n's charger--fell back over its
rider upon the sward. Montreal disencumbered himself in great rage and
shame, as a faint cry from his pavilion reached his ear, and redoubled
his mortification. He rose with a lightness which astonished the
beholders; for so heavy was the armour worn at that day, that few
knights once stretched upon the ground could rise without assistance;
and drawing his sword, cried out fiercely--"On foot, on foot!--the fall
was not mine, but this accursed beast's, that I must needs for my sins
raise to the rank of a charger. Come on--"

"Nay, Sir Knight," said Adrian, drawing off his gauntlets and unbuckling
his helmet, which he threw on the ground, "I come to thee a guest and
a friend; but to fight on foot is the encounter of mortal foes. Did I
accept thy offer, my defeat would but stain thy knighthood."

Montreal, whose passion had beguiled him for the moment, sullenly
acquiesced in this reasoning. Adrian hastened to soothe his antagonist.
"For the rest," said he, "I cannot pretend to the prize. Your lance lost
me my stirrups--mine left you unshaken. You say right; the defeat, if
any, was that of your steed."

"We may meet again when I am more equally horsed," said Montreal, still
chafing.

"Now, our Lady forbid!" exclaimed Adrian, with so devout an earnestness
that the bystanders could not refrain from laughing; and even Montreal
grimly and half-reluctantly, joined in the merriment. The courtesy of
his foe, however, conciliated and touched the more frank and soldierly
qualities of his nature, and composing himself, he replied:--

"Signor di Castello, I rest your debtor for a courtesy that I have but
little imitated. Howbeit, if thou wouldst bind me to thee for ever, thou
wilt suffer me to send for my own charger, and afford me a chance to
retrieve mine honour. With that steed, or with one equal to thine, which
seems to me of the English breed, I will gage all I possess, lands,
castle, and gold, sword and spurs, to maintain this pass, one by one,
against all thy train."

Fortunately, perhaps, for Adrian, ere he could reply, Riccardo Annibaldi
cried, with great warmth, "Sir Knight, I have with me two steeds well
practised in the tourney; take thy choice, and accept in me a champion
of the Roman against the French chivalry;--there is my gage."

"Signor," replied Montreal, with ill-suppressed delight, "thy proffer
shows so gallant and free a spirit, that it were foul sin in me to balk
it. I acc