‘Oh, let it be an English one!’ cried Alice.
‘I have learnt to breathe freer since I have been on English soil,’ said Esclairmonde, smiling; ‘but where I may rest at last, Heaven only knows!’
‘This is a strange country,’ said Malcolm. ‘No one seems afraid of violence and wrong here.’
‘Is that so strange?’ asked Alice, amazed. ‘Why, men would be hanged if they did violence!’
‘I would we were as sure of justice at my home,’ sighed Esclairmonde. ‘King Henry will bring about a better rule.’
‘Never doubt,’ cried Salisbury’s daughter. ‘When France is once subdued, there will be no more trouble, he will make your kinsmen do you right, dear demoiselle, and oh! will you not found a beauteous convent?’
‘King Henry has not conquered France yet,’ was all Esclairmonde said.
‘Ha!’ cried the buxom Countess Jaqueline, as the ladies dismounted, ‘never speak to me more, our solemn sister. When have I done worse than lure a young cavalier, and chain him all day with my tongue?’
‘He is a gentle boy!’ said Esclairmonde, smiling.
‘Truly he looked like a calf turned loose among strange cattle! How gat he into the hall?’