and in thought and heart was quickly
ripening to manhood, for, as was said before, men matured quickly in
those days. He was a right comely youth, for the promise of his boyish
body had been fulfilled in a tall, powerful, well-knit frame. His face
was still round and boyish, but on cheek and chin and lip was the curl
of adolescent beard--soft, yellow, and silky. His eyes were as blue
as steel, and quick and sharp in glance as those of a hawk; and as he
walked, his arms swung from his broad, square shoulders, and his body
swayed with pent-up strength ready for action at any moment.

If little Lady Alice, hearing much talk of his doings and of his promise
in these latter times, thought of him now and then it is a matter not
altogether to be wondered at.

Such were the changes that three years had wrought. And from now the
story of his manhood really begins.

Perhaps in all the history of Devlen Castle, even at this, the high tide
of pride and greatness of the house of Beaumont, the most notable time
was in the early autumn of the year 1411, when for five days King Henry
IV was entertained by the Earl of Mackworth. The King was at that time
making a progress through certain of the midland counties, and with him
travelled the Comte de Vermoise. The Count was the secret emissary of
the Dauphin's faction in France, at that time in the very bitterest
intensity of the struggle with the Duke of Burgundy, and had come to
England seeking aid for his master in his quarrel.

It was not the first time that royalty had visited Devlen. Once, in Earl
Robert's day, King Edward II had spent a week at the castle during the
period of the Scottish wars. But at that time it was little else than a
military post, and was used by the King as such. Now the Beaumonts were
in the very flower of their prosperity, and preparations were made
for the coming visit of royalty upon a scale of such magnificence and
splendor as Earl Robert, or perhaps even King Edward himself, had never
dreamed.

For weeks the whole castle had been alive with folk hurrying hither and
thither; and with the daily and almost hourly coming of pack-horses,
laden with bales and boxes, from London. From morning to night one heard
the ceaseless chip-chipping of the masons' hammers, and saw carriers
of stones and mortar ascending and descending the ladders of the
scaffolding that covered the face of the great North Hall. Within, that
part of the building was alive with the sc