nto a mocking laugh.

"Chastise me!" he said. "Why, I could put you in my pocket for a little
hop-of-my-thumb as you are."

"I think," said Sir Jacquelin--for the boys' voices both rose
loud--to the earl, "you had better send that brat home and order him
to be whipped."

"Sir count," said the earl, "your manners are insolent, and were we not
engaged upon a Crusade, it would please me much to give you a lesson on
that score."

Higher and higher the dispute rose, until some angry word caught the ear
of the king.

Amid the general buzz of voices King Phillip rose, and speaking a word to
King Richard, moved from the table, thus giving the sign for the breaking
up of the feast.

Immediately afterwards a page touched the earl and Sir Jacquelin upon the
shoulder, and told them that the kings desired to speak with them in the
tent of the King of France.

The two nobles strode through the crowd, regarding each other with eyes
much like those of two dogs eager to fly at each other's throat.

"My lords, my lords," said King Phillip when they entered, "this is
against all law and reason. For shame, to be brawling at my table. I
would not say aught openly, but methinks it is early indeed for the
knights and nobles engaged in a common work to fall to words."

"Your Majesty," said the Earl of Evesham, "I regret deeply what has
happened. But it seemed, from the time we sat down to the meal, that this
lord sought to pass a quarrel upon me, and I now beseech your Majesty
that you will permit us to settle our differences in the lists."

King Richard gave a sound of assent, but the King of France shook his
head gravely.

"Do you forget," he said, "the mission upon which you are assembled
here? Has not every knight and noble in these armies taken a solemn oath
to put aside private quarrels and feuds until the holy sepulchre is
taken? Shall we at this very going off show that the oath is a mere form
of words? Shall we show before the face of Christendom that the knights
of the cross are unable to avoid flying at each other's throats, even
while on their way to wrest the holy sepulchre from the infidel? No,
sirs, you must lay aside your feuds, and must promise me and my good
brother here that you will keep the peace between you until this war is
over. Whose fault it was that the quarrel began I know not. It may be
that my Lord of Brabant was discourteous. It may be that the earl here
was too hot. But whichever it be, it matters