e,--
Lest we attain the Middle-Land,
Whence clouded well-springs rise,
And vipers from a slimy strand
Lift glittering cold eyes.

"Now, the parable all may understand,
And surely you know the name of the land!
Ah, never a guide or ever a chart
May safely lead you about this land,--
The Land of the Human Heart!"

And the following morning, being duly empowered, Antoine Riczi sailed
for England in company with the Earl of Worcester; and upon Saint
Richard's day the next ensuing was, at Eltham, as proxy of Jehane,
married in his own person to the bloat King Henry, the fourth of that
name to reign. This king was that same squinting Harry of Derby
(called also Henry of Lancaster and Bolingbroke) who stole his
cousin's crown, and about whom I have told you in the preceding story.
First Sire Henry placed the ring on Riczi's finger, and then spoke
Antoine Riczi, very loud and clear:

"I, Antoine Riczi,--in the name of my worshipful lady, Dame Jehane,
the daughter of Messire Charles until lately King of Navarre, the
Duchess of Brittany and the Countess of Rougemont,--do take you, Sire
Henry of Lancaster, King of England and in title of France, and Lord
of Ireland, to be my husband; and thereto I, Antoine Riczi, in the
spirit of my said lady"--the speaker paused here to regard the gross
hulk of masculinity before him, and then smiled very sadly--"in
precisely the spirit of my said lady, I plight you my troth."

Afterward the King made him presents of some rich garments of scarlet
trimmed with costly furs, and of four silk belts studded with silver
and gold, and with valuable clasps, of which the owner might well be
proud, and Riczi returned to Lyonnois. "Depardieux!" his uncle said;
"so you return alone!"

"I return as did Prince Troilus," said Riczi--"to boast to you of
liberal entertainment in the tent of Diomede."

"You are certainly an inveterate fool," the Vicomte considered after a
prolonged appraisal of his face, "since there is always a deal of
other pink-and-white flesh as yet unmortgaged--Boy with my brother's
eyes!" the Vicomte said, in another voice; "I have heard of the task
put upon you: and I would that I were God to punish as is fitting! But
you are welcome home, my lad."

So these two abode together at Montbrison for a long time, and in the
purlieus of that place hunted and hawked, and made sonnets once in a
while, and read aloud from old romances some five days out of the
seven. Th