Chivalry: Dizain des Reines

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THE FRIEND'S PART; AND IN DOING SO ACHIEVES THEIR COMMON ANGUISH, AS WE

y of the

to Sire Richard, the second monarch of that name to reign in England. This king, I must tell you, had succeeded while he was

court, where he was accorded a provisional courtesy, and who went also into many

was, "How wonderful is his likeness to the King!" while the thought's commentary ran, unacknowledged, "Yes, as an eagle resembles a falcon!" For here, to the observant eye, was a more zealous person, already passion-wasted, and a far more dictatori

" the Queen told him, and innoce

w the face of a man who has just stepped into a quicksand. She grew re

saint in a jaunty tapestry; bright as ice in sunshine, just so her beauty chilled you, he complained: moreover, this daughter of the Caesars had been fetched into England, chiefly, to breed him children, and this she had never done. Undoubtedly he had made a bad bargain,-he was too easy-going, people presumed upon

jutor more ready than Edward Maudelain. Giving was with these two a sort of obsession, though always he gave in a half scorn of his fellow creatures which was not more than half c

n by these matters while, so clamantly, the dissension between the young King and his uncles gathered to a head. The King's uncles meant to continue governing England, with the King as their ward, as long as they could; he meant to relieve himself of this guardianship

he had found him, noted for the carping tongue he lacked both power and inclination to bridle; and she had, against his nature, made Maudelain see that every person is at bottom lovable, a

, in defiance of common-sense, to suffer somehow for this beautiful and gracious comrade; though very often pity for her loneliness and knowledge that she da

to make a song for her. This had been at Dover, about vespers, in the starved and tiny garden overlooking the English Channel, upon whi

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laughed, and began to speak of Long Simon's recent fever. Was there no method of establishing him in another cottage? No, the pries

ke in company with the King's other uncle Edmund of York and bland Harry of Derby, who was John of Gaunt's oldest son, and in consequence the King's cousin. Each was a proud and handsome man: Derby alone (who was afterward King of

our demolishment or his. I confess a preference in the matter. I have consulted with the Pope concerning the advisability of taking the crown into my own hands. Edmund here does not want it, and my brother John is already achieving one in Spain. Eh, in imagination I was already King of England, and I had dreamed-Well! to-day the prosaic courier a

then, my noble patron,

you and I and all of us. Others avoid. The Pope and the Emperor will have none of me. They

for he thought this

dbury," said the Duke of York, "in order to give it to d

torious, that the Black Prince, my brother, wooed in this town the Demoiselle Alixe Riczi, whom in the outcome he abducted. It is not so generally

do with all this?" s

,-the husband of that Joane of Kent whom throughout life my brother loved most marvellously. The disposition of the late Queen-Mother is tolerably well known. I make no comment save that to her moulding my brother w

table. "In extremis my brother did more than confess. He signed,-your Majesty," said Gloucester. The Duke on a sudden f

was born at Sudbury,"

was of a light and brilliant blue, powdered with many golden stars, and the walls were hung with smart tapestries which commemorated the exploits of Theseus. "Then I am King," this Maudelain said aloud, "of Fra

had not thought of the dumb

er between his long, wet fing

ic See has granted the necessary dispensation. Treading too close upon the fighting requisite to bring about the dethronement and death of our nominal lord the so-called King,

g bright garments, and they glittered with gold and many jewels. He standing amo

r race until the end. Of your brother's dishonor ye make merchandise to-day, and to-day fratricide whispers me, and leers, and, Heaven help me! I attend. O God of Gods! wilt Thou dare bid a man live stainless, having aforetime filled his veins with such a venom? Then haro, will I cry from Thy deepest hell.... Oh, now let the adulterous Redeemer of Poictesme rejoice in his tall fires,

Duke said nothing; big York seemed to drowse; and Henry of Derby smiled as he sounded a gong for that

e castle. The Duke of Kent, Maudelain was informed, had taken a fancy to a peasant gir

n alive, his heart now sang; allwhither his empire spread, opulent in grain and metal and every revenue of the earth, and in stalwart men (his chattels), and in strong orderly cities, where the windows would be adorned with scarlet hangings, and women (with golden

t and north they had gone yearly, for so many centuries, these dumb peasants, to fight out their master's uncomprehended quarrel, and to manure with their carcasses the soil of France and of Scotland. Give these serfs a king, now, who (being absolute), might dare to deal in perfect equity with rich and poor, who with his advent would bring Peace into England as his bride, as Trygae

sures, like wolves over a corpse, and blindly dealing death to one another to secure at least one more delicious gulp before that inevitable mangling by the teeth of some burlier colleague. The complete misery of England showed before Ma

his oncoming King Edward would be a fratricide, and after death would be irrevocably damned. To burn, and eternally to burn, and, worst of all, to know that the torment was

or the most part, and he paused to wonder at her bright and singular beauty. How vaguely odd was this beauty, he reflected, too; how alien in its effect

Right and left, birds sang as if in a contest. The sky was cloudless, a faint and radiant blue throughout, save where the sun stayed as yet in the zenith, so that the Queen's brows c

golden leopards and was trimmed with ermine. About her yellow hair was a chaplet of gold, wherein emeralds glowed. Her blue eyes were as large and shining and changeable (he thought) as two oceans in midsummer; and Maudelain s

. Then in a level voice he told her all, u

ht have counted fifty. Presently she said: "This means more war, for de Vere and Tressilian and de la Pole and

hich will make me King of Engl

nd will kill and ravish in the pauses of their songs; while daily in that

ing, and the general happiness may rest at my disposal. The adventure of this wo

dings and they will fling you aside, as the barons have pulled down every king that dared oppose them. No, they desire to live pleasantly, to have fish on Fridays, and white bread and the f

e, and a king is only an adorned and fearful person who leads wolves toward their quarry, lest, lacking it, they turn and devour him. Everywhere the powerful labor to put one another out of worship, and each to stand the higher with the other's corpse as his pedestal; and Lechery and Greed and Hatred sway these proud and inconsiderate fools as winds blow at will the gay leaves of autumn. We

rs He devoted that brief space! Only to chat with fishermen, and to talk with light women, and to consort with rascals, and at last to die bet

His tithe-" Maudelain broke off with a yapping laugh. "Puf! He

e, thousands will die, and

nswerable to Heaven alone. It is my heritage." And now

was afraid of everything you touched, and I hated everything you looked at. I would not have you stained; I desired to pass my whole life between the four walls of some dingy and eternal gaol, forever alone with you, lest you become like other men. I would in that period have been the very bread you eat, the l

s raised hands had fallen like so much lead, and remembering his own nature

e, but out of the lust of making trial of them!' Ah! ah! too curiously I planned my own damnation, too presumptuously I had esteemed my soul a worthy scapegoat, and I had gilded my enormity with many lies. Yet indeed, indee

thin our palms the destiny of many peoples. Depardieux! God is wiser than we are. Still, Satan off

but again their kindling eyes had met, and again the man shuddered. "Decide! oh

lips which were very near to his, "through these six years I have ranked your friendship as the chief of al

reed and ignorance of little men is Salomon himself confounded, and by them is Hercules lightly unhorsed. Were I Leviathan, whose bones we

without even any name. Otherwise, you can in no way escape being made an instrument to bring about the misery and d

he mere sight of which may well cause a man's voice to tremble as my voice trembles now, and through desire of which-But I tread afield! Of that beauty you have made no profit. O daughter of the Caesars, I bid you now gird either loin for an unlovely traffic. Old Legion must be fought with fire. True that the age is sick, true that we may not cure, we can but salve the hurt-" His hand had torn open his sombre gown, and the man's bared breast shone in the sunlight, and on his breast heaved sleek and glittering beads of sweat. Twice he crie

all be lonely now, my only friend, and yet-it does not matter," the Queen said, with a little shiver. "N

Maudelain a sort of frenzied pity and a hatred, quite illogical, of all other things exist

this or that bright color and an incessant melody. It was unbearable. Then it was over; the ordered progress of all happenings was apparent, s

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n even now-But he will not return. He will never return," the Queen repeated, carefully. "It is strange I cannot comprehend that he will never return! Ah, Mother of God!" she c

matters, for he did not return to his own apartments that night. Next day the English

Gloucester, who was now with reason troubled, since he had

nk you for your past services, but I need them no more." They had no check handy, and Gloucester in par

y silver chains into the tilting-grounds at Smithfield, and it was remarked that the Queen appeared unusually mirthful. The King was in high good humor, a pattern of conju

OF THE S