the heir of England. He viewed him now with a different
eye: in secret complacency, for, with a soldier's weakness, the
soldier-baron valued men too much for their outward seeming, he surveyed
a figure already masculine and stalwart, though still in the graceful
symmetry of fair eighteen.

"A youth of a goodly presence," muttered the earl, "with the dignity
that commands in peace, and the sinews that can strive against hardship
and death in war."

He approached, and said calmly: "Sir minstrel, he who woos either fame
or beauty may love the lute, but should wield the sword. At least, so
methinks had the Fifth Henry said to him who boasts for his heritage the
sword of Agincourt."

"O noble earl!" exclaimed the prince, touched by words far gentler than
he had dared to hope, despite his bold and steadfast mien, and giving
way to frank and graceful emotion, "O noble earl! since thou knowest me;
since my secret is told; since, in that secret, I have proclaimed a hope
as dear to me as a crown and dearer far than life, can I hope that thy
rebuke but veils thy favour, and that, under Lord Warwick's eye, the
grandson of Henry V. shall approve himself worthy of the blood that
kindles in his veins?"

"Fair sir and prince," returned the earl, whose hardy and generous
nature the emotion and fire of Edward warmed and charmed, "there are,
alas! deep memories of blood and wrong--the sad deeds and wrathful words
of party feud and civil war--between thy royal mother and myself; and
though we may unite now against a common foe, much I fear that the Lady
Margaret would brook ill a closer friendship, a nearer tie, than the
exigency of the hour between Richard Nevile and her son."

"No, Sir Earl, let me hope you misthink her. Hot and impetuous, but not
mean and treacherous, the moment that she accepts the service of
thine arm she must forget that thou hast been her foe; and if I, as my
father's heir, return to England, it is in the trust that a new era will
commence. Free from the passionate enmities of either faction, Yorkist
and Lancastrian are but Englishmen to me. Justice to all who serve us,
pardon for all who have opposed."

The prince paused, and, even in the dim light, his kingly aspect gave
effect to his kingly words. "And if this resolve be such as you approve;
if you, great earl, be that which even your foes proclaim, a man whose
power depends less on lands and vassals--broad though the one, and
numerous though the other--t