first to come forward and shake Eustace by the hand,
saying with a laugh, "Nay, my Lord, this is the first time the ugliest
Knight in France has been called by such a name. However, young Sir,
may you win and wear many another."

"That scarcely may be a sincere wish, Messire Bertrand," said the Duke
of Lancaster, "unless you mean roses of love instead of roses of war.
And truly, with his face, and the fame he owes to you, methinks he will
not find our damsels at Bordeaux very hard of heart. See, he blushes,
as if we had guessed his very thought."

"Truly, my Lord John," said old Sir John Chandos sternly, "a man may
well blush to hear a son of King Edward talk as if such trifling were
the reward of knighthood. His face and his fame forsooth! as if he
were not already in sufficient danger of being cockered up, like some
other striplings on whom it has pleased his Highness to confer
knighthood for as mere a chance as this."

"You have coloured his cheek in good earnest," said the Captal de Buch.
"Consider, Chandos, this is no time to damp his spirit."

"It were a spirit scarce worth fostering, if it is to be damped by a
little breath of the lips one way or the other," said Sir John, moving
off, and adding, when out of Eustace's hearing, "A likely lad enough
had he been under his brother's training, but they will spoil him, and
I will have no hand in it."

Eustace had been accustomed to hold the warrior in such veneration,
that he felt considerably hurt and mortified at the want of welcome
which contrasted with the kindness of the rest; and he could hardly
recover his self-possession sufficiently to inquire the pleasure of the
Prince with regard to his brother's troop.

"Take command yourself," said Edward. "You surely have some Esquire or
man-at-arms who can supply your own want of experience."

"My brother's Squire, Gaston d'Aubricour, is well learned in chivalry,
my Lord," said Eustace, "and I will do my best, with his aid, to fulfil
my trust."

"It is well," said Edward. "The Lances of Lynwood are too well trained
easily to forget their duty, and I fear not but that you will do well.
How old is your brother's young heir?"

"Eight years, my Lord."

"We will soon have him at Bordeaux," said Edward, "that he may grow up
with my boys in the same friendship as their fathers. And now," added
he, turning from Eustace to the assembled nobles around him, "let us
part, and prepare for our further journey. In a