o the house. Here, as after their ablutions they
sat down to the evening meal, the archbishop remembered poor Marmaduke,
and despatched to him one of his thirty household chaplains. Marmaduke
was found fast asleep over the second tense of the verb amo.

CHAPTER VI. THE ARRIVAL OF THE COUNT DE LA ROCHE, AND THE VARIOUS
EXCITEMENT PRODUCED ON MANY PERSONAGES BY THAT EVENT.

The prudence of the archbishop's counsel was so far made manifest, that
on the next day Montagu found all remonstrance would have been too late.
The Count de la Roche had already landed, and was on his way to London.
The citizens, led by Rivers partially to suspect the object of the
visit, were delighted not only by the prospect of a brilliant pageant,
but by the promise such a visit conveyed of a continued peace with their
commercial ally; and the preparations made by the wealthy merchants
increased the bitterness and discontent of Montagu. At length, at the
head of a gallant and princely retinue, the Count de la Roche entered
London. Though Hastings made no secret of his distaste to the Count de
la Roche's visit, it became his office as lord chamberlain to meet the
count at Blackwall, and escort him and his train, in gilded barges, to
the palace.

In the great hall of the Tower, in which the story of Antiochus was
painted by the great artists employed under Henry III., and on the
elevation of the dais, behind which, across Gothic columns, stretched
draperies of cloth-of-gold, was placed Edward's chair of state. Around
him were grouped the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, the Lords
Worcester, Montagu, Rivers, D'Eyncourt, St. John, Raoul de Fulke, and
others. But at the threshold of the chamber stood Anthony Woodville, the
knightly challenger, his knee bound by the ladye-badge of the S. S.,
and his fine person clad in white-flowered velvet of Genoa, adorned with
pearls. Stepping forward, as the count appeared, the gallant Englishman
bent his knee half-way to the ground, and raising the count's hand to
his lips, said in French, "Deign, noble sir, to accept the gratitude of
one who were not worthy of encounter from so peerless a hand, save
by the favour of the ladies of England, and your own courtesy, which
ennobles him whom it stoops to." So saying, he led the count towards the
king.

De la Roche, an experienced and profound courtier, and justly deserving
Hall's praise as a man of "great witte, courage, valiantness, and
liberalitie," did not