throne so long as he lives."

"That is so," Sir Baldwin said. "But, unhappily, in England at present
might makes right, and you may be sure that at King Richard's death, be
it when it may, Prince John will make a bold throw for the throne, and,
aided as he will be by the pope and by Phillip of France, methinks that
his chances are better than those of the young prince. A man's power, in
warlike times, is more than a boy's. He can intrigue and promise and
threaten, while a boy must be in the hands of partisans. I fear that
Prince Arthur will have troubled times indeed before he mounts the throne
of England. Should Richard survive until he becomes of age to take the
field himself and head armies, he may succeed, for all speak well of him
as a boy of singular sweetness of disposition, while Prince John is
detested by all save those who flatter and live by him. But enough for
the present of politics, Cuthbert; let us now to table. It is long since
we two feasted together; and, indeed, such meals as we took in the Holy
Land could scarcely have been called feasts. A boar's head and a good
roasted capon are worthy all the strange dishes that we had there. I
always misdoubted the meat, which seemed to me to smack in flavour of the
Saracens, and I never could bring myself to inquire whence that strange
food was obtained. A stoup of English ale, too, is worth all the Cyprus
wines, especially when the Cyprus wines are half full of the sand of the
desert. Pah! it makes my throat dry to think of those horrible meals. So
you have brought Cnut and your four archers safely back with you?"

"Yes," Cuthbert said, smiling, "But they were, I can assure you, a heavy
weight on me, in spite of their faithfulness and fidelity. Their
ignorance of the language brought most of my troubles upon me, and Cnut
had something of the nature of a bull in him. There are certain things
which he cannot stomach, and when he seeth them he rageth like a wild
beast, regardless altogether of safety or convenience."

In the evening, the two knights again talked over the course which
Cuthbert should adopt. The elder knight's opinion was that his young
friend had best formally claim the title by writing to the king-at-arms,
and should also announce his return to Prince John, signing himself "Sir
Cuthbert, Earl of Evesham;" but that, in the present state of things, it
would be unwise for him to attempt to regain his position, should, as was
certain to be the case,