d sweetmeats which rolled with its luscious cargo down the line of
guests. Flagons of Gascony, of Rhine wine, of Canary and of Rochelle
were held in readiness by the attendants; but the age, though luxurious,
was not drunken, and the sober habits of the Norman had happily
prevailed over the license of those Saxon banquets where no guest might
walk from the table without a slur upon his host. Honor and hardihood go
ill with a shaking hand or a blurred eye.

Whilst wine, fruit and spices were handed round the high tables
the squires had been served in turn at the farther end of the hall.
Meanwhile round the King there had gathered a group of statesmen and
soldiers, talking eagerly among themselves. The Earl of Stafford, the
Earl of Warwick, the Earl of Arundel, Lord Beauchamp and Lord Neville
were assembled at the back of his chair, with Lord Percy and Lord
Mowbray at either side. The little group blazed with golden chains and
jeweled chaplets, flame colored paltocks and purple tunics.

Of a sudden the King said something over his shoulder to Sir William de
Pakyngton the herald, who advanced and stood by the royal chair. He was
a tall and noble-featured man, with long grizzled beard which rippled
down to the gold-linked belt girdling his many-colored tabard. On his
head he had placed the heraldic barret-cap which bespoke his dignity,
and he slowly raised his white wand high in the air, while a great hush
fell upon the hall.

"My lords of England," said he, "knight bannerets, knights, squires, and
all others here present of gentle birth and coat-armor, know that your
dread and sovereign lord, Edward, King of England and of France, bids
me give you greeting and commands you to come hither that he may have
speech with you."

In an instant the tables were deserted and the whole company had
clustered in front of the King's chair. Those who had sat on either side
of him crowded inward so that his tall dark figure upreared itself amid
the dense circle of his guests.

With a flush upon his olive cheeks and with pride smoldering in his dark
eyes, he looked round him at the eager faces of the men who had been his
comrades from Sluys and Cadsand to Crecy and Calais. They caught fire
from that warlike gleam in his masterful gaze, and a sudden wild, fierce
shout pealed up to the vaulted ceiling, a soldierly thanks for what was
passed and a promise for what was to come. The King's teeth gleamed in a
quick smile, and his large whit