a scholar too, speaking Latin, French,
German, Spanish, and even a little English.

So much had long been patent to the world, but only of recent years had
he shown other and more formidable characteristics: a restless ambition
which coveted his neighbor's throne, and a wise foresight in matters
of commerce, which engaged him now in transplanting Flemish weavers and
sowing the seeds of what for many years was the staple trade of England.
Each of these varied qualities might have been read upon his face. The
brow, shaded by a crimson cap of maintenance, was broad and lofty. The
large brown eyes were ardent and bold. His chin was clean-shaven, and
the close-cropped dark mustache did not conceal the strong mouth, firm,
proud and kindly, but capable of setting tight in merciless ferocity.
His complexion was tanned to copper by a life spent in field sports or
in war, and he rode his magnificent black horse carelessly and easily,
as one who has grown up in the saddle. His own color was black also, for
his active; sinewy figure was set off by close-fitting velvet of that
hue, broken only by a belt of gold, and by a golden border of open pods
of the broom-plant.

With his high and noble bearing, his simple yet rich attire and his
splendid mount, he looked every inch a King.

The picture of gallant man on gallant horse was completed by the noble
Falcon of the Isles which fluttered along some twelve feet above his
head, "waiting on," as it was termed, for any quarry which might arise.
The second bird of the cast was borne upon the gauntleted wrist of Raoul
the chief falconer in the rear.

At the right side of the monarch and a little behind him rode a youth
some twenty years of age, tall, slim and dark, with noble aquiline
features and keen penetrating eyes which sparkled with vivacity and
affection as he answered the remarks of the King. He was clad in deep
crimson diapered with gold, and the trappings of his white palfrey were
of a magnificence which proclaimed the rank of its rider. On his face,
still free from mustache or beard, there sat a certain gravity and
majesty of expression which showed that young as he was great affairs
had been in his keeping and that his thoughts and interests were those
of the statesman and the warrior. That great day when, little more
than a school-boy, he had led the van of the victorious army which had
crushed the power of France and Crecy, had left this stamp upon his
features; but stern a