"Messer Dandolo can tell you better than I," replied the Marshal shrewdly. "There can be no doubt he might have had it an he wished. There is no man in the host like him in wisdom."
"But why is there so little talk of Lord Boniface?" urged Hugh. Both Villehardouin and Sir James, who stood by, laughed at this question.
"Set a man over others and he makes enemies," said Sir James. "How say you, Lord Marshal?"
"Ay, you have put your finger on it," Villehardouin agreed. "Moreover—I say this of my own judgment—it is not to the interest of the Venetians to have Boniface for Emperor. His lands of Montferrat are too close for comfort to the confines of their state."
"Who then?" asked Hugh.
Count Baldwin of Flanders, tall, handsome in figure, in the flower of youth, a merry smile on his blonde face, made his way by them. He did not force others aside, as many a great noble might have done, but stepped slowly and with a pleasant word for all he met.
"By your leave, Messer! Ha, Sir James, I greet you well! Messer Fulk, we have not met this week past; prithee dine with me at Blachernae. Messer, I regret to trouble you, but——"
Villehardouin did not answer, but Matteo, who had been silent hitherto, raised his hand in a slight gesture.
"There walks a man" he said.
"God send that you be right, Messer," added Villehardouin.