The Count mused for a moment, and then looked up, laughing. "Well," he said, "perhaps my mother may call me a rash boy, in trusting to such new acquaintance; but yet I will confide in you to justify me. There may be an occasion very soon; and if there be, I will let you have your part. I, alas! must not go; but, at all events, have everything ready to set out at a moment's notice; and you may chance to ride far before many days be over. Now let us speak of other things:" and he proceeded to ask his visitor numerous questions regarding the English court--its habits, customs, and the characters of the principal nobles that distinguished it.
Richard of Woodville answered his inquiries more frankly than he had done those of Sir Philip de Morgan, and the Count seemed well pleased with all he heard. Gradually their conversation lost the stiffness of first acquaintance; and the young Prince, throwing off the restraint of ceremony, gave way to the candid spirit of youth, spoke of his own father, and of his dangerous position at the Court of France, expressed his longing desire to take an active part in the busy deeds that were doing, touched with some bitterness upon the conduct of the Dauphin towards his sister, and added, with a flushed cheek, "Would my father suffer it, I would force him, lance to lance, if not to cast away his painted paramour, at least to do justice to his neglected wife. She is more fair and bright than any French harlot; and it must be a studied purpose to insult her race, that makes him treat her thus."
"Perhaps not, noble Count," replied Richard of Woodville: "there is nothing so capricious on this earth as the pampered heart of greatness. Do we not daily see men of all ranks cast away from them things of real value to please the moment with some empty trifle? and the spoilt children of fortune--I mean Princes and Kings--may well be supposed to do the same. God, when he puts a crown upon their heads, leaves them to enrich it with jewels, if they will; but, alas! too often they content themselves with meaner things, and think the crown enough."
The Prince smiled, with a thoughtful look, and gazed for a moment in Woodville's face, ere he replied. "You speak not the same language as Sir Philip de Morgan," he said at length: "his talk is ever of insult and injury to the House of Burgundy. He can find no excuse for the House of Valois."
"He speaks as a politician, my Lord Count," replied Woodville: "would that I might say, I speak as a friend, though a bold one. I know not what are his views and purposes; but when you mention aught to me, I must answer frankly, if I answer at all; and in this case I can easily believe that the Dauphin, in the wild heat of youth, perhaps nurtured in vice and licentiousness, and, at all events, taught early to think that his will must have no control, may neglect a sweet lady for a trumpery leman, without meaning any insult to your noble race. Bad as such conduct is, it were needless to aggravate it by imaginary wrongs."
The Count looked down in thought, and then, raising his head with a warm smile, he answered, "You speak nobly, sir, and you may say you are my friend; for the man who would temper a Prince's passion, without any private motive, is well worthy of the character here written;" and he laid his hand upon Henry's letter, which he had placed on the table.
"I trust, my Lord Count," replied Woodville, "that you will never have cause to say, in any case where my allegiance to my own Sovereign is not concerned, that I do not espouse your real interests, as warmly as I would oppose any passion, even of your own, which I thought contrary to them. I am not a courtier, fair sir, and may express myself somewhat rudely; but I will trust to your own discernment to judge, in all instances, of the motive rather than the manner."
"I shall remember more of what you have said than you perhaps imagine," answered the young Count. "You gave me a lesson, my noble friend--and henceforth I will call you by that name--in regard to those spoilt children of fortune, as you term them, Princes; and I will try not to let a high station pamper me into deeds like those which I myself condemn. But there are many persons here, in the good town of Ghent, to whom I must make you known, as they will be your companions for the future; and, before night, such arrangements shall be made for your lodging and accommodation as will permit of your taking up your abode in the old castle here. There is but one warning I will give you," he continued: "Sir Philip de Morgan is a shrewd and clever man--very zealous in the cause of his King, but somewhat jealous of all other influence. My father esteems him highly, though he is not always ready to follow whither he would lead. You had better be his friend than his enemy; and yet, when there is anything to be done, communicate with me direct, and not through him."
"I will follow your advice, sir, as far as may be," replied Woodville; "but I do not think there is any great chance of Sir Philip de Morgan and myself interfering with each other. I am a soldier; he is a statesman. I will not meddle with his trade, and I think he is not likely to envy me mine. He was a good man at arms, I hear, in his early days; but I fancy he will not easily inclose himself in plate again."
"Good faith," exclaimed the young Count, laughing, "his cuirass would need be shaped like a bow, and have as much iron about it as the great bombard of Oudenarde, which our good folks of Ghent call Mad Meg.[[7]] No, no! I do not think that he will ever couch a lance again. But come, my friend, let us to the hall, where we shall find some of the nobles of Burgundy and Flanders waiting for us. Then we will ride to my mother's, where I will make you known to her fair ladies. I have no further business for the day; but yet I must not be absent from my post, as every hour I expect tidings which may require a sudden resolution."