feud between Lancaster and York broke forth; Earl Warwick
summoned his retainers, myself amongst them, since I lived upon his
land; I sought the great earl, and I told him boldly--him whom the
Commons deemed a friend, and a foe to all malfaisance and abuse--I told
him that the war he asked me to join seemed to me but a war of ambitious
lords, and that I saw not how the Commons were to be bettered, let who
would be king. The earl listened and deigned to reason; and when he saw
I was not convinced, he left me to my will; for he is a noble chief,
and I admired even his angry pride, when he said, 'Let no man fight
for Warwick whose heart beats not in his cause.' I lived afterwards to
discharge my debt to the proud earl, and show him how even the lion
may be meshed, and how even the mouse may gnaw the net. But to my own
tragedy. So I quitted those parts, for I feared my own resolution near
so great a man; I made a new home not far from the city of York. So,
Adam, when all the land around bristled with pike and gisarme, and while
my own cousin and namesake, the head of my House, was winning laurels
and wasting blood--I, thy quarrelsome, fighting friend--lived at home in
peace with my wife and child (for I was now married, and wife and child
were dear to me), and tilled my lands. But in peace I was active and
astir, for my words inflamed the bosoms of labourers and peasants, and
many of them, benighted as they were, thought with me. One day--I was
absent from home, selling my grain in the marts of York--one day there
entered the village a young captain, a boy-chief, Edward Earl of March,
beating for recruits. Dost thou heed me, Adam? Well, man--well, the
peasants stood aloof from tromp and banner, and they answered, to all
the talk of hire and fame, 'Robin Hilyard tells us we have nothing to
gain but blows,--leave us to hew and to delve.' Oh, Adam, this boy, this
chief, the Earl of March, now crowned King Edward, made but one reply,
'This Robin Hilyard must be a wise man,--show me his house.' They
pointed out the ricks, the barns, the homestead, and in five minutes
all--all were in flames. 'Tell the hilding, when he returns, that thus
Edward of March, fair to friends and terrible to foes, rewards the
coward who disaffects the men of Yorkshire to their chief.' And by the
blazing rafters, and the pale faces of the silent crowd, he rode on his
way to battle and the throne!"

Hilyard paused, and the anguish of his countenance was t