f Monmouth, King
of England, but that his wandering benefactor, the captive knight, whose
claim of kindred he had almost spurned, was his native sovereign, James
the First of Scotland.

CHAPTER IV: THE TIDINGS OF BEAUGE

Malcolm understood it at last. In the great chamber where he was bidden
to wait within 'Nigel' till 'Sir James' came from a private conference
with 'Harry,' he had all explained to him, but within a curtness and
brevity that must not be imitated in the present narrative.

The squire Nigel was in fact Sir Nigel Baird, Baron of Bairdsbrae, the
gentleman to whom poor King Robert II. had committed the charge of his
young son James, when at fourteen he had been sent to France, nominally
for education, but in reality to secure him from the fate of his brother
Rothsay.

Captured by English vessels on the way, the heir of Scotland had been too
valuable a prize to be resigned by the politic Henry IV., who had lodged
him at Windsor Castle, together with Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, and
placed both under the nominal charge of the Prince of Wales, a youth of a
few years older. Unjust as was the detention, it had been far from
severe; the boys had as much liberty as their age and recreation
required, and received the choicest training both in the arts of war and
peace. They were bred up in close intercourse with the King's own four
sons, and were united with them by the warmest sympathy.

In fact, since usurpation had filled Henry of Lancaster's mind with
distrust and jealousy, his eldest son had been in no such enviable
position as to be beyond the capacity of fellow-feeling for the royal
prisoner.

Of a peculiarly frank, open, and affectionate nature, young Henry had so
warmly loved the gentle and fascinating Richard II., that his trust in
the father, of whom he had seen little in his boyhood, had received a
severe shock through Richard's fate. Under the influence of a new,
suspicious, and avaricious wife, the King kept his son as much at a
distance as possible, chiefly on the Welsh marches, learning the art of
war under Hotspur and Oldcastle; and when the father and son were brought
together again, the bold, free bearing and extraordinary ability of the
Prince filled the suspicious mind of the King with alarm and jealousy. To
keep him down, give him no money, and let him gain no influence, was the
narrow policy of the King; and Henry, chafing, dreaming, feeling the
injustice, and pining for