no
father to look to in time of need, and felt a great distrust of the
kinsman who exercised some guardianship over him; so that there was
considerable relief for the youth in feeling that the great King of
England was his friend, and that he would keep him from the aggression
of foes.

He stood aside as Edward's glance passed on to Llewelyn and Howel, and
it was plain that the monarch's face changed and hardened as he fixed
his eye upon the twins.

"Llewelyn -- Howel," he said, "joint lords of Iscennen, we wish that we
had received the same good report of you that we have done of your
brethren. But it is not so. There be dark records in your past which
give little hope for the future. Nevertheless you are yet young. Wisdom
may come with the advance of years. But the hot blood in you requires
taming and curbing. You have proved yourselves unfit for the place
hitherto occupied as lords of the broad lands bequeathed you by Res
Vychan, your father. For the present those lands are forfeit. You must
win the right to call them yours again by loyalty in the cause which
every true Welshman should have at heart, because it is the cause which
alone can bring peace and safety to your harassed country. It is not
willingly that we wrest from any man the lands that are his birthright.
Less willingly do we do this when homage, however unwilling and
reluctant, has been paid. But we have our duties to ourselves and to our
submitted subjects to consider, and it is not meet to send firebrands
alight into the world, when a spark may raise so fierce a conflagration,
and when hundreds of lives have to pay the penalty of one mad act of
headstrong youth. It is your youth that shall be your excuse from the
charge of graver offence, but those who are too young to govern
themselves are not fit to govern others."

Whilst the king had been speaking he had been closely studying the faces
of the twin brothers, who stood before him with their eyes on the
ground. These two lads, although by their stature and appearance almost
men, had not attained more than their sixteenth year, and had by no
means learned that control of feature which is one of nature's hardest
lessons. As the king's words made themselves understood, their brows had
darkened and their faces had contracted with a fierce anger and rage,
which betrayed itself also in their clenched hands and heaving chests;
and although they remained speechless -- for the awe inspired by
Edward's pr