'Only that speech is so hackneyed and commonplace,' said Elizabeth, 'I am tired of it.'
'The deed was not common-place,' said Anne.
'No, and dandyism was as entirely the fault of his time as cruelty was of Turenne's,' said Elizabeth; 'Sir Walter Raleigh was worse than Sydney, and Surrey quite as bad, to judge by his picture.'
'It is not quite as bad a fault as cruelty,' said Anne, 'little as you seem to think of the last.'
'Now comes the chivalric age,' said Elizabeth; 'never mind telling me all the names, only say who is the first of your heroes—neither Orlando nor Sir Galahad, I suppose.'
'No, nor Huon de Bordeaux,' said Anne.
'The Cid, then, I suppose,' said Elizabeth, 'unless he is too fierce for your tender heart.'
'Ruy, mi Cid Campeador?' said Anne, 'I must have him in consideration of his noble conduct to the King who banished him, and the speech the ballad gives him:
"For vassals' vengeance on their lord,
Though just, is treason still;
The noblest blood is his, who best
Bears undeserved ill."
And the loyalty he shewed in making the King clear himself of having any share in his brother's death, even though Alphonso was silly enough to be affronted.'