was
drawing to a close, the company began to look around and examine them.

'My lord,' said the Count of Anjou, jocularly addressing Henry, 'why
have you invited the French to dine with you in this house of all
others? See, there is the shield of the lion-hearted King Richard. I
marvel that your guests have been able to eat without fear and
trembling.'

Now this remark, uttered as it was in a tone of irony, was calculated to
excite unpleasant sensations, and to recall disagreeable reminiscences;
and Henry looked mortified, and Prince Edward threw his magnificent head
disdainfully backward. But Louis, ever on the watch, hastened to soothe
their rising ire.

'Would to God, Henry!' said he, earnestly, 'that the twelve peers of
France and the barons would agree to my wishes. We should then be
inseparable friends.'

'I believe it, Louis, my cousin,' exclaimed Henry, quickly.

'I grieve, my Lord knows,' continued Louis, 'that our feelings of
affection cannot be cemented on all points; but I cannot bend the
obstinacy of my barons; and therefore I perceive plainly that you will
never recover your rights.'

'Nay, the future is with God and his saints,' said Henry; who, pacific
as he was, by no means relished the idea of the Plantagenets being
perpetually excluded from their inheritance. 'Meanwhile, cousin, there
is peace between us, and let not the feast flag.'

'Henry,' said Louis, pausing, as he approached a painful subject, 'it
grieves me sore to think that, of all the English who landed with me at
Damietta, few, indeed, escaped the carnage of Mansourah. Nevertheless, I
have brought home with me two English squires, who are anxious to return
to their own country, and whom I would fain recommend to your gracious
protection.'

'Cousin,' said Henry, responding with readiness and sympathy, 'for your
sake I will both protect and honour them.'

Walter Espec and Guy Muschamp were immediately summoned, and, marching
up the great hall between the tables, approached the two kings and bent
their knees.

'Both of them,' explained Louis, mildly, 'have rendered good services,
and encountered great perils, and undergone great sufferings for the
cross. One saved my brother, the Count of Poictiers, from captivity; and
the other saved my kinswoman, Adeline de Brienne, from still worse
evils.' And the king looked towards the noble demoiselle, who, princess
as she was, felt her heart beat rapidly, and was under the necessity of
mak