ed that he was in grave disfavour with the Black Prince,
and guessed, as was the case, that some suspicion had fallen on him
in reference to the attack upon Walter in the camp, and to the strange
attempt which had been made to destroy him by Sir Phillip Holbeaut. He
had, therefore, for a time taken service with the Count of Savoy, and
was away from England, to the satisfaction of Walter and Dame Vernon,
when the marriage took place; for he had given proofs of such a
malignity of disposition that both felt, that although his succession to
the estates was now hopelessly barred, yet that he might at any moment
attempt some desperate deed to satisfy his feeling of disappointment and
revenge.

In spite of the gaiety of the court of King Edward a cloud hung over the
kingdom; for it was threatened by a danger far more terrible than any
combination of foes--a danger which no gallantry upon the part of her
king or warriors availed anything. With a slow and terrible march the
enemy was advancing from the East, where countless hosts had been slain.
India, Arabia, Syria, and Armenia had been well-nigh depopulated. In no
country which the dread foe had invaded had less than two-thirds of the
population been slain; in some nine-tenths had perished. All sorts of
portents were reported to have accompanied its appearance in the East;
where it was said showers of serpents had fallen, strange and unknown
insects had appeared in the atmosphere, and clouds of sulphurous vapour
had issued from the earth and enveloped whole provinces and countries.
For two or three years the appearance of this scourge had been heralded
by strange atmospheric disturbances; heavy rains and unusual floods,
storms of thunder and lightning of unheard-of violence, hail-showers
of unparalleled duration and severity, had everywhere been experienced,
while in Italy and Germany violent earthquake shocks had been felt, and
that at places where no tradition existed of previous occurrences of the
same kind.

From Asia it had spread to Africa and to Europe, affecting first the
sea-shores and creeping inland by the course of the rivers. Greece first
felt its ravages, and Italy was not long in experiencing them. In Venice
more than 100,000 persons perished in a few months, and thence spreading
over the whole peninsula, not a town escaped the visitation. At Florence
60,000 people were carried off, and at Lucca and Genoa, in Sicily,
Sardinia, and Corsica it raged with equal v