garrison to defend it. Henry now began to make complaint
to William in respect to this castle. The garrison, he said, were
continually making incursions into his dominions. William replied that
he was very sorry that there was cause for such a complaint. He would
inquire into it, and if the fact were really so, he would have the evil
immediately corrected. Henry replied that that was not sufficient. "You
must deliver up the castle to me," he said, "to be destroyed." William
was indignant at such a demand; but he was so accustomed to obey
implicitly whatever King Henry might require of him, that he sent the
order to have the castle surrendered.

When, however, the order came to De Crespin, the governor of the castle,
he refused to obey it. The fortress, he said, had been committed to his
charge by Robert, duke of Normandy, and he should not give it up to the
possession of any foreign power. When this answer was reported to
William and his counselors, it made them still more indignant than
before at the domineering tyranny of the command, and more disposed than
ever to refuse obedience to it. Still William was in a great measure in
the monarch's power. On cool reflection, they perceived that resistance
would then be vain. New and more authoritative orders were accordingly
issued for the surrender of the castle. De Crespin now obeyed. He gave
up the keys and withdrew with his garrison. William was then allowed to
leave Evreux and return home, and soon afterward the castle was razed to
the ground.

This affair produced, of course, a great deal of animosity and
irritation between the governments of France and Normandy; and where
such a state of feeling exists between two powers separated only by an
imaginary line running through a populous and fertile country,
aggressions from one side and from the other are sure to follow. These
are soon succeeded by acts of retaliation and revenge, leading, in the
end, to an open and general war. It was so now. Henry marched his
armies into Normandy, seized towns, destroyed castles, and, where he was
resisted by the people, he laid waste the country with fire and sword.
He finally laid siege to the very castle of Falaise.

William and his government were for a time nearly overwhelmed with the
tide of disaster and calamity. The tide turned, however, at length, and
the fortune of war inclined in their favor. William rescued the town and
castle of Falaise; it was in a very remarkable manne