righter, and a
triumphant smile played about his lips, when, after the visit to the
menagerie, the procession re-entered the palace, and the Lord Hastings
conducted the count to the bath prepared for him, previous to the
crowning banquet of the night. And far more luxurious and more splendid
than might be deemed by those who read but the general histories of that
sanguinary time, or the inventories of furniture in the houses even of
the great barons, was the accommodation which Edward afforded to his
guest. His apartments and chambers were hung with white silk and linen,
the floors covered with richly-woven carpets; the counterpane of his bed
was cloth-of-gold, trimmed with ermine; the cupboard shone with vessels
of silver and gold; and over two baths were pitched tents of white
cloth of Rennes fringed with silver. [See Madden's Narrative of the Lord
Grauthuse; Archaelogia, 1830.]

Agreeably to the manners of the time, Lord Hastings assisted to disrobe
the count; and, the more to bear him company, afterwards undressed
himself and bathed in the one bath, while the count refreshed his limbs
in the other.

"Pri'thee," said De la Roche, drawing aside the curtain of his tent, and
putting forth his head--"pri'thee, my Lord Hastings, deign to instruct
my ignorance of a court which I would fain know well, and let me weet
whether the splendour of your king, far exceeding what I was taught to
look for, is derived from his revenue as sovereign of England, or chief
of the House of York?"

"Sir," returned Hastings, gravely, putting out his own head, "it is
Edward's happy fortune to be the wealthiest proprietor in England,
except the Earl of Warwick, and thus he is enabled to indulge a state
which yet oppresses not his people."

"Except the Earl of Warwick!" repeated the count, musingly, as the fumes
of the odours with which the bath was filled rose in a cloud over his
long hair,--"ill would fare that subject, in most lands, who was as
wealthy as his king! You have heard that Warwick has met King Louis at
Rouen, and that they are inseparable?"

"It becomes an ambassador to win grace of him he is sent to please."

"But none win the grace of Louis whom Louis does not dupe."

"You know not Lord Warwick, Sir Count. His mind is so strong and
so frank, that it is as hard to deceive him as it is for him to be
deceived."

"Time will show," said the count, pettishly, and he withdrew his head
into the tent.

And now there appeared