pelled to
countenance the pageant of this mock tournament, and seem to honour the
coming of the Count de la Roche, I will at least stand aloof and free
from all attempt to apply a gaudy pageant to a dangerous policy; and on
this pledge, Montagu, I give you my knightly hand."

"It suffices," answered Montagu, pressing the hand extended to him. "But
the other day I heard the king's dissour tell him a tale of some tyrant,
who silently showed a curious questioner how to govern a land, by
cutting down, with his staff, the heads of the tallest poppies; and the
Duchess of Bedford turned to me, and asked, 'What says a Nevile to
the application?' 'Faith, lady,' said I, 'the Nevile poppies have oak
stems.' Believe me, Hastings, these Woodvilles may grieve and wrong and
affront Lord Warwick, but woe to all the pigmy goaders when the lion
turns at bay!"

With this solemn menace, Montagu quitted Hastings, and passed on,
leaning upon Marmaduke, and with a gloomy brow.

At the gate of the palace waited the Lord Montagu's palfrey and his
retinue of twenty squires and thirty grooms. "Mount, Master Marmaduke,
and take thy choice among these steeds, for we shall ride alone. There
is no Nevile amongst these gentlemen." Marmaduke obeyed. The earl
dismissed his retinue, and in little more than ten minutes,--so
different, then, was the extent of the metropolis,--the noble and the
squire were amidst the open fields.

They had gone several miles at a brisk trot before the earl opened his
lips, and then, slackening his pace, he said abruptly, "How dost thou
like the king? Speak out, youth; there are no eavesdroppers here."

"He is a most gracious master and a most winning gentleman."

"He is both," said Montagu, with a touch of emotion that surprised
Marmaduke; "and no man can come near without loving him. And yet,
Marmaduke (is that thy name?)--yet whether it be weakness or falseness,
no man can be sure of his king's favour from day to day. We Neviles must
hold fast to each other. Not a stick should be lost if the fagot is to
remain unbroken. What say you?" and the earl's keen eye turned sharply
on the young man.

"I say, my lord, that the Earl of Warwick was to me patron, lord, and
father, when I entered yon city a friendless orphan; and that, though
I covet honours, and love pleasure, and would be loth to lift finger or
speak word against King Edward, yet were that princely lord--the head of
mine House--an outcast and a beggar, by his