s side. "I pray you to
unlace him and let him out! I have shared in many a spear-running, but
never have I been nearer falling from my horse than as I watched this
one. I feared the fall had struck him senseless, since he lay so still."

Nigel had indeed lain with all the breath shaken from his body, and
as he was unaware that his helmet had been carried off, he had not
understood either the alarm or the amusement that he had caused. Now
freed from the great hauberk in which he had been shut like a pea in a
pod, he stood blinking in the light, blushing deeply with shame that
the shifts to which his poverty had reduced him should be exposed to all
these laughing courtiers. It was the King who brought him comfort.

"You have shown that you can use your father's weapons," said he, "and
you have proved also that you are the worthy bearer of his name and his
arms, for you have within you that spirit for which he was famous. But I
wot that neither he nor you would suffer a train of hungry men to starve
before your door; so lead on, I pray you, and if the meat be as good as
this grace before it, then it will be a feast indeed."

X. HOW THE KING GREETED HIS SENESCHAL OF CALAIS

It would have fared ill with the good name of Tilford Manor house and
with the housekeeping of the aged Dame Ermyntrude had the King's
whole retinue, with his outer and inner marshal, his justiciar, his
chamberlain and his guard, all gathered under the one roof. But by
the foresight and the gentle management of Chandos this calamity was
avoided, so that some were quartered at the great Abbey and others
passed on to enjoy the hospitality of Sir Roger FitzAlan at Farnham
Castle. Only the King himself, the Prince, Manny, Chandos, Sir Hubert de
Burgh, the Bishop and two or three more remained behind as the guests of
the Lorings.

But small as was the party and humble the surroundings, the King in no
way relaxed that love of ceremony, of elaborate form and of brilliant
coloring which was one of his characteristics. The sumpter-mules
were unpacked, squires ran hither and thither, baths smoked in the
bed-chambers, silks and satins were unfolded, gold chains gleamed
and clinked, so that when at last, to the long blast of two court
trumpeters, the company took their seats at the board, it was the
brightest, fairest scene which those old black rafters had ever spanned.

The great influx of foreign knights who had come in their splendor from
all parts