stupefied. + +"Even so," said Rainulf, slowly and sadly, and the silence was only +broken by the long-drawn sobs of old Count Bernard. + +"But how? when? where?" broke forth Sir Eric, presently. "There was +no note of battle when you went forth. Oh, why was not I at his +side?" + +"He fell not in battle," gloomily replied Sir Rainulf. + +"Ha! could sickness cut him down so quickly?" + +"It was not sickness," answered Ferrieres. "It was treachery. He +fell in the Isle of Pecquigny, by the hand of the false Fleming!" + +"Lives the traitor yet?" cried the Baron de Centeville, grasping his +good sword. + +"He lives and rejoices in his crime," said Ferrieres, "safe in his +own merchant towns." + +"I can scarce credit you, my Lords!" said Sir Eric. "Our Duke slain, +and his enemy safe, and you here to tell the tale!" + +"I would I were stark and stiff by my Lord's side!" said Count +Bernard, "but for the sake of Normandy, and of that poor child, who +is like to need all that ever were friends to his house. I would +that mine eyes had been blinded for ever, ere they had seen that +sight! And not a sword lifted in his defence! Tell you how it +passed, Rainulf! My tongue will not speak it!" + +He threw himself on a bench and covered his face with his mantle, +while Rainulf de Ferrieres proceeded: "You know how in an evil hour +our good Duke appointed to meet this caitiff, Count of Flanders, in +the Isle of Pecquigny, the Duke and Count each bringing twelve men +with them, all unarmed. Duke Alan of Brittany was one on our side, +Count Bernard here another, old Count Bothon and myself; we bore no +weapon--would that we had--but not so the false Flemings. Ah me! I +shall never forget Duke William's lordly presence when he stepped +ashore, and doffed his bonnet to the knave Arnulf." + +"Yes," interposed Bernard. "And marked you not the words of the +traitor, as they met? 'My Lord,' quoth he, 'you are my shield and +defence.' {6} Would that I could cleave his treason-hatching skull +with my battle-axe." + +"So," continued Rainulf, "they conferred together, and as words cost +nothing to Arnulf, he not only promised all restitution to the paltry +Montreuil, but even was for offering to pay homage to our Duke for +Flanders itself; but this our William refused, saying it were foul +wrong to both King Louis of France, and Kaiser Otho of Germany, to +take from them their vassal. They took leave of each other in all +courtesy, and we embarked again. It was Duke William's pleasure to +go alone in a small boat, while we twelve were together in another. +Just as we had nearly reached our own bank, there was a shout from +the Flemings that their Count had somewhat further to say to the +Duke, and forbidding us to follow him, the Duke turned his boat and +went back again. No sooner had he set foot on the isle," proceeded +the Norman, clenching his hands, and speaking between his teeth, +"than we saw one Fleming strike him on the head with an oar; he fell +senseless, the rest threw themselves upon him, and the next moment +held up their bloody daggers in scorn at us! You may well think how +we shouted and yelled at them, and plied our oars like men +distracted, but all in vain, they were already in their boats, and +ere we could even reach the isle, they were on the other side of the +river, mounted their horses, fled with coward speed, and were out of +reach of a Norman's vengeance." + +"But they shall not be so long!" cried Richard, starting forward; for +to his childish fancy this dreadful history was more like one of Dame +Astrida's legends than a reality, and at the moment his thought was +only of the blackness of the treason. "Oh, that I were a man to +chastise them! One day they shall feel--" + +He broke off short, for he remembered how his father had forbidden +his denunciations of vengeance, but his words were eagerly caught up +by the Barons, who, as Duke William had said, were far from +possessing any temper of forgiveness, thought revenge a duty, and +were only glad to see a warlike spirit in their new Prince. + +"Ha! say you so, my young Lord?" exclaimed old Count Bernard, rising. +"Yes, and I see a sparkle in your eye that tells me you will one day +avenge him nobly!" + +Richard drew up his head, and his heart throbbed high as Sir Eric +made answer, "Ay, truly, that will he! You might search Normandy +through, yea, and Norway likewise, ere you would find a temper more +bold and free. Trust my word, Count Bernard, our young Duke will be +famed as widely as ever were his forefathers!" + +"I believe it well!" said Bernard. "He hath the port of his +grandfather, Duke Rollo, and much, too, of his noble father! How say +you, Lord Richard, will you be a valiant leader of the Norman race +against our foes?" + +"That I will!" said Richard, carried away by the applause excited by +those few words of his. "I will ride at your head this very night if +you will but go to chastise the false Flemings." + +"You shall ride with us to-morrow, my Lord," answered Bernard, "but +it must be to Rouen, there to be invested with your ducal sword and +mantle, and to receive the homage of your vassals." + +Richard drooped his head without replying, for this seemed to bring +to him the perception that his father was really gone, and that he +should never see him again. He thought of all his projects for the +day of his return, how he had almost counted the hours, and had +looked forward to telling him that Father Lucas was well pleased with +him! And now he should never nestle into his breast again, never +hear his voice, never see those kind eyes beam upon him. Large tears +gathered in his eyes, and ashamed that they should be seen, he sat +down on a footstool at Fru Astrida's feet, leant his forehead on his +hands, and thought over all that his father had done and said the +last time they were together. He fancied the return that had been +promised, going over the meeting and the greeting, till he had almost +persuaded himself that this dreadful story was but a dream. But when +he looked up, there were the Barons, with their grave mournful faces, +speaking of the corpse, which Duke Alan of Brittany was escorting to +Rouen, there to be buried beside the old Duke Rollo, and the Duchess +Emma, Richard's mother. Then he lost himself in wonder how that +stiff bleeding body could be the same as the father whose arm was so +lately around him, and whether his father's spirit knew how he was +thinking of him; and in these dreamy thoughts, the young orphan Duke +of Normandy, forgotten by his vassals in their grave councils, fell +asleep, and scarce wakened enough to attend to his prayers, when Fru +Astrida at length remembered him, and led him away to bed. + +When Richard awoke the next morning, he could hardly believe that all +that had passed in the evening was true, but soon he found that it +was but too real, and all was prepared for him to go to Rouen with +the vassals; indeed, it was for no other purpose than to fetch him +that the Count of Harcourt had come to Bayeux. Fru Astrida was quite +unhappy that "the child," as she called him, should go alone with the +warriors; but Sir Eric laughed at her, and said that it would never +do for the Duke of Normandy to bring his nurse with him in his first +entry into Rouen, and she must be content to follow at some space +behind under the escort of Walter the huntsman. + +So she took leave of Richard, charging both Sir Eric and Osmond to +have the utmost care of him, and shedding tears as if the parting was +to be for a much longer space; then he bade farewell to the servants +of the castle, received the blessing of Father Lucas, and mounting +his pony, rode off between Sir Eric and Count Bernard. Richard was +but a little boy, and he did not think so much of his loss, as he +rode along in the free morning air, feeling himself a Prince at the +head of his vassals, his banner displayed before him, and the people +coming out wherever he passed to gaze on him, and call for blessings +on his name. Rainulf de Ferrieres carried a large heavy purse filled +with silver and gold, and whenever they came to these gazing crowds, +Richard was well pleased to thrust his hands deep into it, and +scatter handfuls of coins among the gazers, especially where he saw +little children. + +They stopped to dine and rest in the middle of the day, at the castle +of a Baron, who, as soon as the meal was over, mounted his horse, and +joined them in their ride to Rouen. So far it had not been very +different from Richard's last journey, when he went to keep Christmas +there with his father; but now they were beginning to come nearer the +town, he knew the broad river Seine again, and saw the square tower +of the Cathedral, and he remembered how at that very place his father +had met him, and how he had ridden by his side into the town, and had +been led by his hand up to the hall. + +His heart was very heavy, as he recollected there was no one now to +meet and welcome him; scarcely any one to whom he could even tell his +thoughts, for those tall grave Barons had nothing to say to such a +little boy, and the very respect and formality with which they +treated him, made him shrink from them still more, especially from +the grim-faced Bernard; and Osmond, his own friend and playfellow, +was obliged to ride far behind, as inferior in rank. + +They entered the town just as it was growing dark. Count Bernard +looked back and arrayed the procession; Eric de Centeville bade +Richard sit upright and not look weary, and then all the Knights held +back while the little Duke rode alone a little in advance of them +through the gateway. There was a loud shout of "Long live the little +Duke!" and crowds of people were standing round to gaze upon his +entry, so many that the bag of coins was soon emptied by his +largesses. The whole city was like one great castle, shut in by a +wall and moat, and with Rollo's Tower rising at one end like the keep +of a castle, and it was thither that Richard was turning his horse, +when the Count of Harcourt said, "Nay, my Lord, to the Church of our +Lady." {7} + +It was then considered a duty to be paid to the deceased, that their +relatives and friends should visit them as they lay in state, and +sprinkle them with drops of holy water, and Richard was now to pay +this token of respect. He trembled a little, and yet it did not seem +quite so dreary, since he should once more look on his father's face, +and he accordingly rode towards the Cathedral. It was then very +unlike what it is now; the walls were very thick, the windows small +and almost buried in heavy carved arches, the columns within were +low, clumsy, and circular, and it was usually so dark that the +vaulting of the roof could scarcely be seen. + +Now, however, a whole flood of light poured forth from every window, +and when Richard came to the door, he saw not only the two tall thick +candles that always burnt on each side of the Altar, but in the +Chancel stood a double row ranged in a square, shedding a pure, quiet +brilliancy throughout the building, and chiefly on the silver and +gold ornaments of the Altar. Outside these lights knelt a row of +priests in dark garments, their heads bowed over their clasped hands, +and their chanted psalms sounding sweet, and full of soothing music. +Within that guarded space was a bier, and a form lay on it. + +Richard trembled still more with awe, and would have paused, but he +was obliged to proceed. He dipped his hand in the water of the font, +crossed his brow, and came slowly on, sprinkled the remaining drops +on the lifeless figure, and then stood still. There was an +oppression on his breast as if he could neither breathe nor move. + +There lay William of the Long Sword, like a good and true Christian +warrior, arrayed in his shining armour, his sword by his side, his +shield on his arm, and a cross between his hands, clasped upon his +breast. His ducal mantle of crimson velvet, lined with ermine, was +round his shoulders, and, instead of a helmet, his coronet was on his +head; but, in contrast with this rich array, over the collar of the +hauberk, was folded the edge of a rough hair shirt, which the Duke +had worn beneath his robes, unknown to all, until his corpse was +disrobed of his blood-stained garments. His face looked full of +calm, solemn peace, as if he had gently fallen asleep, and was only +awaiting the great call to awaken. There was not a single token of +violence visible about him, save that one side of his forehead bore a +deep purple mark, where he had first been struck by the blow of the +oar which had deprived him of sense. + +"See you that, my Lord?" said Count Bernard, first breaking the +silence, in a low, deep, stern voice. + +Richard had heard little for many hours past save counsels against +the Flemings, and plans of bitter enmity against them; and the sight +of his murdered father, with that look and tone of the old Dane, +fired his spirit, and breaking from his trance of silent awe and +grief, he exclaimed, "I see it, and dearly shall the traitor Fleming +abye it!" Then, encouraged by the applauding looks of the nobles, he +proceeded, feeling like one of the young champions of Fru Astrida's +songs. His cheek was coloured, his eye lighted up, and he lifted his +head, so that the hair fell back from his forehead; he laid his hand +on the hilt of his father's sword, and spoke on in words, perhaps, +suggested by some sage. "Yes, Arnulf of Flanders, know that Duke +William of Normandy shall not rest unavenged! On this good sword I +vow, that, as soon as my arm shall have strength--" + +The rest was left unspoken, for a hand was laid on his arm. A +priest, who had hitherto been kneeling near the head of the corpse, +had risen, and stood tall and dark over him, and, looking up, he +recognized the pale, grave countenance of Martin, Abbot of Jumieges, +his father's chief friend and councillor. + +"Richard of Normandy, what sayest thou?" said he, sternly. "Yes, +hang thy head, and reply not, rather than repeat those words. Dost +thou come here to disturb the peace of the dead with clamours for +vengeance? Dost thou vow strife and anger on that sword which was +never drawn, save in the cause of the poor and distressed? Wouldst +thou rob Him, to whose service thy life has been pledged, and devote +thyself to that of His foe? Is this what thou hast learnt from thy +blessed father?" + +Richard made no answer, but he covered his face with his hands, to +hide the tears which were fast streaming. + +"Lord Abbot, Lord Abbot, this passes!" exclaimed Bernard the Dane. +"Our young Lord is no monk, and we will not see each spark of noble +and knightly spirit quenched as soon as it shows itself." + +"Count of Harcourt," said Abbot Martin, "are these the words of a +savage Pagan, or of one who has been washed in yonder blessed font? +Never, while I have power, shalt thou darken the child's soul with +thy foul thirst of revenge, insult the presence of thy master with +the crime he so abhorred, nor the temple of Him who came to pardon, +with thy hatred. Well do I know, ye Barons of Normandy, that each +drop of your blood would willingly be given, could it bring back our +departed Duke, or guard his orphan child; but, if ye have loved the +father, do his bidding--lay aside that accursed spirit of hatred and +vengeance; if ye love the child, seek not to injure his soul more +deeply than even his bitterest foe, were it Arnulf himself, hath +power to hurt him." + +The Barons were silenced, whatever their thoughts might be, and Abbot +Martin turned to Richard, whose tears were still dropping fast +through his fingers, as the thought of those last words of his father +returned more clearly upon him. The Abbot laid his hand on his head, +and spoke gently to him. "These are tears of a softened heart, I +trust," said he. "I well believe that thou didst scarce know what +thou wert saying." + +"Forgive me!" said Richard, as well as he could speak. + +"See there," said the priest, pointing to the large Cross over the +Altar, "thou knowest the meaning of that sacred sign?" + +Richard bowed his head in assent and reverence. + +"It speaks of forgiveness," continued the Abbot. "And knowest thou +who gave that pardon? The Son forgave His murderers; the Father them +who slew His Son. And shalt thou call for vengeance?" + +"But oh!" said Richard, looking up, "must that cruel, murderous +traitor glory unpunished in his crime, while there lies--" and again +his voice was cut off by tears. + +"Vengeance shall surely overtake the sinner," said Martin, "the +vengeance of the Lord, and in His own good time, but it must not be +of thy seeking. Nay, Richard, thou art of all men the most bound to +show love and mercy to Arnulf of Flanders. Yes, when the hand of the +Lord hath touched him, and bowed him down in punishment for his +crime, it is then, that thou, whom he hath most deeply injured, +shouldst stretch out thine hand to aid him, and receive him with +pardon and peace. If thou dost vow aught on the sword of thy blessed +father, in the sanctuary of thy Redeemer, let it be a Christian vow." + +Richard wept too bitterly to speak, and Bernard de Harcourt, taking +his hand, led him away from the Church. + + + +CHAPTER III + + + +Duke William of the Long Sword was buried the next morning in high +pomp and state, with many a prayer and psalm chanted over his grave. + +When this was over, little Richard, who had all the time stood or +knelt nearest the corpse, in one dull heavy dream of wonder and +sorrow, was led back to the palace, and there his long, heavy, black +garments were taken off, and he was dressed in his short scarlet +tunic, his hair was carefully arranged, and then he came down again +into the hall, where there was a great assembly of Barons, some in +armour, some in long furred gowns, who had all been attending his +father's burial. Richard, as he was desired by Sir Eric de +Centeville, took off his cap, and bowed low in reply to the +reverences with which they all greeted his entrance, and he then +slowly crossed the hall, and descended the steps from the door, while +they formed into a procession behind him, according to their ranks-- +the Duke of Brittany first, and then all the rest, down to the +poorest knight who held his manor immediately from the Duke of +Normandy. + +Thus, they proceeded, in slow and solemn order, till they came to the +church of our Lady. The clergy were there already, ranged in ranks +on each side of the Choir; and the Bishops, in their mitres and rich +robes, each with his pastoral staff in his hand, were standing round +the Altar. As the little Duke entered, there arose from all the +voices in the Chancel the full, loud, clear chant of Te Deum +Laudamus, echoing among the dark vaults of the roof. To that sound, +Richard walked up the Choir, to a large, heavy, crossed-legged, +carved chair, raised on two steps, just before the steps of the Altar +began, and there he stood, Bernard de Harcourt and Eric de Centeville +on each side of him, and all his other vassals in due order, in the +Choir. + +After the beautiful chant of the hymn was ended, the service for the +Holy Communion began. When the time came for the offering, each +noble gave gold or silver; and, lastly, Rainulf of Ferrieres came up +to the step of the Altar with a cushion, on which was placed a +circlet of gold, the ducal coronet; and another Baron, following him +closely, carried a long, heavy sword, with a cross handle. The +Archbishop of Rouen received both coronet and sword, and laid them on +the Altar. Then the service proceeded. At that time the rite of +Confirmation was administered in infancy, and Richard, who had been +confirmed by his godfather, the Archbishop of Rouen, immediately +after his baptism, knelt in solemn awe to receive the other Holy +Sacrament from his hands, as soon as all the clergy had communicated. +{8} + +When the administration was over, Richard was led forward to the step +of the Altar by Count Bernard, and Sir Eric, and the Archbishop, +laying one hand upon both his, as he held them clasped together, +demanded of him, in the name of God, and of the people of Normandy, +whether he would be their good and true ruler, guard them from their +foes, maintain truth, punish iniquity, and protect the Church. + +"I will!" answered Richard's young, trembling voice, "So help me +God!" and he knelt, and kissed the book of the Holy Gospels, which +the Archbishop offered him. + +It was a great and awful oath, and he dreaded to think that he had +taken it. He still knelt, put both hands over his face, and +whispered, "O God, my Father, help me to keep it." + +The Archbishop waited till he rose, and then, turning him with his +face to the people, said, "Richard, by the grace of God, I invest +thee with the ducal mantle of Normandy!" + +Two of the Bishops then hung round his shoulders a crimson velvet +mantle, furred with ermine, which, made as it was for a grown man, +hung heavily on the poor child's shoulders, and lay in heaps on the +ground. The Archbishop then set the golden coronet on his long, +flowing hair, where it hung so loosely on the little head, that Sir +Eric was obliged to put his hand to it to hold it safe; and, lastly, +the long, straight, two-handed sword was brought and placed in his +hand, with another solemn bidding to use it ever in maintaining the +right. It should have been girded to his side, but the great sword +was so much taller than the little Duke, that, as it stood upright by +him, he was obliged to raise his arm to put it round the handle. + +He then had to return to his throne, which was not done without some +difficulty, encumbered as he was, but Osmond held up the train of his +mantle, Sir Eric kept the coronet on his head, and he himself held +fast and lovingly the sword, though the Count of Harcourt offered to +carry it for him. He was lifted up to his throne, and then came the +paying him homage; Alan, Duke of Brittany, was the first to kneel +before him, and with his hand between those of the Duke, he swore to +be his man, to obey him, and pay him feudal service for his dukedom +of Brittany. In return, Richard swore to be his good Lord, and to +protect him from all his foes. Then followed Bernard the Dane, and +many another, each repeating the same formulary, as their large +rugged hands were clasped within those little soft fingers. Many a +kind and loving eye was bent in compassion on the orphan child; many +a strong voice faltered with earnestness as it pronounced the vow, +and many a brave, stalwart heart heaved with grief for the murdered +father, and tears flowed down the war-worn cheeks which had met the +fiercest storms of the northern ocean, as they bent before the young +fatherless boy, whom they loved for the sake of his conquering +grandfather, and his brave and pious father. Few Normans were there +whose hearts did not glow at the touch of those small hands, with a +love almost of a parent, for their young Duke. + +The ceremony of receiving homage lasted long and Richard, though +interested and touched at first, grew very weary; the crown and +mantle were so heavy, the faces succeeded each other like figures in +an endless dream, and the constant repetition of the same words was +very tedious. He grew sleepy, he longed to jump up, to lean to the +right or left, or to speak something besides that regular form. He +gave one great yawn, but it brought him such a frown from the stern +face of Bernard, as quite to wake him for a few minutes, and make him +sit upright, and receive the next vassal with as much attention as he +had shown the first, but he looked imploringly at Sir Eric, as if to +ask if it ever would be over. At last, far down among the Barons, +came one at whose sight Richard revived a little. It was a boy only +a few years older than himself, perhaps about ten, with a pleasant +brown face, black hair, and quick black eyes which glanced, with a +look between friendliness and respect, up into the little Duke's +gazing face. Richard listened eagerly for his name, and was +refreshed at the sound of the boyish voice which pronounced, "I, +Alberic de Montemar, am thy liegeman and vassal for my castle and +barony of Montemar sur Epte." + +When Alberic moved away, Richard followed him with his eye as far as +he could to his place in the Cathedral, and was taken by surprise +when he found the next Baron kneeling before him. + +The ceremony of homage came to an end at last, and Richard would fain +have run all the way to the palace to shake off his weariness, but he +was obliged to head the procession again; and even when he reached +the castle hall his toils were not over, for there was a great state +banquet spread out, and he had to sit in the high chair where he +remembered climbing on his father's knee last Christmas-day, all the +time that the Barons feasted round, and held grave converse. +Richard's best comfort all this time was in watching Osmond de +Centeville and Alberic de Montemar, who, with the other youths who +were not yet knighted, were waiting on those who sat at the table. +At last he grew so very weary, that he fell fast asleep in the corner +of his chair, and did not wake till he was startled by the rough +voice of Bernard de Harcourt, calling him to rouse up, and bid the +Duke of Brittany farewell. + +"Poor child!" said Duke Alan, as Richard rose up, startled, "he is +over-wearied with this day's work. Take care of him, Count Bernard; +thou a kindly nurse, but a rough one for such a babe. Ha! my young +Lord, your colour mantles at being called a babe! I crave your +pardon, for you are a fine spirit. And hark you, Lord Richard of +Normandy, I have little cause to love your race, and little right, I +trow, had King Charles the Simple to call us free Bretons liegemen to +a race of plundering Northern pirates. To Duke Rollo's might, my +father never gave his homage; nay, nor did I yield it for all Duke +William's long sword, but I did pay it to his generosity and +forbearance, and now I grant it to thy weakness and to his noble +memory. I doubt not that the recreant Frank, Louis, whom he restored +to his throne, will strive to profit by thy youth and helplessness, +and should that be, remember that thou hast no surer friend than Alan +of Brittany. Fare thee well, my young Duke." + +"Farewell, Sir," said Richard, willingly giving his hand to be shaken +by his kind vassal, and watching him as Sir Eric attended him from +the hall. + +"Fair words, but I trust not the Breton," muttered Bernard; "hatred +is deeply ingrained in them." + +"He should know what the Frank King is made of," said Rainulf de +Ferrieres; "he was bred up with him in the days that they were both +exiles at the court of King Ethelstane of England." + +"Ay, and thanks to Duke William that either Louis or Alan are not +exiles still. Now we shall see whose gratitude is worth most, the +Frank's or the Breton's. I suspect the Norman valour will be the +best to trust to." + +"Yes, and how will Norman valour prosper without treasure? Who knows +what gold is in the Duke's coffers?" + +There was some consultation here in a low voice, and the next thing +Richard heard distinctly was, that one of the Nobles held up a silver +chain and key, {9} saying that they had been found on the Duke's +neck, and that he had kept them, thinking that they doubtless led to +something of importance. + +"Oh, yes!" said Richard, eagerly, "I know it. He told me it was the +key to his greatest treasure." + +The Normans heard this with great interest, and it was resolved that +several of the most trusted persons, among whom were the Archbishop +of Rouen, Abbot Martin of Jumieges, and the Count of Harcourt, should +go immediately in search of this precious hoard. Richard accompanied +them up the narrow rough stone stairs, to the large dark apartment, +where his father had slept. Though a Prince's chamber, it had little +furniture; a low uncurtained bed, a Cross on a ledge near its head, a +rude table, a few chairs, and two large chests, were all it +contained. Harcourt tried the lid of one of the chests: it opened, +and proved to be full of wearing apparel; he went to the other, which +was smaller, much more carved, and ornamented with very handsome +iron-work. It was locked, and putting in the key, it fitted, the +lock turned, and the chest was opened. The Normans pressed eagerly +to see their Duke's greatest treasure. + +It was a robe of serge, and a pair of sandals, such as were worn in +the Abbey of Jumieges. + +"Ha! is this all? What didst say, child?" cried Bernard the Dane, +hastily. + +"He told me it was his greatest treasure!" repeated Richard. + +"And it was!" said Abbot Martin. + +Then the good Abbot told them the history, part of which was already +known to some of them. About five or six years before, Duke William +had been hunting in the forest of Jumieges, when he had suddenly come +on the ruins of the Abbey, which had been wasted thirty or forty +years previously by the Sea-King, Hasting. Two old monks, of the +original brotherhood, still survived, and came forth to greet the +Duke, and offer him their hospitality. + +"Ay!" said Bernard, "well do I remember their bread; we asked if it +was made of fir-bark, like that of our brethren of Norway." + +William, then an eager, thoughtless young man, turned with disgust +from this wretched fare, and throwing the old men some gold, galloped +on to enjoy his hunting. In the course of the sport, he was left +alone, and encountered a wild boar, which threw him down, trampled on +him, and left him stretched senseless on the ground, severely +injured. His companions coming up, carried him, as the nearest place +of shelter, to the ruins of Jumieges, where the two old monks gladly +received him in the remaining portion of their house. As soon as he +recovered his senses, he earnestly asked their pardon for his pride, +and the scorn he had shown to the poverty and patient suffering which +he should have reverenced. + +William had always been a man who chose the good and refused the +evil, but this accident, and the long illness that followed it, made +him far more thoughtful and serious than he had ever been before; he +made preparing for death and eternity his first object, and thought +less of his worldly affairs, his wars, and his ducal state. He +rebuilt the old Abbey, endowed it richly, and sent for Martin himself +from France, to become the Abbot; he delighted in nothing so much as +praying there, conversing with the Abbot, and hearing him read holy +books; and he felt his temporal affairs, and the state and splendour +of his rank, so great a temptation, that he had one day come to the +Abbot, and entreated to be allowed to lay them aside, and become a +brother of the order. But Martin had refused to receive his vows. +He had told him that he had no right to neglect or forsake the duties +of the station which God had appointed him; that it would be a sin to +leave the post which had been given him to defend; and that the way +marked out for him to serve God was by doing justice among his +people, and using his power to defend the right. Not till he had +done his allotted work, and his son was old enough to take his place +as ruler of the Normans, might he cease from his active duties, quit +the turmoil of the world, and seek the repose of the cloister. It +was in this hope of peaceful retirement, that William had delighted +to treasure up the humble garments that he hoped one day to wear in +peace and holiness. + +"And oh! my noble Duke!" exclaimed Abbot Martin, bursting into tears, +as he finished his narration, "the Lord hath been very gracious unto +thee! He has taken thee home to thy rest, long before thou didst +dare to hope for it." + +Slowly, and with subdued feelings, the Norman Barons left the +chamber; Richard, whom they seemed to have almost forgotten, wandered +to the stairs, to find his way to the room where he had slept last +night. He had not made many steps before he heard Osmond's voice +say, "Here, my Lord;" he looked up, saw a white cap at a doorway a +little above him, he bounded up and flew into Dame Astrida's +outstretched arms. + +How glad he was to sit in her lap, and lay his wearied head on her +bosom, while, with a worn-out voice, he exclaimed, "Oh, Fru Astrida! +I am very, very tired of being Duke of Normandy!" + + + +CHAPTER IV + + + +Richard of Normandy was very anxious to know more of the little boy +whom he had seen among his vassals. + +"Ah! the young Baron de Montemar," said Sir Eric. "I knew his father +well, and a brave man he was, though not of northern blood. He was +warden of the marches of the Epte, and was killed by your father's +side in the inroad of the Viscount du Cotentin, {10} at the time when +you were born, Lord Richard." + +"But where does he live? Shall I not see him again?" + +"Montemar is on the bank of the Epte, in the domain that the French +wrongfully claim from us. He lives there with his mother, and if he +be not yet returned, you shall see him presently. Osmond, go you and +seek out the lodgings of the young Montemar, and tell him the Duke +would see him." + +Richard had never had a playfellow of his own age, and his eagerness +to see Alberic de Montemar was great. He watched from the window, +and at length beheld Osmond entering the court with a boy of ten +years old by his side, and an old grey-headed Squire, with a golden +chain to mark him as a Seneschal or Steward of the Castle, walking +behind. + +Richard ran to the door to meet them, holding out his hand eagerly. +Alberic uncovered his bright dark hair, bowed low and gracefully, but +stood as if he did not exactly know what to do next. Richard grew +shy at the same moment, and the two boys stood looking at each other +somewhat awkwardly. It was easy to see that they were of different +races, so unlike were the blue eyes, flaxen hair, and fair face of +the young Duke, to the black flashing eyes and olive cheek of his +French vassal, who, though two years older, was scarcely above him in +height; and his slight figure, well-proportioned, active and agile as +it was, did not give the same promise of strength as the round limbs +and large-boned frame of Richard, which even now seemed likely to +rival the gigantic stature of his grandfather, Earl Rollo, the +Ganger. + +For some minutes the little Duke and the young Baron stood surveying +each other without a word, and old Sir Eric did not improve matters +by saying, "Well, Lord Duke, here he is. Have you no better greeting +for him?" + +"The children are shame-faced," said Fru Astrida, seeing how they +both coloured. "Is your Lady mother in good health, my young sir?" + +Alberic blushed more deeply, bowed to the old northern lady, and +answered fast and low in French, "I cannot speak the Norman tongue." + +Richard, glad to say something, interpreted Fru Astrida's speech, and +Alberic readily made courteous reply that his mother was well, and he +thanked the Dame de Centeville, a French title which sounded new to +Fru Astrida's ears. Then came the embarrassment again, and Fru +Astrida at last said, "Take him out, Lord Richard; take him to see +the horses in the stables, or the hounds, or what not." + +Richard was not sorry to obey, so out they went into the court of +Rollo's tower, and in the open air the shyness went off. Richard +showed his own pony, and Alberic asked if he could leap into the +saddle without putting his foot in the stirrup. No, Richard could +not; indeed, even Osmond had never seen it done, for the feats of +French chivalry had scarcely yet spread into Normandy. + +"Can you?" said Richard; "will you show us?" + +"I know I can with my own pony," said Alberic, "for Bertrand will not +let me mount in any other way; but I will try with yours, if you +desire it, my Lord." + +So the pony was led out. Alberic laid one hand on its mane, and +vaulted on its back in a moment. Both Osmond and Richard broke out +loudly into admiration. "Oh, this is nothing!" said Alberic. +"Bertrand says it is nothing. Before he grew old and stiff he could +spring into the saddle in this manner fully armed. I ought to do +this much better." + +Richard begged to be shown how to perform the exploit, and Alberic +repeated it; then Richard wanted to try, but the pony's patience +would not endure any longer, and Alberic said he had learnt on a +block of wood, and practised on the great wolf-hound. They wandered +about a little longer in the court, and then climbed up the spiral +stone stairs to the battlements at the top of the tower, where they +looked at the house-tops of Rouen close beneath, and the river Seine, +broadening and glittering on one side in its course to the sea, and +on the other narrowing to a blue ribbon, winding through the green +expanse of fertile Normandy. They threw the pebbles and bits of +mortar down that they might hear them fall, and tried which could +stand nearest to the edge of the battlement without being giddy. +Richard was pleased to find that he could go the nearest, and began +to tell some of Fru Astrida's stories about the precipices of Norway, +among which when she was a young girl she used to climb about and +tend the cattle in the long light summer time. When the two boys +came down again into the hall to dinner, they felt as if they had +known each other all their lives. The dinner was laid out in full +state, and Richard had, as before, to sit in the great throne-like +chair with the old Count of Harcourt on one side, but, to his +comfort, Fru Astrida was on the other. + +After the dinner, Alberic de Montemar rose to take his leave, as he +was to ride half way to his home that afternoon. Count Bernard, who +all dinner time had been watching him intently from under his shaggy +eye-brows, at this moment turned to Richard, whom he hardly ever +addressed, and said to him, "Hark ye, my Lord, what should you say to +have him yonder for a comrade?" + +"To stay with me?" cried Richard, eagerly. "Oh, thanks, Sir Count; +and may he stay?" + +"You are Lord here." + +"Oh, Alberic!" cried Richard, jumping out of his chair of state, and +running up to him, "will you not stay with me, and be my brother and +comrade?" + +Alberic looked down hesitating. + +"Oh, say that you will! I will give you horses, and hawks, and +hounds, and I will love you--almost as well as Osmond. Oh, stay with +me, Alberic." + +"I must obey you, my Lord," said Alberic, "but--" + +"Come, young Frenchman, out with it," said Bernard,--"no buts! Speak +honestly, and at once, like a Norman, if you can." + +This rough speech seemed to restore the little Baron's self- +possession, and he looked up bright and bold at the rugged face of +the old Dane, while he said, "I had rather not stay here." + +"Ha! not do service to your Lord?" + +"I would serve him with all my heart, but I do not want to stay here. +I love the Castle of Montemar better, and my mother has no one but +me." + +"Brave and true, Sir Frenchman," said the old Count, laying his great +hand on Alberic's head, and looking better pleased than Richard +thought his grim features could have appeared. Then turning to +Bertrand, Alberic's Seneschal, he said, "Bear the Count de Harcourt's +greetings to the noble Dame de Montemar, and say to her that her son +is of a free bold spirit, and if she would have him bred up with my +Lord Duke, as his comrade and brother in arms, he will find a ready +welcome." + +"So, Alberic, you will come back, perhaps?" said Richard. + +"That must be as my mother pleases," answered Alberic bluntly, and +with all due civilities he and his Seneschal departed. + +Four or five times a day did Richard ask Osmond and Fru Astrida if +they thought Alberic would return, and it was a great satisfaction to +him to find that every one agreed that it would be very foolish in +the Dame de Montemar to refuse so good an offer, only Fru Astrida +could not quite believe she would part with her son. Still no Baron +de Montemar arrived, and the little Duke was beginning to think less +about his hopes, when one evening, as he was returning from a ride +with Sir Eric and Osmond, he saw four horsemen coming towards them, +and a little boy in front. + +"It is Alberic himself, I am sure of it!" he exclaimed, and so it +proved; and while the Seneschal delivered his Lady's message to Sir +Eric, Richard rode up and greeted the welcome guest. + +"Oh, I am very glad your mother has sent you!" + +"She said she was not fit to bring up a young warrior of the +marches," said Alberic. + +"Were you very sorry to come?" + +"I dare say I shall not mind it soon; and Bertrand is to come and +fetch me home to visit her every three months, if you will let me go, +my Lord." + +Richard was extremely delighted, and thought he could never do enough +to make Rouen pleasant to Alberic, who after the first day or two +cheered up, missed his mother less, managed to talk something between +French and Norman to Sir Eric and Fru Astrida, and became a very +animated companion and friend. In one respect Alberic was a better +playfellow for the Duke than Osmond de Centeville, for Osmond, +playing as a grown up man, not for his own amusement, but the +child's, had left all the advantages of the game to Richard, who was +growing not a little inclined to domineer. This Alberic did not +like, unless, as he said, "it was to be always Lord and vassal, and +then he did not care for the game," and he played with so little +animation that Richard grew vexed. + +"I can't help it," said Alberic; "if you take all the best chances to +yourself, 'tis no sport for me. I will do your bidding, as you are +the Duke, but I cannot like it." + +"Never mind my being Duke, but play as we used to do." + +"Then let us play as I did with Bertrand's sons at Montemar. I was +their Baron, as you are my Duke, but my mother said there would be no +sport unless we forgot all that at play." + +"Then so we will. Come, begin again, Alberic, and you shall have the +first turn." + +However, Alberic was quite as courteous and respectful to the Duke +when they were not at play, as the difference of their rank required; +indeed, he had learnt much more of grace and courtliness of demeanour +from his mother, a Provencal lady, than was yet to be found among the +Normans. The Chaplain of Montemar had begun to teach him to read and +write, and he liked learning much better than Richard, who would not +have gone on with Father Lucas's lessons at all, if Abbot Martin of +Jumieges had not put him in mind that it had been his father's +especial desire. + +What Richard most disliked was, however, the being obliged to sit in +council. The Count of Harcourt did in truth govern the dukedom, but +nothing could be done without the Duke's consent, and once a week at +least, there was held in the great hall of Rollo's tower, what was +called a Parlement, or "a talkation," where Count Bernard, the +Archbishop, the Baron de Centeville, the Abbot of Jumieges, and such +other Bishops, Nobles, or Abbots, as might chance to be at Rouen, +consulted on the affairs of Normandy; and there the little Duke +always was forced to be present, sitting up in his chair of state, +and hearing rather than listening to, questions about the repairing +and guarding of Castles, the asking of loans from the vassals, the +appeals from the Barons of the Exchequer, who were then Nobles sent +through the duchy to administer justice, and the discussions about +the proceedings of his neighbours, King Louis of France, Count +Foulques of Anjou, and Count Herluin of Montreuil, and how far the +friendship of Hugh of Paris, and Alan of Brittany might be trusted. + +Very tired of all this did Richard grow, especially when he found +that the Normans had made up their minds not to attempt a war against +the wicked Count of Flanders. He sighed most wearily, yawned again +and again, and moved restlessly about in his chair; but whenever +Count Bernard saw him doing so, he received so severe a look and sign +that he grew perfectly to dread the eye of the fierce old Dane. +Bernard never spoke to him to praise him, or to enter into any of his +pursuits; he only treated him with the grave distant respect due to +him as a Prince, or else now and then spoke a few stern words to him +of reproof for this restlessness, or for some other childish folly. + +Used as Richard was to be petted and made much of by the whole house +of Centeville, he resented this considerably in secret, disliked and +feared the old Count, and more than once told Alberic de Montemar, +that as soon as he was fourteen, when he would be declared of age, he +should send Count Bernard to take care of his own Castle of Harcourt, +instead of letting him sit gloomy and grim in the Castle hall in the +evening, spoiling all their sport. + +Winter had set in, and Osmond used daily to take the little Duke and +Alberic to the nearest sheet of ice, for the Normans still prided +themselves on excelling in skating, though they had long since left +the frost-bound streams and lakes of Norway. + +One day, as they were returning from the ice, they were surprised, +even before they entered the Castle court, by hearing the trampling +of horses' feet, and a sound of voices. + +"What may this mean?" said Osmond. "There must surely be a great +arrival of the vassals. The Duke of Brittany, perhaps." + +"Oh," said Richard, piteously, "we have had one council already this +week. I hope another is not coming!" + +"It must import something extraordinary," proceeded Osmond. "It is a +mischance that the Count of Harcourt is not at Rouen just now." + +Richard thought this no mischance at all, and just then, Alberic, who +had run on a little before, came back exclaiming, "They are French. +It is the Frank tongue, not the Norman, that they speak." + +"So please you, my Lord," said Osmond, stopping short, "we go not +rashly into the midst of them. I would I knew what were best to do." + +Osmond rubbed his forehead and stood considering, while the two boys +looked at him anxiously. In a few seconds, before he had come to any +conclusion, there came forth from the gate a Norman Squire, +accompanied by two strangers. + +"My Lord Duke," said he to Richard, in French, "Sir Eric has sent me +to bring you tidings that the King of France has arrived to receive +your homage." + +"The King!" exclaimed Osmond. + +"Ay!" proceeded the Norman, in his own tongue, "Louis himself, and +with a train looking bent on mischief. I wish it may portend good to +my Lord here. You see I am accompanied. I believe from my heart +that Louis meant to prevent you from receiving a warning, and taking +the boy out of his clutches." + +"Ha! what?" said Richard, anxiously. "Why is the King come? What +must I do?" + +"Go on now, since there is no help for it," said Osmond. + +"Greet the king as becomes you, bend the knee, and pay him homage." + +Richard repeated over to himself the form of homage that he might be +perfect in it, and walked on into the court; Alberic, Osmond, and the +rest falling back as he entered. The court was crowded with horses +and men, and it was only by calling out loudly, "The Duke, the Duke," +that Osmond could get space enough made for them to pass. In a few +moments Richard had mounted the steps and stood in the great hall. + +In the chair of state, at the upper end of the room, sat a small +spare man, of about eight or nine-and-twenty, pale, and of a light +complexion, with a rich dress of blue and gold. Sir Eric and several +other persons stood respectfully round him, and he was conversing +with the Archbishop, who, as well as Sir Eric, cast several anxious +glances at the little Duke as he advanced up the hall. He came up to +the King, put his knee to the ground, and was just beginning, "Louis, +King of France, I--" when he found himself suddenly lifted from the +ground in the King's arms, and kissed on both cheeks. Then setting +him on his knee, the King exclaimed, "And is this the son of my brave +and noble friend, Duke William? Ah! I should have known it from his +likeness. Let me embrace you again, dear child, for your father's +sake." + +Richard was rather overwhelmed, but he thought the King very kind, +especially when Louis began to admire his height and free-spirited +bearing, and to lament that his own sons, Lothaire and Carloman, were +so much smaller and more backward. He caressed Richard again and +again, praised every word he said--Fru Astrida was nothing to him; +and Richard began to say to himself how strange and unkind it was of +Bernard de Harcourt to like to find fault with him, when, on the +contrary, he deserved all this praise from the King himself. + + + +CHAPTER V + + + +Duke Richard of Normandy slept in the room which had been his +father's; Alberic de Montemar, as his page, slept at his feet, and +Osmond de Centeville had a bed on the floor, across the door, where +he lay with his sword close at hand, as his young Lord's guard and +protector. + +All had been asleep for some little time, when Osmond was startled by +a slight movement of the door, which could not be pushed open without +awakening him. In an instant he had grasped his sword, while he +pressed his shoulder to the door to keep it closed; but it was his +father's voice that answered him with a few whispered words in the +Norse tongue, "It is I, open." He made way instantly, and old Sir +Eric entered, treading cautiously with bare feet, and sat down on the +bed motioning him to do the same, so that they might be able to speak +lower. "Right, Osmond," he said. "It is well to be on the alert, +for peril enough is around him--The Frank means mischief! I know +from a sure hand that Arnulf of Flanders was in council with him just +before he came hither, with his false tongue, wiling and coaxing the +poor child!" + +"Ungrateful traitor!" murmured Osmond. "Do you guess his purpose?" + +"Yes, surely, to carry the boy off with him, and so he trusts +doubtless to cut off all the race of Rollo! I know his purpose is to +bear off the Duke, as a ward of the Crown forsooth. Did you not hear +him luring the child with his promises of friendship with the +Princes? I could not understand all his French words, but I saw it +plain enough." + +"You will never allow it?" + +"If he does, it must be across our dead bodies; but taken as we are +by surprise, our resistance will little avail. The Castle is full of +French, the hall and court swarm with them. Even if we could draw +our Normans together, we should not be more than a dozen men, and +what could we do but die? That we are ready for, if it may not be +otherwise, rather than let our charge be thus borne off without a +pledge for his safety, and without the knowledge of the states." + +"The king could not have come at a worse time," said Osmond. + +"No, just when Bernard the Dane is absent. If he only knew what has +befallen, he could raise the country, and come to the rescue." + +"Could we not send some one to bear the tidings to-night?" + +"I know not," said Sir Eric, musingly. "The French have taken the +keeping of the doors; indeed they are so thick through the Castle +that I can hardly reach one of our men, nor could I spare one hand +that may avail to guard the boy to-morrow." + +"Sir Eric;" a bare little foot was heard on the floor, and Alberic de +Montemar stood before him. "I did not mean to listen, but I could +not help hearing you. I cannot fight for the Duke yet, but I could +carry a message." + +"How would that be?" said Osmond, eagerly. "Once out of the Castle, +and in Rouen, he could easily find means of sending to the Count. He +might go either to the Convent of St. Ouen, or, which would be +better, to the trusty armourer, Thibault, who would soon find man and +horse to send after the Count." + +"Ha! let me see," said Sir Eric. "It might be. But how is he to get +out?" + +"I know a way," said Alberic. "I scrambled down that wide buttress +by the east wall last week, when our ball was caught in a branch of +the ivy, and the drawbridge is down." + +"If Bernard knew, it would be off my mind, at least!" said Sir Eric. +"Well, my young Frenchman, you may do good service." + +"Osmond," whispered Alberic, as he began hastily to dress himself, +"only ask one thing of Sir Eric--never to call me young Frenchman +again!" + +Sir Eric smiled, saying, "Prove yourself Norman, my boy." + +"Then," added Osmond, "if it were possible to get the Duke himself +out of the castle to-morrow morning. If I could take him forth by +the postern, and once bring him into the town, he would be safe. It +would be only to raise the burghers, or else to take refuge in the +Church of Our Lady till the Count came up, and then Louis would find +his prey out of his hands when he awoke and sought him." + +"That might be," replied Sir Eric; "but I doubt your success. The +French are too eager to hold him fast, to let him slip out of their +hands. You will find every door guarded." + +"Yes, but all the French have not seen the Duke, and the sight of a +squire and a little page going forth, will scarcely excite their +suspicion." + +"Ay, if the Duke would bear himself like a little page; but that you +need not hope for. Besides, he is so taken with this King's +flatteries, that I doubt whether he would consent to leave him for +the sake of Count Bernard. Poor child, he is like to be soon taught +to know his true friends." + +"I am ready," said Alberic, coming forward. + +The Baron de Centeville repeated his instructions, and then undertook +to guard the door, while his son saw Alberic set off on his +expedition. Osmond went with him softly down the stairs, then +avoiding the hall, which was filled with French, they crept silently +to a narrow window, guarded by iron bars, placed at such short +intervals apart that only so small and slim a form as Alberic's could +have squeezed out between them. The distance to the ground was not +much more than twice his own height, and the wall was so covered with +ivy, that it was not a very dangerous feat for an active boy, so that +Alberic was soon safe on the ground, then looking up to wave his cap, +he ran on along the side of the moat, and was soon lost to Osmond's +sight in the darkness. + +Osmond returned to the Duke's chamber, and relieved his father's +guard, while Richard slept soundly on, little guessing at the plots +of his enemies, or at the schemes of his faithful subjects for his +protection. + +Osmond thought this all the better, for he had small trust in +Richard's patience and self-command, and thought there was much more +chance of getting him unnoticed out of the Castle, if he did not know +how much depended on it, and how dangerous his situation was. + +When Richard awoke, he was much surprised at missing Alberic, but +Osmond said he was gone into the town to Thibault the armourer, and +this was a message on which he was so likely to be employed that +Richard's suspicion was not excited. All the time he was dressing he +talked about the King, and everything he meant to show him that day; +then, when he was ready, the first thing was as usual to go to attend +morning mass. + +"Not by that way, to-day, my Lord," said Osmond, as Richard was about +to enter the great hall. "It is crowded with the French who have +been sleeping there all night; come to the postern." + +Osmond turned, as he spoke, along the passage, walking fast, and not +sorry that Richard was lingering a little, as it was safer for him to +be first. The postern was, as he expected, guarded by two tall +steel-cased figures, who immediately held their lances across the +door-way, saying, "None passes without warrant." + +"You will surely let us of the Castle attend to our daily business," +said Osmond. "You will hardly break your fast this morning if you +stop all communication with the town." + +"You must bring warrant," repeated one of the men-at-arms. Osmond +was beginning to say that he was the son of the Seneschal of the +Castle, when Richard came hastily up. "What? Do these men want to +stop us?" he exclaimed in the imperious manner he had begun to take +up since his accession. "Let us go on, sirs." + +The men-at-arms looked at each other, and guarded the door more +closely. Osmond saw it was hopeless, and only wanted to draw his +young charge back without being recognised, but Richard exclaimed +loudly, "What means this?" + +"The King has given orders that none should pass without warrant," +was Osmond's answer. "We must wait." + +"I will pass!" said Richard, impatient at opposition, to which he was +little accustomed. "What mean you, Osmond? This is my Castle, and +no one has a right to stop me. Do you hear, grooms? let me go. I am +the Duke!" + +The sentinels bowed, but all they said was, "Our orders are express." + +"I tell you I am Duke of Normandy, and I will go where I please in my +own city!" exclaimed Richard, passionately pressing against the +crossed staves of the weapons, to force his way between them, but he +was caught and held fast in the powerful gauntlet of one of the men- +at-arms. "Let me go, villain!" cried he, struggling with all his +might. "Osmond, Osmond, help!" + +Even as he spoke Osmond had disengaged him from the grasp of the +Frenchman, and putting his hand on his arm, said, "Nay, my Lord, it +is not for you to strive with such as these." + +"I will strive!" cried the boy. "I will not have my way barred in my +own Castle. I will tell the King how these rogues of his use me. I +will have them in the dungeon. Sir Eric! where is Sir Eric?" + +Away he rushed to the stairs, Osmond hurrying after him, lest he +should throw himself into some fresh danger, or by his loud calls +attract the French, who might then easily make him prisoner. +However, on the very first step of the stairs stood Sir Eric, who was +too anxious for the success of the attempt to escape, to be very far +off. Richard, too angry to heed where he was going, dashed up +against him without seeing him, and as the old Baron took hold of +him, began, "Sir Eric, Sir Eric, those French are villains! they will +not let me pass--" + +"Hush, hush! my Lord," said Sir Eric. "Silence! come here." + +However imperious with others, Richard from force of habit always +obeyed Sir Eric, and now allowed himself to be dragged hastily and +silently by him, Osmond following closely, up the stairs, up a second +and a third winding flight, still narrower, and with broken steps, to +a small round, thick-walled turret chamber, with an extremely small +door, and loop-holes of windows high up in the tower. Here, to his +great surprise, he found Dame Astrida, kneeling and telling her +beads, two or three of her maidens, and about four of the Norman +Squires and men-at-arms. + +"So you have failed, Osmond?" said the Baron. + +"But what is all this? How did Fru Astrida come up here? May I not +go to the King and have those insolent Franks punished?" + +"Listen to me, Lord Richard," said Sir Eric: "that smooth-spoken +King whose words so charmed you last night is an ungrateful deceiver. +The Franks have always hated and feared the Normans, and not being +able to conquer us fairly, they now take to foul means. Louis came +hither from Flanders, he has brought this great troop of French to +surprise us, claim you as a ward of the crown, and carry you away +with him to some prison of his own." + +"You will not let me go?" said Richard. + +"Not while I live," said Sir Eric. "Alberic is gone to warn the +Count of Harcourt, to call the Normans together, and here we are +ready to defend this chamber to our last breath, but we are few, the +French are many, and succour may be far off." + +"Then you meant to have taken me out of their reach this morning, +Osmond?" + +"Yes, my Lord." + +"And if I had not flown into a passion and told who I was, I might +have been safe! O Sir Eric! Sir Eric! you will not let me be +carried off to a French prison!" + +"Here, my child," said Dame Astrida, holding out her arms, "Sir Eric +will do all he can for you, but we are in God's hands!" + +Richard came and leant against her. "I wish I had not been in a +passion!" said he, sadly, after a silence; then looking at her in +wonder--"But how came you up all this way?" + +"It is a long way for my old limbs," said Fru Astrida, smiling, "but +my son helped me, and he deems it the only safe place in the Castle." + +"The safest," said Sir Eric, "and that is not saying much for it." + +"Hark!" said Osmond, "what a tramping the Franks are making. They +are beginning to wonder where the Duke is." + +"To the stairs, Osmond," said Sir Eric. "On that narrow step one man +may keep them at bay a long time. You can speak their jargon too, +and hold parley with them." + +"Perhaps they will think I am gone," whispered Richard, "if they +cannot find me, and go away." + +Osmond and two of the Normans were, as he spoke, taking their stand +on the narrow spiral stair, where there was just room for one man on +the step. Osmond was the lowest, the other two above him, and it +would have been very hard for an enemy to force his way past them. + +Osmond could plainly hear the sounds of the steps and voices of the +French as they consulted together, and sought for the Duke. A man at +length was heard clanking up these very stairs, till winding round, +he suddenly found himself close upon young de Centeville. + +"Ha! Norman!" he cried, starting back in amazement, "what are you +doing here?" + +"My duty," answered Osmond, shortly. "I am here to guard this +stair;" and his drawn sword expressed the same intention. + +The Frenchman drew back, and presently a whispering below was heard, +and soon after a voice came up the stairs, saying, "Norman--good +Norman--" + +"What would you say?" replied Osmond, and the head of another Frank +appeared. "What means all this, my friend?" was the address. "Our +King comes as a guest to you, and you received him last evening as +loyal vassals. Wherefore have you now drawn out of the way, and +striven to bear off your young Duke into secret places? Truly it +looks not well that you should thus strive to keep him apart, and +therefore the King requires to see him instantly." + +"Sir Frenchman," replied Osmond, "your King claims the Duke as his +ward. How that may be my father knows not, but as he was committed +to his charge by the states of Normandy, he holds himself bound to +keep him in his own hands until further orders from them." + +"That means, insolent Norman, that you intend to shut the boy up and +keep him in your own rebel hands. You had best yield--it will be the +better for you and for him. The child is the King's ward, and he +shall not be left to be nurtured in rebellion by northern pirates." + +At this moment a cry from without arose, so loud as almost to drown +the voices of the speakers on the turret stair, a cry welcome to the +ears of Osmond, repeated by a multitude of voices, "Haro! Haro! our +little Duke!" + +It was well known as a Norman shout. So just and so ready to redress +all grievances had the old Duke Rollo been, that his very name was an +appeal against injustice, and whenever wrong was done, the Norman +outcry against the injury was always "Ha Rollo!" or as it had become +shortened, "Haro." And now Osmond knew that those whose affection +had been won by the uprightness of Rollo, were gathering to protect +his helpless grandchild. + +The cry was likewise heard by the little garrison in the turret +chamber, bringing hope and joy. Richard thought himself already +rescued, and springing from Fru Astrida, danced about in ecstasy, +only longing to see the faithful Normans, whose voices he heard +ringing out again and again, in calls for their little Duke, and +outcries against the Franks. The windows were, however, so high, +that nothing could be seen from them but the sky; and, like Richard, +the old Baron de Centeville was almost beside himself with anxiety to +know what force was gathered together, and what measures were being +taken. He opened the door, called to his son, and asked if he could +tell what was passing, but Osmond knew as little--he could see +nothing but the black, cobwebbed, dusty steps winding above his head, +while the clamours outside, waxing fiercer and louder, drowned all +the sounds which might otherwise have come up to him from the French +within the Castle. At last, however, Osmond called out to his +father, in Norse, "There is a Frank Baron come to entreat, and this +time very humbly, that the Duke may come to the King." + +"Tell him," replied Sir Eric, "that save with consent of the council +of Normandy, the child leaves not my hands." + +"He says," called back Osmond, after a moment, "that you shall guard +him yourself, with as many as you choose to bring with you. He +declares on the faith of a free Baron, that the King has no thought +of ill--he wants to show him to the Rouennais without, who are +calling for him, and threaten to tear down the tower rather than not +see their little Duke. Shall I bid him send a hostage?" + +"Answer him," returned the Baron, "that the Duke leaves not this +chamber unless a pledge is put into our hands for his safety. There +was an oily-tongued Count, who sat next the King at supper--let him +come hither, and then perchance I may trust the Duke among them." + +Osmond gave the desired reply, which was carried to the King. +Meantime the uproar outside grew louder than ever, and there were new +sounds, a horn was winded, and there was a shout of "Dieu aide!" the +Norman war-cry, joined with "Notre Dame de Harcourt!" + +"There, there!" cried Sir Eric, with a long breath, as if relieved of +half his anxieties, "the boy has sped well. Bernard is here at last! +Now his head and hand are there, I doubt no longer." + +"Here comes the Count," said Osmond, opening the door, and admitting +a stout, burly man, who seemed sorely out of breath with the ascent +of the steep, broken stair, and very little pleased to find himself +in such a situation. The Baron de Centeville augured well from the +speed with which he had been sent, thinking it proved great +perplexity and distress on the part of Louis. Without waiting to +hear his hostage speak, he pointed to a chest on which he had been +sitting, and bade two of his men-at-arms stand on each side of the +Count, saying at the same time to Fru Astrida, "Now, mother, if aught +of evil befalls the child, you know your part. Come, Lord Richard." + +Richard moved forward. Sir Eric held his hand. Osmond kept close +behind him, and with as many of the men-at-arms as could be spared +from guarding Fru Astrida and her hostage, he descended the stairs, +not by any means sorry to go, for he was weary of being besieged in +that turret chamber, whence he could see nothing, and with those +friendly cries in his ears, he could not be afraid. + +He was conducted to the large council-room which was above the hall. +There, the King was walking up and down anxiously, looking paler than +his wont, and no wonder, for the uproar sounded tremendous there--and +now and then a stone dashed against the sides of the deep window. + +Nearly at the same moment as Richard entered by one door, Count +Bernard de Harcourt came in from the other, and there was a slight +lull in the tumult. + +"What means this, my Lords?" exclaimed the King. "Here am I come in +all good will, in memory of my warm friendship with Duke William, to +take on me the care of his orphan, and hold council with you for +avenging his death, and is this the greeting you afford me? You +steal away the child, and stir up the rascaille of Rouen against me. +Is this the reception for your King?" + +"Sir King," replied Bernard, "what your intentions may be, I know +not. All I do know is, that the burghers of Rouen are fiercely +incensed against you--so much so, that they were almost ready to tear +me to pieces for being absent at this juncture. They say that you +are keeping the child prisoner in his own Castle and that they will +have him restored if they tear it down to the foundations." + +"You are a true man, a loyal man--you understand my good intentions," +said Louis, trembling, for the Normans were extremely dreaded. "You +would not bring the shame of rebellion on your town and people. +Advise me--I will do just as you counsel me--how shall I appease +them?" + +"Take the child, lead him to the window, swear that you mean him no +evil, that you will not take him from us," said Bernard. "Swear it +on the faith of a King." + +"As a King--as a Christian, it is true!" said Louis. "Here, my boy! +Wherefore shrink from me? What have I done, that you should fear me? +You have been listening to evil tales of me, my child. Come hither." + +At a sign from the Count de Harcourt, Sir Eric led Richard forward, +and put his hand into the King's. Louis took him to the window, +lifted him upon the sill, and stood there with his arm round him, +upon which the shout, "Long live Richard, our little Duke!" arose +again. Meantime, the two Centevilles looked in wonder at the old +Harcourt, who shook his head and muttered in his own tongue, "I will +do all I may, but our force is small, and the King has the best of +it. We must not yet bring a war on ourselves." + +"Hark! he is going to speak," said Osmond. + +"Fair Sirs!--excellent burgesses!" began the King, as the cries +lulled a little. {11} "I rejoice to see the love ye bear to our +young Prince! I would all my subjects were equally loyal! But +wherefore dread me, as if I were come to injure him? I, who came but +to take counsel how to avenge the death of his father, who brought me +back from England when I was a friendless exile. Know ye not how +deep is the debt of gratitude I owe to Duke William? He it was who +made me King--it was he who gained me the love of the King of +Germany; he stood godfather for my son--to him I owe all my wealth +and state, and all my care is to render guerdon for it to his child, +since, alas! I may not to himself. Duke William rests in his bloody +grave! It is for me to call his murderers to account, and to cherish +his son, even as mine own!" + +So saying, Louis tenderly embraced the little boy, and the Rouennais +below broke out into another cry, in which "Long live King Louis," +was joined with "Long live Richard!" + +"You will not let the child go?" said Eric, meanwhile, to Harcourt. + +"Not without provision for his safety, but we are not fit for war as +yet, and to let him go is the only means of warding it off." + +Eric groaned and shook his head; but the Count de Harcourt's judgment +was of such weight with him, that he never dreamt of disputing it. + +"Bring me here," said the King, "all that you deem most holy, and you +shall see me pledge myself to be your Duke's most faithful friend." + +There was some delay, during which the Norman Nobles had time for +further counsel together, and Richard looked wistfully at them, +wondering what was to happen to him, and wishing he could venture to +ask for Alberic. + +Several of the Clergy of the Cathedral presently appeared in +procession, bringing with them the book of the Gospels on which +Richard had taken his installation oath, with others of the sacred +treasures of the Church, preserved in gold cases. The Priests were +followed by a few of the Norman Knights and Nobles, some of the +burgesses of Rouen, and, to Richard's great joy, by Alberic de +Montemar himself. The two boys stood looking eagerly at each other, +while preparation was made for the ceremony of the King's oath. + +The stone table in the middle of the room was cleared, and arranged +so as in some degree to resemble the Altar in the Cathedral; then the +Count de Harcourt, standing before it, and holding the King's hand, +demanded of him whether he would undertake to be the friend, +protector, and good Lord of Richard, Duke of Normandy, guarding him +from all his enemies, and ever seeking his welfare. Louis, with his +hand on the Gospels, "swore that so he would." + +"Amen!" returned Bernard the Dane, solemnly, "and as thou keepest +that oath to the fatherless child, so may the Lord do unto thine +house!" + +Then followed the ceremony, which had been interrupted the night +before, of the homage and oath of allegiance which Richard owed to +the King, and, on the other hand, the King's formal reception of him +as a vassal, holding, under him, the two dukedoms of Normandy and +Brittany. "And," said the King, raising him in his arms and kissing +him, "no dearer vassal do I hold in all my realm than this fair +child, son of my murdered friend and benefactor--precious to me as my +own children, as so on my Queen and I hope to testify." + +Richard did not much like all this embracing; but he was sure the +King really meant him no ill, and he wondered at all the distrust the +Centevilles had shown. + +"Now, brave Normans," said the King, "be ye ready speedily, for an +onset on the traitor Fleming. The cause of my ward is my own cause. +Soon shall the trumpet be sounded, the ban and arriere ban of the +realm be called forth, and Arnulf, in the flames of his cities, and +the blood of his vassals, shall learn to rue the day when his foot +trod the Isle of Pecquigny! How many Normans can you bring to the +muster, Sir Count?" + +"I cannot say, within a few hundreds of lances," replied the old +Dane, cautiously; "it depends on the numbers that may be engaged in +the Italian war with the Saracens, but of this be sure, Sir King, +that every man in Normandy and Brittany who can draw a sword or bend +a bow, will stand forth in the cause of our little Duke; ay, and that +his blessed father's memory is held so dear in our northern home, +that it needs but a message to King Harold Blue-tooth to bring a +fleet of long keels into the Seine, with stout Danes enough to carry +fire and sword, not merely through Flanders, but through all France. +We of the North are not apt to forget old friendships and favours, +Sir King." + +"Yes, yes, I know the Norman faith of old," returned Louis, uneasily, +"but we should scarcely need such wild allies as you propose; the +Count of Paris, and Hubert of Senlis may be reckoned on, I suppose." + +"No truer friend to Normandy than gallant and wise old Hugh the +White!" said Bernard, "and as to Senlis, he is uncle to the boy, and +doubly bound to us." + +"I rejoice to see your confidence," said Louis. "You shall soon hear +from me. In the meantime I must return to gather my force together, +and summon my great vassals, and I will, with your leave, brave +Normans, take with me my dear young ward. His presence will plead +better in his cause than the finest words; moreover, he will grow up +in love and friendship with my two boys, and shall be nurtured with +them in all good learning and chivalry, nor shall he ever be reminded +that he is an orphan while under the care of Queen Gerberge and +myself." + +"Let the child come to me, so please you, my Lord the King," answered +Harcourt, bluntly. "I must hold some converse with him, ere I can +reply." + +"Go then, Richard," said Louis, "go to your trusty vassal--happy are +you in possessing such a friend; I hope you know his value." + +"Here then, young Sir," said the Count, in his native tongue, when +Richard had crossed from the King's side, and stood beside him, "what +say you to this proposal?" + +"The King is very kind," said Richard. "I am sure he is kind; but I +do not like to go from Rouen, or from Dame Astrida." + +"Listen, my Lord," said the Dane, stooping down and speaking low. +"The King is resolved to have you away; he has with him the best of +his Franks, and has so taken us at unawares, that though I might yet +rescue you from his hands, it would not be without a fierce struggle, +wherein you might be harmed, and this castle and town certainly +burnt, and wrested from us. A few weeks or months, and we shall have +time to draw our force together, so that Normandy need fear no man, +and for that time you must tarry with him." + +"Must I--and all alone?" + +"No, not alone, not without the most trusty guardian that can be +found for you. Friend Eric, what say you?" and he laid his hand on +the old Baron's shoulder. "Yet, I know not; true thou art, as a +Norwegian mountain, but I doubt me if thy brains are not too dull to +see through the French wiles and disguises, sharp as thou didst show +thyself last night." + +"That was Osmond, not I," said Sir Eric. "He knows their mincing +tongue better than I. He were the best to go with the poor child, if +go he must." + +"Bethink you, Eric," said the Count, in an undertone, "Osmond is the +only hope of your good old house--if there is foul play, the guardian +will be the first to suffer." + +"Since you think fit to peril the only hope of all Normandy, I am not +the man to hold back my son where he may aid him," said old Eric, +sadly. "The poor child will be lonely and uncared-for there, and it +were hard he should not have one faithful comrade and friend with +him." + +"It is well," said Bernard: "young as he is, I had rather trust +Osmond with the child than any one else, for he is ready of counsel, +and quick of hand." + +"Ay, and a pretty pass it is come to," muttered old Centeville, "that +we, whose business it is to guard the boy, should send him where you +scarcely like to trust my son." + +Bernard paid no further attention to him, but, coming forward, +required another oath from the King, that Richard should be as safe +and free at his court as at Rouen, and that on no pretence whatsoever +should he be taken from under the immediate care of his Esquire, +Osmond Fitz Eric, heir of Centeville. + +After this, the King was impatient to depart, and all was +preparation. Bernard called Osmond aside to give full instructions +on his conduct, and the means of communicating with Normandy, and +Richard was taking leave of Fru Astrida, who had now descended from +her turret, bringing her hostage with her. She wept much over her +little Duke, praying that he might safely be restored to Normandy, +even though she might not live to see it; she exhorted him not to +forget the good and holy learning in which he had been brought up, to +rule his temper, and, above all, to say his prayers constantly, never +leaving out one, as the beads of his rosary reminded him of their +order. As to her own grandson, anxiety for him seemed almost lost in +her fears for Richard, and the chief things she said to him, when he +came to take leave of her, were directions as to the care he was to +take of the child, telling him the honour he now received was one +which would make his name forever esteemed if he did but fulfil his +trust, the most precious that Norman had ever yet received. + +"I will, grandmother, to the very best of my power," said Osmond; "I +may die in his cause, but never will I be faithless!" + +"Alberic!" said Richard, "are you glad to be going back to Montemar?" + +"Yes, my Lord," answered Alberic, sturdily, "as glad as you will be +to come back to Rouen." + +"Then I shall send for you directly, Alberic, for I shall never love +the Princes Carloman and Lothaire half as well as you!" + +"My Lord the King is waiting for the Duke," said a Frenchman, coming +forward. + +"Farewell then, Fru Astrida. Do not weep. I shall soon come back. +Farewell, Alberic. Take the bar-tailed falcon back to Montemar, and +keep him for my sake. Farewell, Sir Eric--Farewell, Count Bernard. +When the Normans come to conquer Arnulf you will lead them. O dear, +dear Fru Astrida, farewell again." + +"Farewell, my own darling. The blessing of Heaven go with you, and +bring you safe home! Farewell, Osmond. Heaven guard you and +strengthen you to be his shield and his defence!" + + + +CHAPTER VI + + + +Away from the tall narrow gateway of Rollo's Tower, with the cluster +of friendly, sorrowful faces looking forth from it, away from the +booth-like shops of Rouen, and the stout burghers shouting with all +the power of their lungs, "Long live Duke Richard! Long live King +Louis! Death to the Fleming!"--away from the broad Seine--away from +home and friends, rode the young Duke of Normandy, by the side of the +palfrey of the King of France. + +The King took much notice of him, kept him by his side, talked to +him, admired the beautiful cattle grazing in security in the green +pastures, and, as he looked at the rich dark brown earth of the +fields, the Castles towering above the woods, the Convents looking +like great farms, the many villages round the rude Churches, and the +numerous population who came out to gaze at the party, and repeat the +cry of "Long live the King! Blessings on the little Duke!" he told +Richard, again and again, that his was the most goodly duchy in +France and Germany to boot. + +When they crossed the Epte, the King would have Richard in the same +boat with him, and sitting close to Louis, and talking eagerly about +falcons and hounds, the little Duke passed the boundary of his own +dukedom. + +The country beyond was not like Normandy. First they came to a great +forest, which seemed to have no path through it. The King ordered +that one of the men, who had rowed them across, should be made to +serve as guide, and two of the men-at-arms took him between them, and +forced him to lead the way, while others, with their swords and +battle-axes, cut down and cleared away the tangled branches and +briars that nearly choked the path. All the time, every one was +sharply on the look-out for robbers, and the weapons were all held +ready for use at a moment's notice. On getting beyond the forest a +Castle rose before them, and, though it was not yet late in the day, +they resolved to rest there, as a marsh lay not far before them, +which it would not have been safe to traverse in the evening +twilight. + +The Baron of the Castle received them with great respect to the King, +but without paying much attention to the Duke of Normandy, and +Richard did not find the second place left for him at the board. He +coloured violently, and looked first at the King, and then at Osmond, +but Osmond held up his finger in warning; he remembered how he had +lost his temper before, and what had come of it, and resolved to try +to bear it better; and just then the Baron's daughter, a gentle- +looking maiden of fifteen or sixteen, came and spoke to him, and +entertained him so well, that he did not think much more of his +offended dignity.--When they set off on their journey again, the +Baron and several of his followers came with them to show the only +safe way across the morass, and a very slippery, treacherous, quaking +road it was, where the horses' feet left pools of water wherever they +trod. The King and the Baron rode together, and the other French +Nobles closed round them; Richard was left quite in the background, +and though the French men-at-arms took care not to lose sight of him, +no one offered him any assistance, excepting Osmond, who, giving his +own horse to Sybald, one of the two Norman grooms who accompanied +him, led Richard's horse by the bridle along the whole distance of +the marshy path, a business that could scarcely have been pleasant, +as Osmond wore his heavy hauberk, and his pointed, iron-guarded boots +sunk deep at every step into the bog. He spoke little, but seemed to +be taking good heed of every stump of willow or stepping-stone that +might serve as a note of remembrance of the path. + +At the other end of the morass began a long tract of dreary-looking, +heathy waste, without a sign of life. The Baron took leave of the +King, only sending three men-at-arms, to show him the way to a +monastery, which was to be the next halting-place. He sent three, +because it was not safe for one, even fully armed, to ride alone, for +fear of the attacks of the followers of a certain marauding Baron, +who was at deadly feud with him, and made all that border a most +perilous region. Richard might well observe that he did not like the +Vexin half as well as Normandy, and that the people ought to learn +Fru Astrida's story of the golden bracelets, which, in his +grandfather's time, had hung untouched for a year, in a tree in a +forest. + +It was pretty much the same through the whole journey, waste lands, +marshes, and forests alternated. The Castles stood on high mounds +frowning on the country round, and villages were clustered round +them, where the people either fled away, driving off their cattle +with them at the first sight of an armed band, or else, if they +remained, proved to be thin, wretched-looking creatures, with wasted +limbs, aguish faces, and often iron collars round their necks. +Wherever there was anything of more prosperous appearance, such as a +few cornfields, vineyards on the slopes of the hills, fat cattle, and +peasantry looking healthy and secure, there was sure to be seen a +range of long low stone buildings, surmounted with crosses, with a +short square Church tower rising in the midst, and interspersed with +gnarled hoary old apple-trees, or with gardens of pot-herbs spreading +before them to the meadows. If, instead of two or three men-at-arms +from a Castle, or of some trembling serf pressed into the service, +and beaten, threatened, and watched to prevent treachery, the King +asked for a guide at a Convent, some lay brother would take his +staff; or else mount an ass, and proceed in perfect confidence and +security as to his return homewards, sure that his poverty and his +sacred character would alike protect him from any outrage from the +most lawless marauder of the neighbourhood. + +Thus they travelled until they reached the royal Castle of Laon, +where the Fleur-de-Lys standard on the battlements announced the +presence of Gerberge, Queen of France, and her two sons. The King +rode first into the court with his Nobles, and before Richard could +follow him through the narrow arched gateway, he had dismounted, +entered the Castle, and was out of sight. Osmond held the Duke's +stirrup, and followed him up the steps which led to the Castle Hall. +It was full of people, but no one made way, and Richard, holding his +Squire's hand, looked up in his face, inquiring and bewildered. + +"Sir Seneschal," said Osmond, seeing a broad portly old man, with +grey hair and a golden chain, "this is the Duke of Normandy--I pray +you conduct him to the King's presence." + +Richard had no longer any cause to complain of neglect, for the +Seneschal instantly made him a very low bow, and calling "Place-- +place for the high and mighty Prince, my Lord Duke of Normandy!" +ushered him up to the dais or raised part of the floor, where the +King and Queen stood together talking. The Queen looked round, as +Richard was announced, and he saw her face, which was sallow, and +with a sharp sour expression that did not please him, and he backed +and looked reluctant, while Osmond, with a warning hand pressed on +his shoulder, was trying to remind him that he ought to go forward, +kneel on one knee, and kiss her hand. + +"There he is," said the King. + +"One thing secure!" said the Queen; "but what makes that northern +giant keep close to his heels?" + +Louis answered something in a low voice, and, in the meantime, Osmond +tried in a whisper to induce his young Lord to go forward and perform +his obeisance. + +"I tell you I will not," said Richard. "She looks cross, and I do +not like her." + +Luckily he spoke his own language; but his look and air expressed a +good deal of what he said, and Gerberge looked all the more +unattractive. + +"A thorough little Norwegian bear," said the King; "fierce and unruly +as the rest. Come, and perform your courtesy--do you forget where +you are?" he added, sternly. + +Richard bowed, partly because Osmond forced down his shoulder; but he +thought of old Rollo and Charles the Simple, and his proud heart +resolved that he would never kiss the hand of that sour-looking +Queen. It was a determination made in pride and defiance, and he +suffered for it afterwards; but no more passed now, for the Queen +only saw in his behaviour that of an unmannerly young Northman: and +though she disliked and despised him, she did not care enough about +his courtesy to insist on its being paid. She sat down, and so did +the King, and they went on talking; the King probably telling her his +adventures at Rouen, while Richard stood on the step of the dais, +swelling with sullen pride. + +Nearly a quarter of an hour had passed in this manner when the +servants came to set the table for supper, and Richard, in spite of +his indignant looks, was forced to stand aside. He wondered that all +this time he had not seen the two Princes, thinking how strange he +should have thought it, to let his own dear father be in the house so +long without coming to welcome him. At last, just as the supper had +been served up, a side door opened, and the Seneschal called, "Place +for the high and mighty Princes, my Lord Lothaire and my Lord +Carloman!" and in walked two boys, one about the same age as Richard, +the other rather less than a year younger. They were both thin, +pale, sharp-featured children, and Richard drew himself up to his +full height, with great satisfaction at being so much taller than +Lothaire. + +They came up ceremoniously to their father and kissed his hand, while +he kissed their foreheads, and then said to them, "There is a new +play-fellow for you." + +"Is that the little Northman?" said Carloman, turning to stare at +Richard with a look of curiosity, while Richard in his turn felt +considerably affronted that a boy so much less than himself should +call him little. + +"Yes," said the Queen; "your father has brought him home with him." + +Carloman stepped forward, shyly holding out his hand to the stranger, +but his brother pushed him rudely aside. "I am the eldest; it is my +business to be first. So, young Northman, you are come here for us +to play with." + +Richard was too much amazed at being spoken to in this imperious way +to make any answer. He was completely taken by surprise, and only +opened his great blue eyes to their utmost extent. + +"Ha! why don't you answer? Don't you hear? Can you speak only your +own heathen tongue?" continued Lothaire. + +"The Norman is no heathen tongue!" said Richard, at once breaking +silence in a loud voice. "We are as good Christians as you are--ay, +and better too." + +"Hush! hush! my Lord!" said Osmond. + +"What now, Sir Duke," again interfered the King, in an angry tone, +"are you brawling already? Time, indeed, I should take you from your +own savage court. Sir Squire, look to it, that you keep your charge +in better rule, or I shall send him instantly to bed, supperless." + +"My Lord, my Lord," whispered Osmond, "see you not that you are +bringing discredit on all of us?" + +"I would be courteous enough, if they would be courteous to me," +returned Richard, gazing with eyes full of defiance at Lothaire, who, +returning an angry look, had nevertheless shrunk back to his mother. +She meanwhile was saying, "So strong, so rough, the young savage is, +he will surely harm our poor boys!" + +"Never fear," said Louis; "he shall be watched. And," he added in a +lower tone, "for the present, at least, we must keep up appearances. +Hubert of Senlis, and Hugh of Paris, have their eyes on us, and were +the boy to be missed, the grim old Harcourt would have all the +pirates of his land on us in the twinkling of an eye. We have him, +and there we must rest content for the present. Now to supper." + +At supper, Richard sat next little Carloman, who peeped at him every +now and then from under his eyelashes, as if he was afraid of him; +and presently, when there was a good deal of talking going on, so +that his voice could not be heard, half whispered, in a very grave +tone, "Do you like salt beef or fresh?" + +"I like fresh," answered Richard, with equal gravity, "only we eat +salt all the winter." + +There was another silence, and then Carloman, with the same +solemnity, asked, "How old are you?" + +"I shall be nine on the eve of St. Boniface. How old are you?" + +"Eight. I was eight at Martinmas, and Lothaire was nine three days +since." + +Another silence; then, as Osmond waited on Richard, Carloman returned +to the charge, "Is that your Squire?" + +"Yes, that is Osmond de Centeville." + +"How tall he is!" + +"We Normans are taller than you French." + +"Don't say so to Lothaire, or you will make him angry." + +"Why? it is true." + +"Yes; but--" and Carloman sunk his voice--"there are some things +which Lothaire will not hear said. Do not make him cross, or he will +make my mother displeased with you. She caused Thierry de Lincourt +to be scourged, because his ball hit Lothaire's face." + +"She cannot scourge me--I am a free Duke," said Richard. "But why? +Did he do it on purpose?" + +"Oh, no!" + +"And was Lothaire hurt?" + +"Hush! you must say Prince Lothaire. No; it was quite a soft ball." + +"Why?" again asked Richard--"why was he scourged?" + +"I told you, because he hit Lothaire." + +"Well, but did he not laugh, and say it was nothing? Alberic quite +knocked me down with a great snowball the other day, and Sir Eric +laughed, and said I must stand firmer." + +"Do you make snowballs?" + +"To be sure I do! Do not you?" + +"Oh, no! the snow is so cold." + +"Ah! you are but a little boy," said Richard, in a superior manner. +Carloman asked how it was done; and Richard gave an animated +description of the snowballing, a fortnight ago, at Rouen, when +Osmond and some of the other young men built a snow fortress, and +defended it against Richard, Alberic, and the other Squires. +Carloman listened with delight, and declared that next time it +snowed, they would have a snow castle; and thus, by the time supper +was over, the two little boys were very good friends. + +Bedtime came not long after supper. Richard's was a smaller room +than he had been used to at Rouen; but it amazed him exceedingly when +he first went into it: he stood gazing in wonder, because, as he +said, "It was as if he had been in a church." + +"Yes, truly!" said Osmond. "No wonder these poor creatures of French +cannot stand before a Norman lance, if they cannot sleep without +glass to their windows. Well! what would my father say to this?" + +"And see! see, Osmond! they have put hangings up all round the walls, +just like our Lady's church on a great feast-day. They treat us just +as if we were the holy saints; and here are fresh rushes strewn about +the floor, too. This must be a mistake--it must be an oratory, +instead of my chamber." + +"No, no, my Lord; here is our gear, which I bade Sybald and Henry see +bestowed in our chamber. Well, these Franks are come to a pass, +indeed! My grandmother will never believe what we shall have to tell +her. Glass windows and hangings to sleeping chambers! I do not like +it I am sure we shall never be able to sleep, closed up from the free +air of heaven in this way: I shall be always waking, and fancying I +am in the chapel at home, hearing Father Lucas chanting his matins. +Besides, my father would blame me for letting you be made as tender +as a Frank. I'll have out this precious window, if I can." + +Luxurious as the young Norman thought the King, the glazing of Laon +was not permanent. It consisted of casements, which could be put up +or removed at pleasure; for, as the court possessed only one set of +glass windows, they were taken down, and carried from place to place, +as often as Louis removed from Rheims to Soissons, Laon, or any other +of his royal castles; so that Osmond did not find much difficulty in +displacing them, and letting in the sharp, cold, wintry breeze. The +next thing he did was to give his young Lord a lecture on his want of +courtesy, telling him that "no wonder the Franks thought he had no +more culture than a Viking (or pirate), fresh caught from Norway. A +fine notion he was giving them of the training he had at Centeville, +if he could not even show common civility to the Queen--a lady! Was +that the way Alberic had behaved when he came to Rouen?" + +"Fru Astrida did not make sour faces at him, nor call him a young +savage," replied Richard. + +"No, and he gave her no reason to do so; he knew that the first +teaching of a young Knight is to be courteous to ladies--never mind +whether fair and young, or old and foul of favour. Till you learn +and note that, Lord Richard, you will never be worthy of your golden +spurs." + +"And the King told me she would treat me as a mother," exclaimed +Richard. "Do you think the King speaks the truth, Osmond?" + +"That we shall see by his deeds," said Osmond. + +"He was very kind while we were in Normandy. I loved him so much +better than the Count de Harcourt; but now I think that the Count is +best! I'll tell you, Osmond, I will never call him grim old Bernard +again." + +"You had best not, sir, for you will never have a more true-hearted +vassal." + +"Well, I wish we were back in Normandy, with Fru Astrida and Alberic. +I cannot bear that Lothaire. He is proud, and unknightly, and cruel. +I am sure he is, and I will never love him." + +"Hush, my Lord!--beware of speaking so loud. You are not in your own +Castle." + +"And Carloman is a chicken-heart," continued Richard, unheeding. "He +does not like to touch snow, and he cannot even slide on the ice, and +he is afraid to go near that great dog--that beautiful wolf-hound." + +"He is very little," said Osmond. + +"I am sure I was not as cowardly at his age, now was I, Osmond? +Don't you remember?" + +"Come, Lord Richard, I cannot let you wait to remember everything; +tell your beads and pray that we may be brought safe back to Rouen; +and that you may not forget all the good that Father Lucas and holy +Abbot Martin have laboured to teach you." + +So Richard told the beads of his rosary--black polished wood, with +amber at certain spaces--he repeated a prayer with every bead, and +Osmond did the same; then the little Duke put himself into a narrow +crib of richly carved walnut; while Osmond, having stuck his dagger +so as to form an additional bolt to secure the door, and examined the +hangings that no secret entrance might be concealed behind them, +gathered a heap of rushes together, and lay down on them, wrapped in +his mantle, across the doorway. The Duke was soon asleep; but the +Squire lay long awake, musing on the possible dangers that surrounded +his charge, and on the best way of guarding against them. + + + +CHAPTER VII + + + +Osmond de Centeville was soon convinced that no immediate peril +threatened his young Duke at the Court of Laon. Louis seemed to +intend to fulfil his oaths to the Normans by allowing the child to be +the companion of his own sons, and to be treated in every respect as +became his rank. Richard had his proper place at table, and all due +attendance; he learnt, rode, and played with the Princes, and there +was nothing to complain of, excepting the coldness and inattention +with which the King and Queen treated him, by no means fulfilling the +promise of being as parents to their orphan ward. Gerberge, who had +from the first dreaded his superior strength and his roughness with +her puny boys, and who had been by no means won by his manners at +their first meeting, was especially distant and severe with him, +hardly ever speaking to him except with some rebuke, which, it must +be confessed, Richard often deserved. + +As to the boys, his constant companions, Richard was on very friendly +terms with Carlo-man, a gentle, timid, weakly child. Richard looked +down upon him; but he was kind, as a generous-tempered boy could not +fail to be, to one younger and weaker than himself. He was so much +kinder than Lothaire, that Carloman was fast growing very fond of +him, and looked up to his strength and courage as something noble and +marvellous. + +It was very different with Lothaire, the person from whom, above all +others, Richard would have most expected to meet with affection, as +his father's god-son, a relationship which in those times was thought +almost as near as kindred by blood. Lothaire had been brought up by +an indulgent mother, and by courtiers who never ceased flattering +him, as the heir to the crown, and he had learnt to think that to +give way to his naturally imperious and violent disposition was the +way to prove his power and assert his rank. He had always had his +own way, and nothing had ever been done to check his faults; somewhat +weakly health had made him fretful and timid; and a latent +consciousness of this fearfulness made him all the more cruel, +sometimes because he was frightened, sometimes because he fancied it +manly. + +He treated his little brother in a way which in these times boys +would call bullying; and, as no one ever dared to oppose the King's +eldest son, it was pretty much the same with every one else, except +now and then some dumb creature, and then all Lothaire's cruelty was +shown. When his horse kicked, and ended by throwing him, he stood +by, and caused it to be beaten till the poor creature's back streamed +with blood; when his dog bit his hand in trying to seize the meat +with which he was teazing it, he insisted on having it killed, and it +was worse still when a falcon pecked one of his fingers. It really +hurt him a good deal, and, in a furious rage, he caused two nails to +be heated red hot in the fire, intending to have them thrust into the +poor bird's eyes. + +"I will not have it done!" exclaimed Richard, expecting to be obeyed +as he was at home; but Lothaire only laughed scornfully, saying, "Do +you think you are master here, Sir pirate?" + +"I will not have it done!" repeated Richard. "Shame on you, shame on +you, for thinking of such an unkingly deed." + +"Shame on me! Do you know to whom you speak, master savage?" cried +Lothaire, red with passion. + +"I know who is the savage now!" said Richard. "Hold!" to the servant +who was bringing the red-hot irons in a pair of tongs. + +"Hold?" exclaimed Lothaire. "No one commands here but I and my +father. Go on Charlot--where is the bird? Keep her fast, Giles." + +"Osmond. You I can command--" + +"Come away, my Lord," said Osmond, interrupting Richard's order, +before it was issued. "We have no right to interfere here, and cannot +hinder it. Come away from such a foul sight." + +"Shame on you too, Osmond, to let such a deed be done without +hindering it!" exclaimed Richard, breaking from him, and rushing on +the man who carried the hot irons. The French servants were not very +willing to exert their strength against the Duke of Normandy, and +Richard's onset, taking the man by surprise, made him drop the tongs. +Lothaire, both afraid and enraged, caught them up as a weapon of +defence, and, hardly knowing what he did, struck full at Richard's +face with the hot iron. Happily it missed his eye, and the heat had +a little abated; but, as it touched his cheek, it burnt him +sufficiently to cause considerable pain. With a cry of passion, he +flew at Lothaire, shook him with all his might, and ended by throwing +him at his length on the pavement. But this was the last of +Richard's exploits, for he was at the same moment captured by his +Squire, and borne off, struggling and kicking as if Osmond had been +his greatest foe; but the young Norman's arms were like iron round +him; and he gave over his resistance sooner, because at that moment a +whirring flapping sound was heard, and the poor hawk rose high, +higher, over their heads in ever lessening circles, far away from her +enemies. The servant who held her, had relaxed his grasp in the +consternation caused by Lothaire's fall, and she was mounting up and +up, spying, it might be, her way to her native rocks in Iceland, with +the yellow eyes which Richard had saved. + +"Safe! safe!" cried Richard, joyfully, ceasing his struggles. "Oh, +how glad I am! That young villain should never have hurt her. Put +me down, Osmond, what are you doing with me?" + +"Saving you from your--no, I cannot call it folly,--I would hardly +have had you stand still to see such--but let me see your face." + +"It is nothing. I don't care now the hawk is safe," said Richard, +though he could hardly keep his lips in order, and was obliged to +wink very hard with his eyes to keep the tears out, now that he had +leisure to feel the smarting; but it would have been far beneath a +Northman to complain, and he stood bearing it gallantly, and pinching +his fingers tightly together, while Osmond knelt down to examine the +hurt. "'Tis not much," said he, talking to himself, "half bruise, +half burn--I wish my grandmother was here--however, it can't last +long! 'Tis right, you bear it like a little Berserkar, and it is no +bad thing that you should have a scar to show, that they may not be +able to say you did ALL the damage." + +"Will it always leave a mark?" said Richard. "I am afraid they will +call me Richard of the scarred cheek, when we get back to Normandy." + +"Never mind, if they do--it will not be a mark to be ashamed of, even +if it does last, which I do not believe it will." + +"Oh, no, I am so glad the gallant falcon is out of his reach!" +replied Richard, in a somewhat quivering voice. + +"Does it smart much? Well, come and bathe it with cold water--or +shall I take you to one of the Queen's women?" + +"No--the water," said Richard, and to the fountain in the court they +went; but Osmond had only just begun to splash the cheek with the +half-frozen water, with a sort of rough kindness, afraid at once of +teaching the Duke to be effeminate, and of not being as tender to him +as Dame Astrida would have wished, when a messenger came in haste +from the King, commanding the presence of the Duke of Normandy and +his Squire. + +Lothaire was standing between his father and mother on their throne- +like seat, leaning against the Queen, who had her arm round him; his +face was red and glazed with tears, and he still shook with subsiding +sobs. It was evident he was just recovering from a passionate crying +fit. + +"How is this?" began the King, as Richard entered. "What means this +conduct, my Lord of Normandy? Know you what you have done in +striking the heir of France? I might imprison you this instant in a +dungeon where you would never see the light of day." + +"Then Bernard de Harcourt would come and set me free," fearlessly +answered Richard. + +"Do you bandy words with me, child? Ask Prince Lothaire's pardon +instantly, or you shall rue it." + +"I have done nothing to ask his pardon for. It would have been cruel +and cowardly in me to let him put out the poor hawk's eyes," said +Richard, with a Northman's stern contempt for pain, disdaining to +mention his own burnt cheek, which indeed the King might have seen +plainly enough. + +"Hawk's eyes!" repeated the King. "Speak the truth, Sir Duke; do not +add slander to your other faults." + +"I have spoken the truth--I always speak it!" cried Richard. +"Whoever says otherwise lies in his throat." + +Osmond here hastily interfered, and desired permission to tell the +whole story. The hawk was a valuable bird, and Louis's face darkened +when he heard what Lothaire had purposed, for the Prince had, in +telling his own story, made it appear that Richard had been the +aggressor by insisting on letting the falcon fly. Osmond finished by +pointing to the mark on Richard's cheek, so evidently a burn, as to +be proof that hot iron had played a part in the matter. The King +looked at one of his own Squires and asked his account, and he with +some hesitation could not but reply that it was as the young Sieur de +Centeville had said. Thereupon Louis angrily reproved his own people +for having assisted the Prince in trying to injure the hawk, called +for the chief falconer, rated him for not better attending to his +birds, and went forth with him to see if the hawk could yet be +recaptured, leaving the two boys neither punished nor pardoned. + +"So you have escaped for this once," said Gerberge, coldly, to +Richard; "you had better beware another time. Come with me, my poor +darling Lothaire." She led her son away to her own apartments, and +the French Squires began to grumble to each other complaints of the +impossibility of pleasing their Lords, since, if they contradicted +Prince Lothaire, he was so spiteful that he was sure to set the Queen +against them, and that was far worse in the end than the King's +displeasure. Osmond, in the meantime, took Richard to re-commence +bathing his face, and presently Carloman ran out to pity him, wonder +at him for not crying, and say he was glad the poor hawk had escaped. + +The cheek continued inflamed and painful for some time, and there was +a deep scar long after the pain had ceased, but Richard thought +little of it after the first, and would have scorned to bear ill-will +to Lothaire for the injury. + +Lothaire left off taunting Richard with his Norman accent, and +calling him a young Sea-king. He had felt his strength, and was +afraid of him; but he did not like him the better--he never played +with him willingly--scowled, and looked dark and jealous, if his +father, or if any of the great nobles took the least notice of the +little Duke, and whenever he was out of hearing, talked against him +with all his natural spitefulness. + +Richard liked Lothaire quite as little, contemning almost equally his +cowardly ways and his imperious disposition. Since he had been Duke, +Richard had been somewhat inclined to grow imperious himself, though +always kept under restraint by Fru Astrida's good training, and Count +Bernard's authority, and his whole generous nature would have +revolted against treating Alberic, or indeed his meanest vassal, as +Lothaire used the unfortunate children who were his playfellows. +Perhaps this made him look on with great horror at the tyranny which +Lothaire exercised; at any rate he learnt to abhor it more, and to +make many resolutions against ordering people about uncivilly when +once he should be in Normandy again. He often interfered to protect +the poor boys, and generally with success, for the Prince was afraid +of provoking such another shake as Richard had once given him, and +though he generally repaid himself on his victim in the end, he +yielded for the time. + +Carloman, whom Richard often saved from his brother's unkindness, +clung closer and closer to him, went with him everywhere, tried to do +all he did, grew very fond of Osmond, and liked nothing better than +to sit by Richard in some wide window-seat, in the evening, after +supper, and listen to Richard's version of some of Fru Astrida's +favourite tales, or hear the never-ending history of sports at +Centeville, or at Rollo's Tower, or settle what great things they +would both do when they were grown up, and Richard was ruling +Normandy--perhaps go to the Holy Land together, and slaughter an +unheard-of host of giants and dragons on the way. In the meantime, +however, poor Carloman gave small promise of being able to perform +great exploits, for he was very small for his age and often ailing; +soon tired, and never able to bear much rough play. Richard, who had +never had any reason to learn to forbear, did not at first understand +this, and made Carloman cry several times with his roughness and +violence, but this always vexed him so much that he grew careful to +avoid such things for the future, and gradually learnt to treat his +poor little weakly friend with a gentleness and patience at which +Osmond used to marvel, and which he would hardly have been taught in +his prosperity at home. + +Between Carloman and Osmond he was thus tolerably happy at Laon, but +he missed his own dear friends, and the loving greetings of his +vassals, and longed earnestly to be at Rouen, asking Osmond almost +every night when they should go back, to which Osmond could only +answer that he must pray that Heaven would be pleased to bring them +home safely. + +Osmond, in the meantime, kept a vigilant watch for anything that +might seem to threaten danger to his Lord; but at present there was +no token of any evil being intended; the only point in which Louis +did not seem to be fulfilling his promises to the Normans was, that +no preparations were made for attacking the Count of Flanders. + +At Easter the court was visited by Hugh the White, the great Count of +Paris, the most powerful man in France, and who was only prevented by +his own loyalty and forbearance, from taking the crown from the +feeble and degenerate race of Charlemagne. He had been a firm friend +of William Longsword, and Osmond remarked how, on his arrival, the +King took care to bring Richard forward, talk of him affectionately, +and caress him almost as much as he had done at Rouen. The Count +himself was really kind and affectionate to the little Duke; he kept +him by his side, and seemed to like to stroke down his long flaxen +hair, looking in his face with a grave mournful expression, as if +seeking for a likeness to his father. He soon asked about the scar +which the burn had left, and the King was obliged to answer hastily, +it was an accident, a disaster that had chanced in a boyish quarrel. +Louis, in fact, was uneasy, and appeared to be watching the Count of +Paris the whole time of his visit, so as to prevent him from having +any conversation in private with the other great vassals assembled at +the court. Hugh did not seem to perceive this, and acted as if he +was entirely at his ease, but at the same time he watched his +opportunity. One evening, after supper, he came up to the window +where Richard and Carloman were, as usual, deep in story telling; he +sat down on the stone seat, and taking Richard on his knee, he asked +if he had any greetings for the Count de Harcourt. + +How Richard's face lighted up! "Oh, Sir," he cried, "are you going +to Normandy?" + +"Not yet, my boy, but it may be that I may have to meet old Harcourt +at the Elm of Gisors." + +"Oh, if I was but going with you." + +"I wish I could take you, but it would scarcely do for me to steal +the heir of Normandy. What shall I tell him?" + +"Tell him," whispered Richard, edging himself close to the Count, and +trying to reach his ear, "tell him that I am sorry, now, that I was +sullen when he reproved me. I know he was right. And, sir, if he +brings with him a certain huntsman with a long hooked nose, whose +name is Walter, {12} tell him I am sorry I used to order him about so +unkindly. And tell him to bear my greetings to Fru Astrida and Sir +Eric, and to Alberic." + +"Shall I tell him how you have marked your face?" + +"No," said Richard, "he would think me a baby to care about such a +thing as that!" + +The Count asked how it happened, and Richard told the story, for he +felt as if he could tell the kind Count anything--it was almost like +that last evening that he had sat on his father's knee. Hugh ended +by putting his arm round him, and saying, "Well, my little Duke, I am +as glad as you are the gallant bird is safe--it will be a tale for my +own little Hugh and Eumacette {13} at home--and you must one day be +friends with them as your father has been with me. And now, do you +think your Squire could come to my chamber late this evening when the +household is at rest?" + +Richard undertook that Osmond should do so, and the Count, setting +him down again, returned to the dais. Osmond, before going to the +Count that evening, ordered Sybald to come and guard the Duke's door. +It was a long conference, for Hugh had come to Laon chiefly for the +purpose of seeing how it went with his friend's son, and was anxious +to know what Osmond thought of the matter. They agreed that at +present there did not seem to be any evil intended, and that it +rather appeared as if Louis wished only to keep him as a hostage for +the tranquillity of the borders of Normandy; but Hugh advised that +Osmond should maintain a careful watch, and send intelligence to him +on the first token of mischief. + +The next morning the Count of Paris quitted Laon, and everything went +on in the usual course till the feast of Whitsuntide, when there was +always a great display of splendour at the French court. The crown +vassals generally came to pay their duty and go with the King to +Church; and there was a state banquet, at which the King and Queen +wore their crowns, and every one sat in great magnificence according +to their rank. + +The grand procession to Church was over. Richard had walked with +Carloman, the Prince richly dressed in blue, embroidered with golden +fleur-de-lys, and Richard in scarlet, with a gold Cross on his +breast; the beautiful service was over, they had returned to the +Castle, and there the Seneschal was marshalling the goodly and noble +company to the banquet, when horses' feet were heard at the gate +announcing some fresh arrival. The Seneschal went to receive the +guests, and presently was heard ushering in the noble Prince, Arnulf, +Count of Flanders. + +Richard's face became pale--he turned from Carloman by whose side he +had been standing, and walked straight out of the hall and up the +stairs, closely followed by Osmond. In a few minutes there was a +knock at the door of his chamber, and a French Knight stood there +saying, "Comes not the Duke to the banquet?" + +"No," answered Osmond: "he eats not with the slayer of his father." + +"The King will take it amiss; for the sake of the child you had +better beware," said the Frenchman, hesitating. + +"He had better beware himself," exclaimed Osmond, indignantly, "how +he brings the treacherous murderer of William Longsword into the +presence of a free-born Norman, unless he would see him slain where +he stands. Were it not for the boy, I would challenge the traitor +this instant to single combat." + +"Well, I can scarce blame you," said the Knight, "but you had best +have a care how you tread. Farewell." + +Richard had hardly time to express his indignation, and his wishes +that he was a man, before another message came through a groom of +Lothaire's train, that the Duke must fast, if he would not consent to +feast with the rest. + +"Tell Prince Lothaire," replied Richard, "that I am not such a +glutton as he--I had rather fast than be choked with eating with +Arnulf." + +All the rest of the day, Richard remained in his own chamber, +resolved not to run the risk of meeting with Arnulf. The Squire +remained with him, in this voluntary imprisonment, and they occupied +themselves, as best they could, with furbishing Osmond's armour, and +helping each other out in repeating some of the Sagas. They once +heard a great uproar in the court, and both were very anxious to +learn its cause, but they did not know it till late in the afternoon. + +Carloman crept up to them--"Here I am at last!" he exclaimed. "Here, +Richard, I have brought you some bread, as you had no dinner: it was +all I could bring. I saved it under the table lest Lothaire should +see it." + +Richard thanked Carloman with all his heart, and being very hungry +was glad to share the bread with Osmond. He asked how long the +wicked Count was going to stay, and rejoiced to hear he was going +away the next morning, and the King was going with him. + +"What was that great noise in the court?" asked Richard. + +"I scarcely like to tell you," returned Carloman. + +Richard, however, begged to hear, and Carloman was obliged to tell +that the two Norman grooms, Sybald and Henry, had quarrelled with the +Flemings of Arnulf's train; there had been a fray, which had ended in +the death of three Flemings, a Frank, and of Sybald himself--And +where was Henry? Alas! there was more ill news--the King had +sentenced Henry to die, and he had been hanged immediately. + +Dark with anger and sorrow grew young Richard's face; he had been +fond of his two Norman attendants, he trusted to their attachment, +and he would have wept for their loss even if it had happened in any +other way; but now, when it had been caused by their enmity to his +father's foes, the Flemings,--when one had fallen overwhelmed by +numbers, and the other been condemned hastily, cruelly, unjustly, it +was too much, and he almost choked with grief and indignation. Why +had he not been there, to claim Henry as his own vassal, and if he +could not save him, at least bid him farewell? Then he would have +broken out in angry threats, but he felt his own helplessness, and +was ashamed, and he could only shed tears of passionate grief, +refusing all Carloman's attempts to comfort him. Osmond was even +more concerned; he valued the two Normans extremely for their courage +and faithfulness, and had relied on sending intelligence by their +means to Rouen, in case of need. It appeared to him as if the first +opportunity had been seized of removing these protectors from the +little Duke, and as if the designs, whatever they might be, which had +been formed against him, were about to take effect. He had little +doubt that his own turn would be the next; but he was resolved to +endure anything, rather than give the smallest opportunity of +removing him, to bear even insults with patience, and to remember +that in his care rested the sole hope of safety for his charge. + +That danger was fast gathering around them became more evident every +day, especially after the King and Arnulf had gone away together. It +was very hot weather, and Richard began to weary after the broad cool +river at Rouen, where he used to bathe last summer; and one evening +he persuaded his Squire to go down with him to the Oise, which flowed +along some meadow ground about a quarter of a mile from the Castle; +but they had hardly set forth before three or four attendants came +running after them, with express orders from the Queen that they +should return immediately. They obeyed, and found her standing in +the Castle hall, looking greatly incensed. + +"What means this?" she asked, angrily. "Knew you not that the King +has left commands that the Duke quits not the Castle in his absence?" + +"I was only going as far as the river--" began Richard, but Gerberge +cut him short. "Silence, child--I will hear no excuses. Perhaps you +think, Sieur de Centeville, that you may take liberties in the King's +absence, but I tell you that if you are found without the walls +again, it shall be at your peril; ay, and his! I'll have those +haughty eyes put out, if you disobey!" + +She turned away, and Lothaire looked at them with his air of +gratified malice. "You will not lord it over your betters much +longer, young pirate!" said he, as he followed his mother, afraid to +stay to meet the anger he might have excited by the taunt he could +not deny himself the pleasure of making; but Richard, who, six months +ago could not brook a slight disappointment or opposition, had, in +his present life of restraint, danger, and vexation, learnt to curb +the first outbreak of temper, and to bear patiently instead of +breaking out into passion and threats, and now his only thought was +of his beloved Squire. + +"Oh, Osmond! Osmond!" he exclaimed, "they shall not hurt you. I +will never go out again. I will never speak another hasty word. I +will never affront the Prince, if they will but leave you with me!" + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + + +It was a fine summer evening, and Richard and Carloman were playing +at ball on the steps of the Castle-gate, when a voice was heard from +beneath, begging for alms from the noble Princes in the name of the +blessed Virgin, and the two boys saw a pilgrim standing at the gate, +wrapt in a long robe of serge, with a staff in his hand, surmounted +by a Cross, a scrip at his girdle, and a broad shady hat, which he +had taken off, as he stood, making low obeisances, and asking +charity. + +"Come in, holy pilgrim," said Carloman. "It is late, and you shall +sup and rest here to-night." + +"Blessings from Heaven light on you, noble Prince," replied the +pilgrim, and at that moment Richard shouted joyfully, "A Norman, a +Norman! 'tis my own dear speech! Oh, are you not from Normandy? +Osmond, Osmond! he comes from home!" + +"My Lord! my own Lord!" exclaimed the pilgrim, and, kneeling on one +knee at the foot of the steps, he kissed the hand which his young +Duke held out to him--"This is joy unlooked for!" + +"Walter!--Walter, the huntsman!" cried Richard. "Is it you? Oh, how +is Fru Astrida, and all at home?" + +"Well, my Lord, and wearying to know how it is with you--" began +Walter--but a very different tone exclaimed from behind the pilgrim, +"What is all this? Who is stopping my way? What! Richard would be +King, and more, would he? More insolence!" It was Lothaire, +returning with his attendants from the chase, in by no means an +amiable mood, for he had been disappointed of his game. + +"He is a Norman--a vassal of Richard's own," said Carloman. + +"A Norman, is he? I thought we had got rid of the robbers! We want +no robbers here! Scourge him soundly, Perron, and teach him how to +stop my way!" + +"He is a pilgrim, my Lord," suggested one of the followers. + +"I care not; I'll have no Normans here, coming spying in disguise. +Scourge him, I say, dog that he is! Away with him! A spy, a spy!" + +"No Norman is scourged in my sight!" said Richard, darting forwards, +and throwing himself between Walter and the woodsman, who was +preparing to obey Lothaire, just in time to receive on his own bare +neck the sharp, cutting leathern thong, which raised a long red +streak along its course. Lothaire laughed. + +"My Lord Duke! What have you done? Oh, leave me--this befits you +not!" cried Walter, extremely distressed; but Richard had caught hold +of the whip, and called out, "Away, away! run! haste, haste!" and the +words were repeated at once by Osmond, Carloman, and many of the +French, who, though afraid to disobey the Prince, were unwilling to +violate the sanctity of a pilgrim's person; and the Norman, seeing +there was no help for it, obeyed: the French made way for him and he +effected his escape; while Lothaire, after a great deal of storming +and raging, went up to his mother to triumph in the cleverness with +which he had detected a Norman spy in disguise. + +Lothaire was not far wrong; Walter had really come to satisfy himself +as to the safety of the little Duke, and try to gain an interview +with Osmond. In the latter purpose he failed, though he lingered in +the neighbourhood of Laon for several days; for Osmond never left the +Duke for an instant, and he was, as has been shown, a close prisoner, +in all but the name, within the walls of the Castle. The pilgrim +had, however, the opportunity of picking up tidings which made him +perceive the true state of things: he learnt the deaths of Sybald +and Henry, the alliance between the King and Arnulf, and the +restraint and harshness with which the Duke was treated; and with +this intelligence he went in haste to Normandy. + +Soon after his arrival, a three days' fast was observed throughout +the dukedom, and in every church, from the Cathedral of Bayeux to the +smallest and rudest village shrine, crowds of worshippers were +kneeling, imploring, many of them with tears, that God would look on +them in His mercy, restore to them their Prince, and deliver the +child out of the hands of his enemies. How earnest and sorrowful +were the prayers offered at Centeville may well be imagined; and at +Montemar sur Epte the anxiety was scarcely less. Indeed, from the +time the evil tidings arrived, Alberic grew so restless and unhappy, +and so anxious to do something, that at last his mother set out with +him on a pilgrimage to the Abbey of Jumieges, to pray for the rescue +of his dear little Duke. + +In the meantime, Louis had sent notice to Laon that he should return +home in a week's time; and Richard rejoiced at the prospect, for the +King had always been less unkind to him than the Queen, and he hoped +to be released from his captivity within the Castle. Just at this +time he became very unwell; it might have been only the effect of the +life of unwonted confinement which he had lately led that was +beginning to tell on his health; but, after being heavy and +uncomfortable for a day or two, without knowing what was the matter +with him, he was one night attacked with high fever. + +Osmond was dreadfully alarmed, knowing nothing at all of the +treatment of illness, and, what was worse, fully persuaded that the +poor child had been poisoned, and therefore resolved not to call any +assistance; he hung over him all night, expecting each moment to see +him expire--ready to tear his hair with despair and fury, and yet +obliged to restrain himself to the utmost quietness and gentleness, +to soothe the suffering of the sick child. + +Through that night, Richard either tossed about on his narrow bed, +or, when his restlessness desired the change, sat, leaning his aching +head on Osmond's breast, too oppressed and miserable to speak or +think. When the day dawned on them, and he was still too ill to +leave the room, messengers were sent for him, and Osmond could no +longer conceal the fact of his sickness, but parleyed at the door, +keeping out every one he could, and refusing all offers of +attendance. He would not even admit Carloman, though Richard, +hearing his voice, begged to see him; and when a proposal was sent +from the Queen, that a skilful old nurse should visit and prescribe +for the patient, he refused with all his might, and when he had shut +the door, walked up and down, muttering, "Ay, ay, the witch! coming +to finish what she has begun!" + +All that day and the next, Richard continued very ill, and Osmond +waited on him very assiduously, never closing his eyes for a moment, +but constantly telling his beads whenever the boy did not require his +attendance. At last Richard fell asleep, slept long and soundly for +some hours, and waked much better. Osmond was in a transport of joy: +"Thanks to Heaven, they shall fail for this time and they shall never +have another chance! May Heaven be with us still!" Richard was too +weak and weary to ask what he meant, and for the next few days Osmond +watched him with the utmost care. As for food, now that Richard +could eat again, Osmond would not hear of his touching what was sent +for him from the royal table, but always went down himself to procure +food in the kitchen, where he said he had a friend among the cooks, +who would, he thought, scarcely poison him intentionally. When +Richard was able to cross the room, he insisted on his always +fastening the door with his dagger, and never opening to any summons +but his own, not even Prince Carloman's. Richard wondered, but he +was obliged to obey; and he knew enough of the perils around him to +perceive the reasonableness of Osmond's caution. + +Thus several days had passed, the King had returned, and Richard was +so much recovered, that he had become very anxious to be allowed to +go down stairs again, instead of remaining shut up there; but still +Osmond would not consent, though Richard had done nothing all day but +walk round the room, to show how strong he was. + +"Now, my Lord, guard the door--take care," said Osmond; "you have no +loss to-day, for the King has brought home Herluin of Montreuil, whom +you would be almost as loth to meet as the Fleming. And tell your +beads while I am gone, that the Saints may bring us out of our +peril." + +Osmond was absent nearly half an hour, and, when he returned, brought +on his shoulders a huge bundle of straw. "What is this for?" +exclaimed Richard. "I wanted my supper, and you have brought straw!" + +"Here is your supper," said Osmond, throwing down the straw, and +producing a bag with some bread and meat. "What should you say, my +Lord, if we should sup in Normandy to-morrow night?" + +"In Normandy!" cried Richard, springing up and clapping his hands. +"In Normandy! Oh, Osmond, did you say in Normandy? Shall we, shall +we really? Oh, joy! joy! Is Count Bernard come? Will the King let +us go?" + +"Hush! hush, sir! It must be our own doing; it will all fail if you +are not silent and prudent, and we shall be undone." + +"I will do anything to get home again!" + +"Eat first," said Osmond. + +"But what are you going to do? I will not be as foolish as I was +when you tried to get me safe out of Rollo's tower. But I should +like to wish Carloman farewell." + +"That must not be," said Osmond; "we should not have time to escape, +if they did not still believe you very ill in bed." + +"I am sorry not to wish Carloman good-bye," repeated Richard; "but we +shall see Fru Astrida again, and Sir Eric; and Alberic must come +back! Oh, do let us go! O Normandy, dear Normandy!" + +Richard could hardly eat for excitement, while Osmond hastily made +his arrangements, girding on his sword, and giving Richard his dagger +to put into his belt. He placed the remainder of the provisions in +his wallet, threw a thick purple cloth mantle over the Duke, and then +desired him to lie down on the straw which he had brought in. "I +shall hide you in it," he said, "and carry you through the hall, as +if I was going to feed my horse." + +"Oh, they will never guess!" cried Richard, laughing. "I will be +quite still--I will make no noise--I will hold my breath." + +"Yes, mind you do not move hand or foot, or rustle the straw. It is +no play--it is life or death," said Osmond, as he disposed the straw +round the little boy. "There, can you breathe?" + +"Yes," said Richard's voice from the midst. "Am I quite hidden?" + +"Entirely. Now, remember, whatever happens, do not move. May Heaven +protect us! Now, the Saints be with us!" + +Richard, from the interior of the bundle heard Osmond set open the +door; then he felt himself raised from the ground; Osmond was +carrying him along down the stairs, the ends of the straw crushing +and sweeping against the wall. The only way to the outer door was +through the hall, and here was the danger. Richard heard voices, +steps, loud singing and laughter, as if feasting was going on; then +some one said, "Tending your horse, Sieur de Centeville?" + +"Yes," Osmond made answer. "You know, since we lost our grooms, the +poor black would come off badly, did I not attend to him." + +Presently came Carloman's voice: "O Osmond de Centeville! is Richard +better?" + +"He is better, my Lord, I thank you, but hardly yet out of danger." + +"Oh, I wish he was well! And when will you let me come to him, +Osmond? Indeed, I would sit quiet, and not disturb him." + +"It may not be yet, my Lord, though the Duke loves you well--he told +me so but now." + +"Did he? Oh, tell him I love him very much--better than any one +here--and it is very dull without him. Tell him so, Osmond." + +Richard could hardly help calling out to his dear little Carloman; +but he remembered the peril of Osmond's eyes and the Queen's threat, +and held his peace, with some vague notion that some day he would +make Carloman King of France. In the meantime, half stifled with the +straw, he felt himself carried on, down the steps, across the court; +and then he knew, from the darkness and the changed sound of Osmond's +tread, that they were in the stable. Osmond laid him carefully down, +and whispered--"All right so far. You can breathe?" + +"Not well. Can't you let me out?" + +"Not yet--not for worlds. Now tell me if I put you face downwards, +for I cannot see." + +He laid the living heap of straw across the saddle, bound it on, then +led out the horse, gazing round cautiously as he did so; but the +whole of the people of the Castle were feasting, and there was no one +to watch the gates. Richard heard the hollow sound of the hoofs, as +the drawbridge was crossed, and knew that he was free; but still +Osmond held his arm over him, and would not let him move, for some +distance. Then, just as Richard felt as if he could endure the +stifling of the straw, and his uncomfortable position, not a moment +longer, Osmond stopped the horse, took him down, laid him on the +grass, and released him. He gazed around; they were in a little +wood; evening twilight was just coming on, and the birds sang +sweetly. + +"Free! free!--this is freedom!" cried Richard, leaping up in the +delicious cool evening breeze; "the Queen and Lothaire, and that grim +room, all far behind." + +"Not so far yet," said Osmond; "you must not call yourself safe till +the Epte is between us and them. Into the saddle, my Lord; we must +ride for our lives." + +Osmond helped the Duke to mount, and sprang to the saddle behind him, +set spurs to the horse, and rode on at a quick rate, though not at +full speed, as he wished to spare the horse. The twilight faded, the +stars came out, and still he rode, his arm round the child, who, as +night advanced, grew weary, and often sunk into a sort of half doze, +conscious all the time of the trot of the horse. But each step was +taking him further from Queen Gerberge, and nearer to Normandy; and +what recked he of weariness? On--on; the stars grew pale again, and +the first pink light of dawn showed in the eastern sky; the sun rose, +mounted higher and higher, and the day grew hotter; the horse went +more slowly, stumbled, and though Osmond halted and loosed the girth, +he only mended his pace for a little while. + +Osmond looked grievously perplexed; but they had not gone much +further before a party of merchants came in sight, winding their way +with a long train of loaded mules, and stout men to guard them, +across the plains, like an eastern caravan in the desert. They gazed +in surprise at the tall young Norman holding the child upon the worn- +out war-horse. + +"Sir merchant," said Osmond to the first, "see you this steed? +Better horse never was ridden; but he is sorely spent, and we must +make speed. Let me barter him with you for yonder stout palfrey. He +is worth twice as much, but I cannot stop to chaffer--ay or no at +once." + +The merchant, seeing the value of Osmond's gallant black, accepted +the offer; and Osmond removing his saddle, and placing Richard on his +new steed, again mounted, and on they went through the country which +Osmond's eye had marked with the sagacity men acquire by living in +wild, unsettled places. The great marshes were now far less +dangerous than in the winter, and they safely crossed them. There +had, as yet, been no pursuit, and Osmond's only fear was for his +little charge, who, not having recovered his full strength since his +illness, began to suffer greatly from fatigue in the heat of that +broiling summer day, and leant against Osmond patiently, but very +wearily, without moving or looking up. He scarcely revived when the +sun went down, and a cool breeze sprang up, which much refreshed +Osmond himself; and still more did it refresh the Squire to see, at +length, winding through the green pastures, a blue river, on the +opposite bank of which rose a high rocky mound, bearing a castle with +many a turret and battlement. + +"The Epte! the Epte! There is Normandy, sir! Look up, and see your +own dukedom." "Normandy!" cried Richard, sitting upright. "Oh, my +own home!" Still the Epte was wide and deep, and the peril was not +yet ended. Osmond looked anxiously, and rejoiced to see marks of +cattle, as if it had been forded. "We must try it," he said, and +dismounting, he waded in, leading the horse, and firmly holding +Richard in the saddle. Deep they went; the water rose to Richard's +feet, then to the horse's neck; then the horse was swimming, and +Osmond too, still keeping his firm hold; then there was ground again, +the force of the current was less, and they were gaining the bank. +At that instant, however, they perceived two men aiming at them with +cross-bows from the castle, and another standing on the bank above +them, who called out, "Hold! None pass the ford of Montemar without +permission of the noble Dame Yolande." "Ha! Bertrand, the Seneschal, +is that you?" returned Osmond. "Who calls me by my name?" replied +the Seneschal. "It is I, Osmond de Centeville. Open your gates +quickly, Sir Seneschal; for here is the Duke, sorely in need of rest +and refreshment." + +"The Duke!" exclaimed Bertrand, hurrying down to the landing-place, +and throwing off his cap. "The Duke! the Duke!" rang out the shout +from the men-at-arms on the battlements above and in an instant more +Osmond had led the horse up from the water, and was exclaiming, "Look +up, my Lord, look up! You are in your own dukedom again, and this is +Alberic's castle." + +"Welcome, indeed, most noble Lord Duke! Blessings on the day!" cried +the Seneschal. "What joy for my Lady and my young Lord!" + +"He is sorely weary," said Osmond, looking anxiously at Richard, who, +even at the welcome cries that showed so plainly that he was in his +own Normandy, scarcely raised himself or spoke. "He had been very +sick ere I brought him away. I doubt me they sought to poison him, +and I vowed not to tarry at Laon another hour after he was fit to +move. But cheer up, my Lord; you are safe and free now, and here is +the good Dame de Montemar to tend you, far better than a rude Squire +like me." + +"Alas, no!" said the Seneschal; "our Dame is gone with young Alberic +on a pilgrimage to Jumieges to pray for the Duke's safety. What joy +for them to know that their prayers have been granted!" + +Osmond, however, could scarcely rejoice, so alarmed was he at the +extreme weariness and exhaustion of his charge, who, when they +brought him into the Castle hall, hardly spoke or looked, and could +not eat. They carried him up to Alberic's bed, where he tossed about +restlessly, too tired to sleep. + +"Alas! alas!" said Osmond, "I have been too hasty. I have but saved +him from the Franks to be his death by my own imprudence." + +"Hush! Sieur de Centeville," said the Seneschal's wife, coming into +the room. "To talk in that manner is the way to be his death, +indeed. Leave the child to me--he is only over-weary." + +Osmond was sure his Duke was among friends, and would have been glad +to trust him to a woman; but Richard had but one instinct left in all +his weakness and exhaustion--to cling close to Osmond, as if he felt +him his only friend and protector; for he was, as yet, too much worn +out to understand that he was in Normandy and safe. For two or three +hours, therefore, Osmond and the Seneschal's wife watched on each +side of his bed, soothing his restlessness, until at length he became +quiet, and at last dropped sound asleep. + +The sun was high in the heavens when Richard awoke. He turned on his +straw-filled crib, and looked up. It was not the tapestried walls of +his chamber at Laon that met his opening eyes, but the rugged stone +and tall loop-hole window of a turret chamber. Osmond de Centeville +lay on the floor by his side, in the sound sleep of one overcome by +long watching and weariness. And what more did Richard see? + +It was the bright face and sparkling eyes of Alberic de Montemar, who +was leaning against the foot of his bed, gazing earnestly, as he +watched for his waking. There was a cry--"Alberic! Alberic!" "My +Lord! my Lord!" Richard sat up and held out both arms, and Alberic +flung himself into them. They hugged each other, and uttered broken +exclamations and screams of joy, enough to have awakened any sleeper +but one so wearied out as Osmond. + +"And is it true? Oh, am I really in Normandy again?" cried Richard. + +"Yes, yes!--oh, yes, my Lord! You are at Montemar. Everything here +is yours. The bar-tailed hawk is quite well, and my mother will be +here this evening; she let me ride on the instant we heard the news." + +"We rode long and late, and I was very weary," said Richard! "but I +don't care, now we are at home. But I can hardly believe it! Oh, +Alberic, it has been very dreary!" + +"See here, my Lord!" said Alberic, standing by the window. "Look +here, and you will know you are at home again!" + +Richard bounded to the window, and what a sight met his eyes! The +Castle court was thronged with men-at-arms and horses, the morning +sun sparkling on many a burnished hauberk and tall conical helmet, +and above them waved many a banner and pennon that Richard knew full +well. "There! there!" he shouted aloud with glee. "Oh, there is the +horse-shoe of Ferrieres! and there the chequers of Warenne! Oh, and +best of all, there is--there is our own red pennon of Centeville! O +Alberic! Alberic! is Sir Eric here? I must go down to him!" + +"Bertrand sent out notice to them all, as soon as you came, to come +and guard our Castle," said Alberic, "lest the Franks should pursue +you; but you are safe now--safe as Norman spears can make you--thanks +be to God!" + +"Yes, thanks to God!" said Richard, crossing himself and kneeling +reverently for some minutes, while he repeated his Latin prayer; +then, rising and looking at Alberic, he said, "I must thank Him, +indeed, for he has saved Osmond and me from the cruel King and Queen, +and I must try to be a less hasty and overbearing boy than I was when +I went away; for I vowed that so I would be, if ever I came back. +Poor Osmond, how soundly he sleeps! Come, Alberic, show me the way to +Sir Eric!" + +And, holding Alberic's hand, Richard left the room, and descended the +stairs to the Castle hall. Many of the Norman knights and barons, in +full armour, were gathered there; but Richard looked only for one. +He knew Sir Eric's grizzled hair, and blue inlaid armour, though his +back was towards him, and in a moment, before his entrance had been +perceived, he sprang towards him, and, with outstretched arms, +exclaimed: "Sir Eric--dear Sir Eric, here I am! Osmond is safe! And +is Fru Astrida well?" + +The old Baron turned. "My child!" he exclaimed, and clasped him in +his mailed arms, while the tears flowed down his rugged cheeks. +"Blessed be God that you are safe, and that my son has done his +duty!" + +"And is Fru Astrida well?" + +"Yes, right well, since she heard of your safety. But look round, my +Lord; it befits not a Duke to be clinging thus round an old man's +neck. See how many of your true vassals be here, to guard you from +the villain Franks." + +Richard stood up, and held out his hand, bowing courteously and +acknowledging the greetings of each bold baron, with a grace and +readiness he certainly had not when he left Normandy. He was taller +too; and though still pale, and not dressed with much care (since he +had hurried on his clothes with no help but Alberic's)--though his +hair was rough and disordered, and the scar of the burn had not yet +faded from his check--yet still, with his bright blue eyes, glad +face, and upright form, he was a princely, promising boy, and the +Norman knights looked at him with pride and joy, more especially +when, unprompted, he said: "I thank you, gallant knights, for coming +to guard me. I do not fear the whole French host now I am among my +own true Normans." + +Sir Eric led him to the door of the hall to the top of the steps, +that the men-at-arms might see him; and then such a shout rang out of +"Long live Duke Richard!"--"Blessings on the little Duke!"--that it +echoed and came back again from the hills around--it pealed from the +old tower--it roused Osmond from his sleep--and, if anything more had +been wanting to do so, it made Richard feel that he was indeed in a +land where every heart glowed with loyal love for him. + +Before the shout had died away, a bugle-horn was heard winding before +the gate; and Sir Eric, saying, "It is the Count of Harcourt's note," +sent Bertrand to open the gates in haste, while Alberic followed, as +Lord of the Castle, to receive the Count. + +The old Count rode into the court, and to the foot of the steps, +where he dismounted, Alberic holding his stirrup. He had not taken +many steps upwards before Richard came voluntarily to meet him (which +he had never done before), held out his hand, and said, "Welcome, +Count Bernard, welcome. Thank you for coming to guard me. I am very +glad to see you once more." + +"Ah, my young Lord," said Bernard, "I am right glad to see you out of +the clutches of the Franks! You know friend from foe now, methinks!" + +"Yes, indeed I do, Count Bernard. I know you meant kindly by me, and +that I ought to have thanked you, and not been angry, when you +reproved me. Wait one moment, Sir Count; there is one thing that I +promised myself to say if ever I came safe to my own dear home. +Walter--Maurice--Jeannot--all you of my household, and of Sir Eric's- +-I know, before I went away, I was often no good Lord to you; I was +passionate, and proud, and overbearing; but God has punished me for +it, when I was far away among my enemies, and sick and lonely. I am +very sorry for it, and I hope you will pardon me; for I will strive, +and I hope God will help me, never to be proud and passionate again." + +"There, Sir Eric," said Bernard, "you hear what the boy says. If he +speaks it out so bold and free, without bidding, and if he holds to +what he says, I doubt it not that he shall not grieve for his journey +to France, and that we shall see him, in all things, such a Prince as +his father of blessed memory." + +"You must thank Osmond for me," said Richard, as Osmond came down, +awakened at length. "It is Osmond who has helped me to bear my +troubles; and as to saving me, why he flew away with me even like an +old eagle with its eaglet. I say, Osmond, you must ever after this +wear a pair of wings on shield and pennon, to show how well we +managed our flight." {15} + +"As you will, my Lord," said Osmond, half asleep; "but 'twas a good +long flight at a stretch, and I trust never to have to fly before +your foes or mine again." + +What a glad summer's day was that! Even the three hours spent in +council did but renew the relish with which Richard visited Alberic's +treasures, told his adventures, and showed the accomplishments he had +learnt at Laon. The evening was more joyous still; for the Castle +gates were opened, first to receive Dame Yolande Montemar, and not +above a quarter of an hour afterwards, the drawbridge was lowered to +admit the followers of Centeville; and in front of them appeared Fru +Astrida's own high cap. Richard made but one bound into her arms, +and was clasped to her breast; then held off at arm's-length, that +she might see how much he was grown, and pity his scar; then hugged +closer than ever: but, taking another look, she declared that Osmond +left his hair like King Harald Horrid-locks; {16} and, drawing an +ivory comb from her pouch, began to pull out the thick tangles, +hurting him to a degree that would once have made him rebel, but now +he only fondled her the more. + +As to Osmond, when he knelt before her, she blessed him, and sobbed +over him, and blamed him for over-tiring her darling, all in one; and +assuredly, when night closed in and Richard had, as of old, told his +beads beside her knee, the happiest boy in Normandy was its little +Duke. + + + +CHAPTER IX + + + +Montemar was too near the frontier to be a safe abode for the little +Duke, and his uncle, Count Hubert of Senlis, agreed with Bernard the +Dane that he would be more secure beyond the limits of his own duchy, +which was likely soon to be the scene of war; and, sorely against his +will, he was sent in secret, under a strong escort, first to the +Castle of Coucy, and afterwards to Senlis. + +His consolation was, that he was not again separated from his +friends; Alberic, Sir Eric, and even Fru Astrida, accompanied him, as +well as his constant follower, Osmond. Indeed, the Baron would +hardly bear that he should be out of his sight; and he was still so +carefully watched, that it was almost like a captivity. Never, even +in the summer days, was he allowed to go beyond the Castle walls; and +his guardians would fain have had it supposed that the Castle did not +contain any such guest. + +Osmond did not give him so much of his company as usual, but was +always at work in the armourer's forge--a low, vaulted chamber, +opening into the Castle court. Richard and Alberic were very curious +to know what he did there; but he fastened the door with an iron bar, +and they were forced to content themselves with listening to the +strokes of the hammer, keeping time to the voice that sang out, loud +and cheerily, the song of "Sigurd's sword, and the maiden sleeping +within the ring of flame." Fru Astrida said Osmond was quite right-- +no good weapon-smith ever toiled with open doors; and when the boys +asked him questions as to his work, he only smiled, and said that +they would see what it was when the call to arms should come. + +They thought it near at hand, for tidings came that Louis had +assembled his army, and marched into Normandy to recover the person +of the young Duke, and to seize the country. No summons, however, +arrived, but a message came instead, that Rouen had been surrendered +into the bands of the King. Richard shed indignant tears. "My +father's Castle! My own city in the hands of the foe! Bernard is a +traitor then! None shall hinder me from so calling him. Why did we +trust him?" + +"Never fear, Lord Duke," said Osmond. "When you come to the years of +Knighthood, your own sword shall right you, in spite of all the false +Danes, and falser Franks, in the land." + +"What! you too, son Osmond? I deemed you carried a cooler brain than +to miscall one who was true to Rollo's race before you or yon varlet +were born!" said the old Baron. + +"He has yielded my dukedom! It is mis-calling to say he is aught but +a traitor!" cried Richard. "Vile, treacherous, favour-seeking--" + +"Peace, peace, my Lord," said the Baron. "Bernard has more in that +wary head of his than your young wits, or my old ones, can unwind. +What he is doing I may not guess, but I gage my life his heart is +right." + +Richard was silent, remembering he had been once unjust, but he +grieved heartily when he thought of the French in Rollo's tower, and +it was further reported that the King was about to share Normandy +among his French vassals. A fresh outcry broke out in the little +garrison of Senlis, but Sir Eric still persisted in his trust in his +friend Bernard, even when he heard that Centeville was marked out as +the prey of the fat French Count who had served for a hostage at +Rouen. + +"What say you now, my Lord?" said he, after a conference with a +messenger at the gate. "The Black Raven has spread its wings. Fifty +keels are in the Seine, and Harald Blue-tooth's Long Serpent at the +head of them." + +"The King of Denmark! Come to my aid!" + +"Ay, that he is! Come at Bernard's secret call, to right you, and +put you on your father's seat. Now call honest Harcourt a traitor, +because he gave not up your fair dukedom to the flame and sword!" + +"No traitor to me," said Richard, pausing. "No, verily, but what +more would you say?" + +"I think, when I come to my dukedom, I will not be so politic," said +Richard. "I will be an open friend or an open foe." + +"The boy grows too sharp for us," said Sir Eric, smiling, "but it was +spoken like his father." + +"He grows more like his blessed father each day," said Fru Astrida. + +"But the Danes, father, the Danes!" said Osmond. "Blows will be +passing now. I may join the host and win my spurs?" + +"With all my heart," returned the Baron, "so my Lord here gives you +leave: would that I could leave him and go with you. It would do my +very spirit good but to set foot in a Northern keel once more." + +"I would fain see what these men of the North are," said Osmond. + +"Oh! they are only Danes, not Norsemen, and there are no Vikings, +such as once were when Ragnar laid waste--" + +"Son, son, what talk is this for the child's ears?" broke in Fru +Astrida, "are these words for a Christian Baron?" + +"Your pardon, mother," said the grey warrior, in all humility, "but +my blood thrills to hear of a Northern fleet at hand, and to think of +Osmond drawing sword under a Sea-King." + +The next morning, Osmond's steed was led to the door, and such men- +at-arms as could be spared from the garrison of Senlis were drawn up +in readiness to accompany him. The boys stood on the steps, wishing +they were old enough to be warriors, and wondering what had become of +him, until at length the sound of an opening door startled them, and +there, in the low archway of the smithy, the red furnace glowing +behind him, stood Osmond, clad in bright steel, the links of his +hauberk reflecting the light, and on his helmet a pair of golden +wings, while the same device adorned his long pointed kite-shaped +shield. + +"Your wings! our wings!" cried Richard, "the bearing of Centeville!" + +"May they fly after the foe, not before him," said Sir Eric. "Speed +thee well, my son--let not our Danish cousins say we learn Frank +graces instead of Northern blows." + +With such farewells, Osmond quitted Senlis, while the two boys +hastened to the battlements to watch him as long as he remained in +view. + +The highest tower became their principal resort, and their eyes were +constantly on the heath where he had disappeared; but days passed, +and they grew weary of the watch, and betook themselves to games in +the Castle court. + +One day, Alberic, in the character of a Dragon, was lying on his +back, panting hard so as to be supposed to cast out volumes of flame +and smoke at Richard, the Knight, who with a stick for a lance, and a +wooden sword, was waging fierce war; when suddenly the Dragon paused, +sat up, and pointed towards the warder on the tower. His horn was at +his lips, and in another moment, the blast rang out through the +Castle. + +With a loud shout, both boys rushed headlong up the turret stairs, +and came to the top so breathless, that they could not even ask the +warder what he saw. He pointed, and the keen-eyed Alberic exclaimed, +"I see! Look, my Lord, a speck there on the heath!" + +"I do not see! where, oh where?" + +"He is behind the hillock now, but--oh, there again! How fast he +comes!" + +"It is like the flight of a bird," said Richard, "fast, fast--" + +"If only it be not flight in earnest," said Alberic, a little +anxiously, looking into the warder's face, for he was a borderer, and +tales of terror of the inroad of the Vicomte du Contentin were rife +on the marches of the Epte. + +"No, young Sir," said the warder, "no fear of that. I know how men +ride when they flee from the battle." + +"No, indeed, there is no discomfiture in the pace of that steed," +said Sir Eric, who had by this time joined them. + +"I see him clearer! I see the horse," cried Richard, dancing with +eagerness, so that Sir Eric caught hold of him, exclaiming, "You will +be over the battlements! hold still! better hear of a battle lost +than that!" + +"He bears somewhat in his hand," said Alberic. + +"A banner or pennon," said the warder; "methinks he rides like the +young Baron." + +"He does! My brave boy! He has done good service," exclaimed Sir +Eric, as the figure became more developed. "The Danes have seen how +we train our young men." + +"His wings bring good tidings," said Richard. "Let me go, Sir Eric, +I must tell Fru Astrida." + +The drawbridge was lowered, the portcullis raised, and as all the +dwellers in the Castle stood gathered in the court, in rode the +warrior with the winged helm, bearing in his hand a drooping banner; +lowering it as he entered, it unfolded, and displayed, trailing on +the ground at the feet of the little Duke of Normandy, the golden +lilies of France. + +A shout of amazement arose, and all gathered round him, asking +hurried questions. "A great victory--the King a prisoner--Montreuil +slain!" + +Richard would not be denied holding his hand, and leading him to the +hall, and there, sitting around him, they heard his tidings. His +father's first question was, what he thought of their kinsmen, the +Danes? + +"Rude comrades, father, I must own," said Osmond, smiling, and +shaking his head. "I could not pledge them in a skull-goblet--set in +gold though it were." + +"None the worse warriors," said Sir Eric. "Ay, ay, and you were +dainty, and brooked not the hearty old fashion of tearing the whole +sheep to pieces. You must needs cut your portion with the fine +French knife at your girdle." + +Osmond could not see that a man was braver for being a savage, but he +held his peace; and Richard impatiently begged to hear how the battle +had gone, and where it had been fought. + +"On the bank of the Dive," said Osmond. "Ah, father, you might well +call old Harcourt wary--his name might better have been Fox-heart +than Bear-heart! He had sent to the Franks a message of distress, +that the Danes were on him in full force, and to pray them to come to +his aid." + +"I trust there was no treachery. No foul dealing shall be wrought in +my name," exclaimed Richard, with such dignity of tone and manner, as +made all feel he was indeed their Duke, and forget his tender years. + +"No, or should I tell the tale with joy like this?" said Osmond. +"Bernard's view was to bring the Kings together, and let Louis see +you had friends to maintain your right. He sought but to avoid +bloodshed." + +"And how chanced it?" + +"The Danes were encamped on the Dive, and so soon as the French came +in sight, Blue-tooth sent a messenger to Louis, to summon him to quit +Neustria, and leave it to you, its lawful owner. Thereupon, Louis, +hoping to win him over with wily words, invited him to hold a +personal conference." + +"Where were you, Osmond?" + +"Where I had scarce patience to be. Bernard had gathered all of us +honest Normans together, and arranged us beneath that standard of the +King, as if to repel his Danish inroad. Oh, he was, in all seeming, +hand-and-glove with Louis, guiding him by his counsel, and, verily, +seeming his friend and best adviser! But in one thing he could not +prevail. That ungrateful recreant, Herluin of Montreuil, came with +the King, hoping, it seems, to get his share of our spoils; and when +Bernard advised the King to send him home, since no true Norman could +bear the sight of him, the hot-headed Franks vowed no Norman should +hinder them from bringing whom they chose. So a tent was set up by +the riverside, wherein the two Kings, with Bernard, Alan of Brittany, +and Count Hugh, held their meeting. We all stood without, and the +two hosts began to mingle together, we Normans making acquaintance +with the Danes. There was a red-haired, wild-looking fellow, who +told me he had been with Anlaff in England, and spoke much of the +doings of Hako in Norway; when, suddenly, he pointed to a Knight who +was near, speaking to a Cotentinois, and asked me his name. My blood +boiled as I answered, for it was Montreuil himself! 'The cause of +your Duke's death!' said the Dane. 'Ha, ye Normans are fallen sons +of Odin, to see him yet live!'" + +"You said, I trust, my son, that we follow not the laws of Odin?" +said Fru Astrida. + +"I had no space for a word, grandmother; the Danes took the vengeance +on themselves. In one moment they rushed on Herluin with their axes, +and the unhappy man was dead. All was tumult; every one struck +without knowing at whom, or for what. Some shouted, 'Thor Hulfe!' +some 'Dieu aide!' others 'Montjoie St. Denis!' Northern blood +against French, that was all our guide. I found myself at the foot +of this standard, and had a hard combat for it; but I bore it away at +last." + +"And the Kings?" + +"They hurried out of the tent, it seems, to rejoin their men. Louis +mounted, but you know of old, my Lord, he is but an indifferent +horseman, and the beast carried him into the midst of the Danes, +where King Harald caught his bridle, and delivered him to four +Knights to keep. Whether he dealt secretly with them, or whether +they, as they declared, lost sight of him whilst plundering his tent, +I cannot say; but when Harald demanded him of them, he was gone." + +"Gone! is this what you call having the King prisoner?" + +"You shall hear. He rode four leagues, and met one of the baser sort +of Rouennais, whom he bribed to hide him in the Isle of Willows. +However, Bernard made close inquiries, found the fellow had been seen +in speech with a French horseman, pounced on his wife and children, +and threatened they should die if he did not disclose the secret. So +the King was forced to come out of his hiding-place, and is now fast +guarded in Rollo's tower--a Dane, with a battle-axe on his shoulder, +keeping guard at every turn of the stairs." + +"Ha! ha!" cried Richard. "I wonder how he likes it. I wonder if he +remembers holding me up to the window, and vowing that he meant me +only good!" + +"When you believed him, my Lord," said Osmond, slyly. + +"I was a little boy then," said Richard, proudly. "Why, the very +walls must remind him of his oath, and how Count Bernard said, as he +dealt with me, so might Heaven deal with him." + +"Remember it, my child--beware of broken vows," said Father Lucas; +"but remember it not in triumph over a fallen foe. It were better +that all came at once to the chapel, to bestow their thanksgivings +where alone they are due." + + + +CHAPTER X + + + +After nearly a year's captivity, the King engaged to pay a ransom, +and, until the terms could be arranged, his two sons were to be +placed as hostages in the hands of the Normans, whilst he returned to +his own domains. The Princes were to be sent to Bayeux; whither +Richard had returned, under the charge of the Centevilles, and was +now allowed to ride and walk abroad freely, provided he was +accompanied by a guard. + +"I shall rejoice to have Carloman, and make him happy," said Richard; +"but I wish Lothaire were not coming." + +"Perhaps," said good Father Lucas, "he comes that you may have a +first trial in your father's last lesson, and Abbot Martin's, and +return good for evil." + +The Duke's cheek flushed, and he made no answer. + +He and Alberic betook themselves to the watch-tower, and, by and by, +saw a cavalcade approaching, with a curtained vehicle in the midst, +slung between two horses. "That cannot be the Princes," said +Alberic; "that must surely be some sick lady." + +"I only hope it is not the Queen," exclaimed Richard, in dismay. +"But no; Lothaire is such a coward, no doubt he was afraid to ride, +and she would not trust her darling without shutting him up like a +demoiselle. But come down, Alberic; I will say nothing unkind of +Lothaire, if I can help it." + +Richard met the Princes in the court, his sunny hair uncovered, and +bowing with such becoming courtesy, that Fru Astrida pressed her +son's arm, and bade him say if their little Duke was not the fairest +and noblest child in Christendom. + +With black looks, Lothaire stepped from the litter, took no heed of +the little Duke, but, roughly calling his attendant, Charlot, to +follow him, he marched into the hall, vouchsafing neither word nor +look to any as he passed, threw himself into the highest seat, and +ordered Charlot to bring him some wine. + +Meanwhile, Richard, looking into the litter, saw Carloman crouching +in a corner, sobbing with fright. + +"Carloman!--dear Carloman!--do not cry. Come out! It is I--your own +Richard! Will you not let me welcome you?" + +Carloman looked, caught at the outstretched hand, and clung to his +neck. + +"Oh, Richard, send us back! Do not let the savage Danes kill us!" + +"No one will hurt you. There are no Danes here. You are my guest, +my friend, my brother. Look up! here is my own Fru Astrida." + +"But my mother said the Northmen would kill us for keeping you +captive. She wept and raved, and the cruel men dragged us away by +force. Oh, let us go back!" + +"I cannot do that," said Richard; "for you are the King of Denmark's +captives, not mine; but I will love you, and you shall have all that +is mine, if you will only not cry, dear Carloman. Oh, Fru Astrida, +what shall I do? You comfort him--" as the poor boy clung sobbing to +him. + +Fru Astrida advanced to take his hand, speaking in a soothing voice, +but he shrank and started with a fresh cry of terror--her tall +figure, high cap, and wrinkled face, were to him witch-like, and as +she knew no French, he understood not her kind words. However, he +let Richard lead him into the hall, where Lothaire sat moodily in the +chair, with one leg tucked under him, and his finger in his mouth. + +"I say, Sir Duke," said he, "is there nothing to be had in this old +den of yours? Not a drop of Bordeaux?" + +Richard tried to repress his anger at this very uncivil way of +speaking, and answered, that he thought there was none, but there was +plenty of Norman cider. + +"As if I would taste your mean peasant drinks! I bade them bring my +supper--why does it not come?" + +"Because you are not master here," trembled on Richard's lips, but he +forced it back, and answered that it would soon be ready, and +Carloman looked imploringly at his brother, and said, "Do not make +them angry, Lothaire." + +"What, crying still, foolish child?" said Lothaire. "Do you not know +that if they dare to cross us, my father will treat them as they +deserve? Bring supper, I say, and let me have a pasty of ortolans." + +"There are none--they are not in season," said Richard. + +"Do you mean to give me nothing I like? I tell you it shall be the +worse for you." + +"There is a pullet roasting," began Richard. + +"I tell you, I do not care for pullets--I will have ortolans." + +"If I do not take order with that boy, my name is not Eric," muttered +the Baron. + +"What must he not have made our poor child suffer!" returned Fru +Astrida, "but the little one moves my heart. How small and weakly he +is, but it is worth anything to see our little Duke so tender to +him." + +"He is too brave not to be gentle," said Osmond; and, indeed, the +high-spirited, impetuous boy was as soft and kind as a maiden, with +that feeble, timid child. He coaxed him to eat, consoled him, and, +instead of laughing at his fears, kept between him and the great +bloodhound Hardigras, and drove it off when it came too near. + +"Take that dog away," said Lothaire, imperiously. No one moved to +obey him, and the dog, in seeking for scraps, again came towards him. + +"Take it away," he repeated, and struck it with his foot. The dog +growled, and Richard started up in indignation. + +"Prince Lothaire," he said, "I care not what else you do, but my dogs +and my people you shall not maltreat." + +"I tell you I am Prince! I do what I will! Ha! who laughs there?" +cried the passionate boy, stamping on the floor. + +"It is not so easy for French Princes to scourge free-born Normans +here," said the rough voice of Walter the huntsman: "there is a +reckoning for the stripe my Lord Duke bore for me." + +"Hush, hush, Walter," began Richard; but Lothaire had caught up a +footstool, and was aiming it at the huntsman, when his arm was +caught. + +Osmond, who knew him well enough to be prepared for such outbreaks, +held him fast by both hands, in spite of his passionate screams and +struggles, which were like those of one frantic. + +Sir Eric, meanwhile, thundered forth in his Norman patois, "I would +have you to know, young Sir, Prince though you be, you are our +prisoner, and shall taste of a dungeon, and bread and water, unless +you behave yourself." + +Either Lothaire did not hear, or did not believe, and fought more +furiously in Osmond's arms, but he had little chance with the +stalwart young warrior, and, in spite of Richard's remonstrances, he +was carried from the hall, roaring and kicking, and locked up alone +in an empty room. + +"Let him alone for the present," said Sir Eric, putting the Duke +aside, "when he knows his master, we shall have peace." + +Here Richard had to turn, to reassure Carloman, who had taken refuge +in a dark corner, and there shook like an aspen leaf, crying +bitterly, and starting with fright, when Richard touched him. + +"Oh, do not put me in the dungeon. I cannot bear the dark." + +Richard again tried to comfort him, but he did not seem to hear or +heed. "Oh! they said you would beat and hurt us for what we did to +you! but, indeed, it was not I that burnt your cheek!" + +"We would not hurt you for worlds, dear Carloman; Lothaire is not in +the dungeon--he is only shut up till he is good." + +"It was Lothaire that did it," repeated Carloman, "and, indeed, you +must not be angry with me, for my mother was so cross with me for not +having stopped Osmond when I met him with the bundle of straw, that +she gave me a blow, that knocked me down. And were you really there, +Richard?" + +Richard told his story, and was glad to find Carloman could smile at +it; and then Fru Astrida advised him to take his little friend to +bed. Carloman would not lie down without still holding Richard's +hand, and the little Duke spared no pains to set him at rest, knowing +what it was to be a desolate captive far from home. + +"I thought you would be good to me," said Carloman. "As to Lothaire, +it serves him right, that you should use him as he used you." + +"Oh, no, Carloman; if I had a brother I would never speak so of him." + +"But Lothaire is so unkind." + +"Ah! but we must be kind to those who are unkind to us." + +The child rose on his elbow, and looked into Richard's face. "No one +ever told me so before." + +"Oh, Carloman, not Brother Hilary?" + +"I never heed Brother Hilary--he is so lengthy, and wearisome; +besides, no one is ever kind to those that hate them." + +"My father was," said Richard. + +"And they killed him!" said Carloman. + +"Yes," said Richard, crossing himself, "but he is gone to be in +peace." + +"I wonder if it is happier there, than here," said Carloman. "I am +not happy. But tell me why should we be good to those that hate us?" + +"Because the holy Saints were--and look at the Crucifix, Carloman. +That was for them that hated Him. And, don't you know what our Pater +Noster says?" + +Poor little Carloman could only repeat the Lord's Prayer in Latin--he +had not the least notion of its meaning--in which Richard had been +carefully instructed by Father Lucas. He began to explain it, but +before many words had passed his lips, little Carloman was asleep. + +The Duke crept softly away to beg to be allowed to go to Lothaire; he +entered the room, already dark, with a pine torch in his hand, that +so flickered in the wind, that he could at first see nothing, but +presently beheld a dark lump on the floor. + +"Prince Lothaire," he said, "here is--" + +Lothaire cut him short. "Get away," he said. "If it is your turn +now, it will be mine by and by. I wish my mother had kept her word, +and put your eyes out." + +Richard's temper did not serve for such a reply. "It is a foul shame +of you to speak so, when I only came out of kindness to you--so I +shall leave you here all night, and not ask Sir Eric to let you out." + +And he swung back the heavy door with a resounding clang. But his +heart smote him when he told his beads, and remembered what he had +said to Carloman. He knew he could not sleep in his warm bed when +Lothaire was in that cold gusty room. To be sure, Sir Eric said it +would do him good, but Sir Eric little knew how tender the French +Princes were. + +So Richard crept down in the dark, slid back the bolt, and called, +"Prince, Prince, I am sorry I was angry. Come out, and let us try to +be friends." + +"What do you mean?" said Lothaire. + +"Come out of the cold and dark. Here am I. I will show you the way. +Where is your hand? Oh, how cold it is. Let me lead you down to the +hall fire." + +Lothaire was subdued by fright, cold, and darkness, and quietly +allowed Richard to lead him down. Round the fire, at the lower end +of the hall, snored half-a-dozen men-at-arms; at the upper hearth +there was only Hardigras, who raised his head as the boys came in. +Richard's whisper and soft pat quieted him instantly, and the two +little Princes sat on the hearth together, Lothaire surprised, but +sullen. Richard stirred the embers, so as to bring out more heat, +then spoke: "Prince, will you let us be friends?" + +"I must, if I am in your power." + +"I wish you would be my guest and comrade." + +"Well, I will; I can't help it." + +Richard thought his advances might have been more graciously met, +and, having little encouragement to say more, took Lothaire to bed, +as soon as he was warm. + + + +CHAPTER XI + + + +As the Baron had said, there was more peace now that Lothaire had +learnt to know that he must submit, and that no one cared for his +threats of his father's or his mother's vengeance. He was very sulky +and disagreeable, and severely tried Richard's forbearance; but there +were no fresh outbursts, and, on the whole, from one week to another, +there might be said to be an improvement. He could not always hold +aloof from one so good-natured and good-humoured as the little Duke; +and the fact of being kept in order could not but have some +beneficial effect on him, after such spoiling as his had been at +home. + +Indeed, Osmond was once heard to say, it was a pity the boy was not +to be a hostage for life; to which Sir Eric replied, "So long as we +have not the training of him." + +Little Carloman, meanwhile, recovered from his fears of all the +inmates of the Castle excepting Hardigras, at whose approach he +always shrank and trembled. + +He renewed his friendship with Osmond, no longer started at the +entrance of Sir Eric, laughed at Alberic's merry ways, and liked to +sit on Fru Astrida's lap, and hear her sing, though he understood not +one word; but his especial love was still for his first friend, Duke +Richard. Hand-in-hand they went about together, Richard sometimes +lifting him up the steep steps, and, out of consideration for him, +refraining from rough play; and Richard led him to join with him in +those lessons that Father Lucas gave the children of the Castle, +every Friday and Sunday evening in the Chapel. The good Priest stood +on the Altar steps, with the children in a half circle round him--the +son and daughter of the armourer, the huntsman's little son, the +young Baron de Montemar, the Duke of Normandy, and the Prince of +France, all were equal there--and together they learnt, as he +explained to them the things most needful to believe; and thus +Carloman left off wondering why Richard thought it right to be good +to his enemies; and though at first he had known less than even the +little leather-coated huntsman, he seemed to take the holy lessons in +faster than any of them--yes, and act on them, too. His feeble +health seemed to make him enter into their comfort and meaning more +than even Richard; and Alberic and Father Lucas soon told Fru Astrida +that it was a saintly-minded child. + +Indeed, Carloman was more disposed to thoughtfulness, because he was +incapable of joining in the sports of the other boys. A race round +the court was beyond his strength, the fresh wind on the battlements +made him shiver and cower, and loud shouting play was dreadful to +him. In old times, he used to cry when Lothaire told him he must +have his hair cut, and be a priest; now, he only said quietly, he +should like it very much, if he could be good enough. + +Fru Astrida sighed and shook her head, and feared the poor child +would never grow up to be anything on this earth. Great as had been +the difference at first between him and Richard, it was now far +greater. Richard was an unusually strong boy for ten years old, +upright and broad-chested, and growing very fast; while Carloman +seemed to dwindle, stooped forward from weakness, had thin pinched +features, and sallow cheeks, looking like a plant kept in the dark. + +The old Baron said that hardy, healthy habits would restore the puny +children; and Lothaire improved in health, and therewith in temper; +but his little brother had not strength enough to bear the seasoning. +He pined and drooped more each day; and as the autumn came on, and +the wind was chilly, he grew worse, and was scarcely ever off the lap +of the kind Lady Astrida. It was not a settled sickness, but he grew +weaker, and wasted away. They made up a little couch for him by the +fire, with the high settle between it and the door, to keep off the +draughts; and there he used patiently to lie, hour after hour, +speaking feebly, or smiling and seeming pleased, when any one of +those he loved approached. He liked Father Lucas to come and say +prayers with him; and he never failed to have a glad look, when his +dear little Duke came to talk to him, in his cheerful voice, about +his rides and his hunting and hawking adventures. Richard's sick +guest took up much of his thoughts, and he never willingly spent many +hours at a distance from him, softening his step and lowering his +voice, as he entered the hall, lest Carloman should be asleep. + +"Richard, is it you?" said the little boy, as the young figure came +round the settle in the darkening twilight. + +"Yes. How do you feel now, Carloman; are you better?" + +"No better, thanks, dear Richard;" and the little wasted fingers were +put into his. + +"Has the pain come again?" + +"No; I have been lying still, musing; Richard, I shall never be +better." + +"Oh, do not say so! You will, indeed you will, when spring comes." + +"I feel as if I should die," said the little boy; "I think I shall. +But do not grieve, Richard. I do not feel much afraid. You said it +was happier there than here, and I know it now." + +"Where my blessed father is," said Richard, thoughtfully. "But oh, +Carloman, you are so young to die!" + +"I do not want to live. This is a fighting, hard world, full of +cruel people; and it is peace there. You are strong and brave, and +will make them better; but I am weak and fearful--I could only sigh +and grieve." + +"Oh, Carloman! Carloman! I cannot spare you. I love you like my +own brother. You must not die--you must live to see your father and +mother again!" + +"Commend me to them," said Carloman. "I am going to my Father in +heaven. I am glad I am here, Richard; I never was so happy before. +I should have been afraid indeed to die, if Father Lucas had not +taught me how my sins are pardoned. Now, I think the Saints and +Angels are waiting for me." + +He spoke feebly, and his last words faltered into sleep. He slept +on; and when supper was brought, and the lamps were lighted, Fru +Astrida thought the little face looked unusually pale and waxen; but +he did not awake. At night, they carried him to his bed, and he was +roused into a half conscious state, moaning at being disturbed. Fru +Astrida would not leave him, and Father Lucas shared her watch. + +At midnight, all were wakened by the slow notes, falling one by one +on the ear, of the solemn passing-bell, calling them to waken, that +their prayers might speed a soul on its way. Richard and Lothaire +were soon at the bedside. Carloman lay still asleep, his hands +folded on his breast, but his breath came in long gasps. Father +Lucas was praying over him, and candles were placed on each side of +the bed. All was still, the boys not daring to speak or move. There +came a longer breath--then they heard no more. He was, indeed, gone +to a happier home--a truer royalty than ever had been his on earth. + +Then the boys' grief burst out. Lothaire screamed for his mother, +and sobbed out that he should die too--he must go home. Richard +stood by the bed, large silent tears rolling down his cheeks, and his +chest heaving with suppressed sobs. + +Fru Astrida led them from the room, back to their beds. Lothaire +soon cried himself to sleep. Richard lay awake, sorrowful, and in +deep thought; while that scene in St. Mary's, at Rouen, returned +before his eyes, and though it had passed nearly two years ago, its +meaning and its teaching had sunk deep into his mind, and now stood +before him more completely. + +"Where shall I go, when I come to die, if I have not returned good +for evil?" And a resolution was taken in the mind of the little +Duke. + +Morning came, and brought back the sense that his gentle little +companion was gone from him; and Richard wept again, as if he could +not be consoled, as he beheld the screened couch where the patient +smile would never again greet him. He now knew that he had loved +Carloman all the more for his weakness and helplessness; but his +grief was not like Lothaire's, for with the Prince's was still joined +a selfish fear: his cry was still, that he should die too, if not +set free, and violent weeping really made him heavy and ill. + +The little corpse, embalmed and lapped in lead, was to be sent back +to France, that it might rest with its forefathers in the city of +Rheims; and Lothaire seemed to feel this as an additional stroke of +desertion. He was almost beside himself with despair, imploring +every one, in turn, to send him home, though he well knew they were +unable to do so. + + + +CHAPTER XII + + + +"Sir Eric," said Richard, "you told me there was a Parlement to be +held at Falaise, between Count Bernard and the King of Denmark. I +mean to attend it. Will you come with me, or shall Osmond go, and +you remain in charge of the Prince?" + +"How now, Lord Richard, you were not wont to love a Parlement?" + +"I have something to say," replied Richard. The Baron made no +objection, only telling his mother that the Duke was a marvellous +wise child, and that he would soon be fit to take the government +himself. + +Lothaire lamented the more when he found that Richard was going away; +his presence seemed to him a protection, and he fancied, now Carloman +was dead, that his former injuries were about to be revenged. The +Duke assured him, repeatedly, that he meant him nothing but kindness, +adding, "When I return, you will see, Lothaire;" then, commending him +to the care and kindness of Fru Astrida, Osmond, and Alberic, Richard +set forth upon his pony, attended by Sir Eric and three men-at-arms. + +Richard felt sad when he looked back at Bayeux, and thought that it +no longer contained his dear little friend; but it was a fresh bright +frosty morning, the fields were covered with a silvery-white coating, +the flakes of hoar-frost sparkled on every bush, and the hard ground +rung cheerily to the tread of the horses' feet. As the yellow sun +fought his way through the grey mists that dimmed his brightness, and +shone out merrily in the blue heights of the sky, Richard's spirits +rose, and he laughed and shouted, as hare or rabbit rushed across the +heath, or as the plover rose screaming above his head, flapping her +broad wings across the wintry sky. + +One night they slept at a Convent, where they heard that Hugh of +Paris had passed on to join the conference at Falaise. The next day +they rode on, and, towards the afternoon, the Baron pointed to a +sharp rocky range of hills, crowned by a tall solid tower, and told +Richard, yonder was his keep of Falaise, the strongest Castle in +Normandy. + +The country was far more broken as they advanced--narrow valleys and +sharp hills, each little vale full of wood, and interspersed with +rocks. "A choice place for game," Sir Eric said and Richard, as he +saw a herd of deer dash down a forest glade, exclaimed, "that they +must come here to stay, for some autumn sport." + +There seemed to be huntsmen abroad in the woods; for through the +frosty air came the baying of dogs, the shouts and calls of men, and, +now and then, the echoing, ringing notes of a bugle. Richard's eyes +and cheeks glowed with excitement, and he pushed his brisk little +pony on faster and faster, unheeding that the heavier men and horses +of his suite were not keeping pace with him on the rough ground and +through the tangled boughs. + +Presently, a strange sound of growling and snarling was heard close +at hand: his pony swerved aside, and could not be made to advance; +so Richard, dismounting, dashed through some briars, and there, on an +open space, beneath a precipice of dark ivy-covered rock, that rose +like a wall, he beheld a huge grey wolf and a large dog in mortal +combat. It was as if they had fallen or rolled down the precipice +together, not heeding it in their fury. Both were bleeding, and the +eyes of both glared like red fiery glass in the dark shadow of the +rock. The dog lay undermost, almost overpowered, making but a feeble +resistance; and the wolf would, in another moment, be at liberty to +spring on the lonely child. + +But not a thought of fear passed through his breast; to save the dog +was Richard's only idea. In one moment he had drawn the dagger he +wore at his girdle, ran to the two struggling animals, and with all +his force, plunged it into the throat of the wolf, which, happily, +was still held by the teeth of the hound. + +The struggles relaxed, the wolf rolled heavily aside, dead; the dog +lay panting and bleeding, and Richard feared he was cruelly torn. +"Poor fellow! noble dog! what shall I do to help you?" and he gently +smoothed the dark brindled head. + +A voice was now heard shouting aloud, at which the dog raised and +crested his head, as a figure in a hunting dress was coming down a +rocky pathway, an extremely tall, well-made man, of noble features. +"Ha! holla! Vige! Vige! How now, my brave hound?" he said in the +Northern tongue, though not quite with the accent Richard was +accustomed to hear "Art hurt?" + +"Much torn, I fear," Richard called out, as the faithful creature +wagged his tail, and strove to rise and meet his master. + +"Ha, lad! what art thou?" exclaimed the hunter, amazed at seeing the +boy between the dead wolf and wounded dog. "You look like one of +those Frenchified Norman gentilesse, with your smooth locks and +gilded baldrick, yet your words are Norse. By the hammer of Thor! +that is a dagger in the wolf's throat!" + +"It is mine," said Richard. "I found your dog nearly spent, and I +made in to the rescue." + +"You did? Well done! I would not have lost Vige for all the plunder +of Italy. I am beholden to you, my brave young lad," said the +stranger, all the time examining and caressing the hound. "What is +your name? You cannot be Southern bred?" + +As he spoke, more shouts came near; and the Baron de Centeville +rushed through the trees holding Richard's pony by the bridle. "My +Lord, my Lord!--oh, thank Heaven, I see you safe!" At the same +moment a party of hunters also approached by the path, and at the +head of them Bernard the Dane. + +"Ha!" exclaimed he, "what do I see? My young Lord! what brought you +here?" And with a hasty obeisance, Bernard took Richard's +outstretched hand. + +"I came hither to attend your council," replied Richard. "I have a +boon to ask of the King of Denmark." + +"Any boon the King of Denmark has in his power will be yours," said +the dog's master, slapping his hand on the little Duke's shoulder, +with a rude, hearty familiarity, that took him by surprise; and he +looked up with a shade of offence, till, on a sudden flash of +perception, he took off his cap, exclaiming, "King Harald himself! +Pardon me, Sir King!" + +"Pardon, Jarl Richart! What would you have me pardon?--your saving +the life of Vige here? No French politeness for me. Tell me your +boon, and it is yours. Shall I take you a voyage, and harry the fat +monks of Ireland?" + +Richard recoiled a little from his new friend. + +"Oh, ha! I forgot. They have made a Christian of you--more's the +pity. You have the Northern spirit so strong. I had forgotten it. +Come, walk by my side, and let me hear what you would ask. Holla, +you Sweyn! carry Vige up to the Castle, and look to his wounds. Now +for it, young Jarl." + +"My boon is, that you would set free Prince Lothaire." + +"What?--the young Frank? Why they kept you captive, burnt your face, +and would have made an end of you but for your clever Bonder." + +"That is long past, and Lothaire is so wretched. His brother is +dead, and he is sick with grief, and he says he shall die, if he does +not go home." + +"A good thing too for the treacherous race to die out in him! What +should you care for him? he is your foe." + +"I am a Christian," was Richard's answer. + +"Well, I promised you whatever you might ask. All my share of his +ransom, or his person, bond or free, is yours. You have only to +prevail with your own Jarls and Bonders." + +Richard feared this would be more difficult; but Abbot Martin came to +the meeting, and took his part. Moreover, the idea of their hostage +dying in their hands, so as to leave them without hold upon the King, +had much weight with them; and, after long deliberation, they +consented that Lothaire should be restored to his father, without +ransom but only on condition that Louis should guarantee to the Duke +the peaceable possession of the country, as far as St. Clair sur +Epte, which had been long in dispute; so that Alberic became, +indisputably, a vassal of Normandy. + +Perhaps it was the happiest day in Richard's life when he rode back +to Bayeux, to desire Lothaire to prepare to come with him to St. +Clair, there to be given back into the hands of his father. + +And then they met King Louis, grave and sorrowful for the loss of his +little Carloman, and, for the time, repenting of his misdeeds towards +the orphan heir of Normandy. + +He pressed the Duke in his arms, and his kiss was a genuine one as he +said, "Duke Richard, we have not deserved this of you. I did not +treat you as you have treated my children. We will be true lord and +vassal from henceforth." + +Lothaire's last words were, "Farewell, Richard. If I lived with you, +I might be good like you. I will never forget what you have done for +me." + +When Richard once more entered Rouen in state, his subjects shouting +round him in transports of joy, better than all his honour and glory +was the being able to enter the Church of our Lady, and kneel by his +father's grave, with a clear conscience, and the sense that he had +tried to keep that last injunction. + + + +CONCLUSION + + + +Years had passed away. The oaths of Louis, and promises of Lothaire, +had been broken; and Arnulf of Flanders, the murderer of Duke +William, had incited them to repeated and treacherous inroads on +Normandy; so that Richard's life, from fourteen to five or six-and- +twenty, had been one long war in defence of his country. But it had +been a glorious war for him, and his gallant deeds had well earned +for him the title of "Richard the Fearless"--a name well deserved; +for there was but one thing he feared, and that was, to do wrong. + +By and by, success and peace came; and then Arnulf of Flanders, +finding open force would not destroy him, three times made attempts +to assassinate him, like his father, by treachery. But all these had +failed; and now Richard had enjoyed many years of peace and honour, +whilst his enemies had vanished from his sight. + +King Louis was killed by a fall from his horse; Lothaire died in +early youth, and in him ended the degenerate line of Charlemagne; +Hugh Capet, the son of Richard's old friend, Hugh the White, was on +the throne of France, his sure ally and brother-in-law, looking to +him for advice and aid in all his undertakings. + +Fru Astrida and Sir Eric had long been in their quiet graves; Osmond +and Alberic were among Richard's most trusty councillors and +warriors; Abbot Martin, in extreme old age, still ruled the Abbey of +Jumieges, where Richard, like his father, loved to visit him, hold +converse with him, and refresh himself in the peaceful cloister, +after the affairs of state and war. + +And Richard himself was a grey-headed man, of lofty stature and +majestic bearing. His eldest son was older than he had been himself +when he became the little Duke, and he had even begun to remember his +father's project, of an old age to be spent in retirement and peace. + +It was on a summer eve, that Duke Richard sat beside the white- +bearded old Abbot, within the porch, looking at the sun shining with +soft declining beams on the arches and columns. They spoke together +of that burial at Rouen, and of the silver key; the Abbot delighting +to tell, over and over again, all the good deeds and good sayings of +William Longsword. + +As they sat, a man, also very old and shrivelled and bent, came up to +the cloister gate, with the tottering, feeble step of one pursued +beyond his strength, coming to take sanctuary. + +"What can be the crime of one so aged and feeble?" said the Duke, in +surprise. + +At the sight of him, a look of terror shot from the old man's eye. +He clasped his hands together, and turned as if to flee; then, +finding himself incapable of escape, he threw himself on the ground +before him. + +"Mercy, mercy! noble, most noble Duke!" was all he said. + +"Rise up--kneel not to me. I cannot brook this from one who might be +my father," said Richard, trying to raise him; but at those words the +old man groaned and crouched lower still. + +"Who art thou?" said the Duke. "In this holy place thou art secure, +be thy deed what it may. Speak!--who art thou?" + +"Dost thou not know me?" said the suppliant. "Promise mercy, ere +thou dost hear my name." + +"I have seen that face under a helmet," said the Duke. "Thou art +Arnulf of Flanders!" + +There was a deep silence. + +"And wherefore art thou here?" + +"I delayed to own the French King Hugh. He has taken my towns and +ravaged my lands. Each Frenchman and each Norman vows to slay me, in +revenge for your wrongs, Lord Duke. I have been driven hither and +thither, in fear of my life, till I thought of the renown of Duke +Richard, not merely the most fearless, but the most merciful of +Princes. I sought to come hither, trusting that, when the holy +Father Abbot beheld my bitter repentance, he would intercede for me +with you, most noble Prince, for my safety and forgiveness. Oh, +gallant Duke, forgive and spare!" + +"Rise up, Arnulf," said Richard. "Where the hand of the Lord hath +stricken, it is not for man to exact his own reckoning. My father's +death has been long forgiven, and what you may have planned against +myself has, by the blessing of Heaven, been brought to nought. From +Normans at least you are safe; and it shall be my work to ensure your +pardon from my brother the King. Come into the refectory: you need +refreshment. The Lord Abbot makes you welcome." {17} + +Tears of gratitude and true repentance choked Arnulf's speech, and he +allowed himself to be raised from the ground, and was forced to +accept the support of the Duke's arm. + +The venerable Abbot slowly rose, and held up his hand in an attitude +of blessing: "The blessing of a merciful God be upon the sinner who +turneth from his evil way; and ten thousand blessings of pardon and +peace are already on the head of him who hath stretched out his hand +to forgive and aid him who was once his most grievous foe!" + + + +Footnotes: + + + +{1} Richard's place of education was Bayeaux; for, as Duke William +says in the rhymed Chronicle of Normandy, - + +"Si a Roem le faz garder +E norir, gaires longement +Il ne saura parlier neiant +Daneis, kar nul n l'i parole. +Si voil qu'il seit a tele escole +Qu l'en le sache endoctriner +Que as Daneis sache parler. +Ci ne sevent riens fors Romanz +Mais a Baieux en a tanz +Qui ne sevent si Daneis non." + +{2} Bernard was founder of the family of Harcourt of Nuneham. +Ferrieres, the ancestor of that of Ferrars. + +{3} In the same Chronicle, William Longsword directs that, - + +"Tant seit apris qu'il lise un bref +Kar ceo ne li ert pas trop gref." + +{4} Hako of Norway was educated by Ethelstane of England. It was +Foulques le Bon, the contemporary Count of Anjou, who, when derided +by Louis IV. for serving in the choir of Tours, wrote the following +retort: "The Count of Anjou to the King of France. Apprenez, +Monseigneur, qu'un roi sans lettres est une ane couronne." + +{5} The Banner of Normandy was a cross till William the Conqueror +adopted the lion. + +{6} "Sire, soies mon escus, soies mes defendemens." +Histoire des Ducs de Normandie (MICHEL). + +{7} The Cathedral was afterwards built by Richard himself. + +{8} Sus le maistre autel del iglise +Li unt sa feaute juree. + +{9} Une clef d'argent unt trovee +A sun braiol estreit noee. +Tout la gent se merveillont +Que cete clef signifiont. +* * * * +Ni la cuoule e l'estamine +En aveit il en un archete, +Que disfermeront ceste clavete +De sol itant ert tresorier +Kar nul tresor n'vait plus cher. + +The history of the adventures of Jumieges is literally true, as is +Martin's refusal to admit the Duke to the cloister:- + +Dun ne t'a Deus mis e pose +Prince gardain de sainte iglise +E cur tenir leial justise. + +{10} An attack, in which Riouf, Vicomte du Cotentin, placed Normandy +in the utmost danger. He was defeated on the banks of the Seine, in +a field still called the "Pre de Battaille," on the very day of +Richard's birth; so that the Te Deum was sung at once for the victory +and the birth of the heir of Normandy. + +{11} "Biaus Segnors, vees chi vo segneur, je ne le vous voel tolir, +mais je estoie venus en ceste ville, prendre consel a vous, comment +je poroie vengier la mort son pere, qui me rapiela d'Engletiere. Il +me fist roi, il me fist avoir l'amour le roi d'Alemaigne, il leva mon +fil de fons, il me fist toz les biens, et jou en renderai au fill le +guerredon se je puis."--MICHEL. + +{12} In a battle fought with Lothaire at Charmenil, Richard saved +the life of Walter the huntsman, who had been with him from his +youth. + +{13} At fourteen years of age, Richard was betrothed to Eumacette of +Paris, then but eight years old. In such esteem did Hugues la Blanc +hold his son-in-law, that, on his death-bed, he committed his son +Hugues Capet to his guardianship, though the Duke was then scarcely +above twenty, proposing him as the model of wisdom and of chivalry. + +{14} "Osmons, qui l'enfant enseognoit l'eu mena i jour en riviere, +et quant il revint, la reine Gerberge dist que se il jamais +l'enmenait fors des murs, elle li ferait les jeix crever."--MICHEL. + +{15} "Gules, two wings conjoined in lure, or," is the original coat +of St. Maur, or Seymour, said to be derived from Osmond de +Centeville, who assumed them in honour of his flight with Duke +Richard. His direct descendants in Normandy were the Marquises of +Osmond, whose arms were gules, two wings ermine. In 1789 there were +two survivors of the line of Centeville, one a Canon of Notre Dame, +the other a Chevalier de St. Louis, who died childless. + +{16} Harald of Norway, who made a vow never to trim his hair till he +had made himself sole king of the country. The war lasted ten years, +and he thus might well come to deserve the title of Horrid-locks, +which was changed to that of Harfagre, or fair-haired, when he +celebrated his final victory, by going into a bath at More, and +committing his shaggy hair to be cut and arranged by his friend Jarl +Rognwald, father of Rollo. + +{17} Richard obtained for Arnulf the restitution of Arras, and +several other Flemish towns. He died eight years afterwards, in 996, +leaving several children, among whom his daughter Emma is connected +with English history, by her marriage, first, with Ethelred the +Unready, and secondly, with Knute, the grandson of his firm friend +and ally, Harald Blue-tooth. His son was Richard, called the Good; +his grandson, Robert the Magnificent; his great-grandson, William the +Conqueror, who brought the Norman race to England. Few names in +history shine with so consistent a lustre as that of Richard; at +first the little Duke, afterwards Richard aux longues jambes, but +always Richard sans peur. This little sketch has only brought +forward the perils of his childhood, but his early manhood was +likewise full of adventures, in which he always proved himself brave, +honourable, pious, and forbearing. But for these our readers must +search for themselves into early French history, where all they will +find concerning our hero will only tend to exalt his character. + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg eText The Little Duke + diff --git a/old/ltduk10.zip b/old/ltduk10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fff5e8b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ltduk10.zip |