forward, "if I
remember right, you had thrown off your helmet, saying it was as hot as
a copper cauldron; and besides, our good Knight, when he said those
words touching Master Arthur, raised himself up somewhat, and spoke out
louder, as if that we might all hear and bear witness."

"No witness beyond your own train, Sir Eustace?" said Clarenham.

"None," said Eustace, "excepting one whose word even you will scarcely
dare to dispute, Sir Bertrand du Guesclin."

"I dispute no man's word, Sir Eustace," said Fulk; "I only say that
until the claim which you allege be proved in the King's Court, I am
the lawful guardian of the lands and person of the heir of Lynwood. The
Lord Chancellor Wykeham may weigh the credit to be attached to the
witness of this highly respectable Esquire, or this long-eared
man-at-arms, or may send beyond seas for the testimony of Du Guesclin:
in the meantime, I assume my office. Come here, boy."

"I will not come to you, Lord Fulk," said Arthur; "or when I do, it
shall be sword in hand to ask for an account for the tears you have
made my sweet mother shed."

"Bred up in the same folly!" said Fulk. "Once more, Sir Eustace, will
you yield him to me, or must I use force?"

"I have vowed before his mother's corpse to shield him from you,"
returned Eustace.

"Think of the consequences, Sir Eustace," said Sir Philip Ashton,
coming up to him. "Remember the unrepealed grant to the Clarenhams.
The Lynwood manor may be at any moment resumed, to which, failing your
nephew, you are heir. You will ruin him and yourself."

"It is his person, not his lands, that I am bound to guard," said
Eustace. "Let him do his worst; my nephew had better be a landless
man, than one such as Fulk would make him."

"Think," continued Sir Philip, "of the disadvantages to your cause of
provoking a fray at such a time. Hold your hand, and yield the boy, at
least till the cause come before the Chancellor."

"Never," said Eustace. "His parents have trusted him to me, and I will
fulfil my promise. The scandal of the fray be on him who occasions it."

"Recollect, my Lord," said Ashton, turning to Fulk, "that this may be
misrepresented. These young warriors are hot and fiery, and this young
Knight, they say, has succeeded to all his brother's favour with the
Prince."

"I will not be bearded by a boy," returned Clarenham, thrusting him
aside. "Hark you, Sir Eustace. You have been raised to a height which
has turne