“I, Philip, Knight of Latiere in Gascony, am cousin of Elizabeth, Lady of Carleton,” he shouted. “I take up this glove as her protector and champion.”
Then, seizing the glove, he tossed it high in air; and while it soared aloft, drew a long and slender blade from its scabbard, and as the glove fell, pierced it with a flashing thrust so that he held it high where all might see it impaled on the point of his sword.
“So let it be,” said the King. “This cause shall be tried by wager of battle, here and now. Sir Philip De Latiere, the conditions are at your will, so they be fair and equal.”
“Let him take a sword like unto this,” said De Latiere, carelessly, “and if he chooses one a handsbreadth longer, I care not. Then let him lay aside all other weapons, as I do; and I trust, with the favor of Heaven, to be the means of affirming the righteousness of thy judgment.”
With this speech, he made a low bow to the King and another to the assembled knights, and, loosening his sword-belt, handed it with his scabbard and his outer cloak to a squire.
Then I found voice for a thought that had been boiling within me.
“’Twere well, my lord,” I said to the King, “to have this champion searched for hidden armor. I have grievous knowledge that the Carletons scruple not to gain that vantage.”
Some of the friends of Mountjoy raised a shout:
“Ay! Well spoken! Let him be searched.”
The King quelled the tumult with a royal gesture.