by a noble who was a near relation
of Conrad of Montferat, and who was the bitter enemy of the English. A
great fete had been given in honour of the marriage of his daughter, and
upon this day the young pair were to ride in triumph through the city.
Great preparations had been made; masques and pageants of various kinds
manufactured; and the whole townspeople, dressed in their holiday attire,
were gathered in the streets. Cuthbert had gone out, followed by his
little band of retainers, and taken their station to see the passing
show. First came a large body of knights and men-at-arms, with gay
banners and trappings. Then rode the bridegroom, with the bride carried
in a litter by his side. After this came several allegorical
representations. Among these was the figure of a knight bearing the arms
of Austria. Underneath his feet, on the car, lay a figure clad in a royal
robe, across whom was thrown a banner with the leopards of England. The
knight stood with his foot on this figure.

This representation of the dishonour of England at the hands of Austria
elicited great acclamations from the crowd. Cuthbert clenched his teeth
and grasped his sword angrily, but had the sense to see the folly of
taking any notice of the insult. Not so with Cnut. Furious at the insult
offered to the standard of his royal master, Cnut, with a bound, burst
through the ranks of the crowd, leaped on to the car, and with a buffet
smote the figure representing Austria, into the road, and lifted the flag
of England from the ground. A yell of indignation and rage was heard. The
infuriated crowd rushed forward. Cnut, with a bound, sprang from the car,
and, joining his comrades, burst through those who attempted to impede
them, and darted down a by-street.

Cuthbert, for the moment amazed at the action of his follower, had on the
instant drawn his sword and joined the archers. In the crowd, however, he
was for a second separated from them; and before he could tear himself
from the hands of the citizens who had seized him, the men-at-arms
accompanying the procession surrounded him, and he was led away by them
to the castle, the guards with difficulty protecting him from the enraged
populace. Even at this moment Cuthbert experienced a deep sense of
satisfaction at the thought that his followers had escaped. But he feared
that alone, and unacquainted with the language of the country, they would
find it difficult indeed to escape the search which would be