night he brooded
over his defeats and disasters, and sighed dolefully as his memory
recalled the humiliation to which, in his person, the cause of
Christianity had been exposed at the hands of the Moslem.

Fortunately, at that time, Henry, King of England, being at Bordeaux,
offered Louis a visit; and the saintly monarch, rousing himself to
welcome his royal brother-in-law, made preparations for his reception.
Moreover, when Henry's approach was announced, Louis mounted and went
forth to meet his guest; and, ere long, the King of England with a
magnificent train appeared in sight.

Henry was considerably older than Louis. Indeed, he had now attained the
age of forty-seven. But his frame was vigorous; he had always enjoyed
robust health; and, as he had taken life easily, time and trouble had
not wrought so much havoc on him as on the French monarch. He was of the
middle height, and compactly built, and would have been accounted
handsome, but that one of his eyelids hung down in such a way as to
conceal part of the eyeball, and rather spoiled a face which otherwise
would have been pleasant to look upon. But, such as his person was,
Henry did not neglect its adornment. He had all a Plantagenet's love of
splendour, and the gorgeousness of his dress was such as to excite the
wonder of his contemporaries. By his right hand rode his spouse, Eleanor
of Provence, sister of the Queen of France, no longer young, but still
preserving, in face and form, much of the beauty and grace which, twenty
years earlier, made the name of the second daughter of Raymond Berenger
celebrated at the courts of Europe.

Behind the King and Queen of England, on a black steed, which he
bestrode with remarkable grace, rode their son, Edward, taller by the
head and shoulders than other tall men, and already, though not out of
his teens, renowned as one of the bravest and handsomest princes in
Christendom. With him was his very juvenile wife, Eleanor of Castille,
whom he had recently espoused at Burgos, and brought over the Pyrenees
to Bordeaux, on his way to England.

But the procession did not stop here; for, as the chronicler tells us,
'the King of England had in his own retinue a thousand handsome horses,
ridden by men of dignity and rank, besides waggons and sumpter cattle,
as well as a large number of choice horses, so that the unusual novelty
of the array caused great astonishment to the French.'

The meeting of the two kings was all that cou