"You have shown me, Sir Richard," said the Duke, "that you really do not know the King's mind on such subjects. Sir Philip de Morgan was his father's most trusted envoy; but is his own envoy not the most trusted? It is strange, your monarch's conduct in some things. He has added to his agents at our poor Court, a noble and wise man whom his father hated."
"Because, my most redoubted lord," replied the young knight, "he judges differently, and is differently situated from his father. Henry IV. snatched the crown, as all men know, from a weak and vicious king, but found that those, who once had been his peers, were not willing to be his subjects. Though a mighty, wise, and politic prince, his life was a struggle, in which he might win victories indeed, and subdue enemies in the field, but he raised up new traitors in his own heart, new enemies within himself--I mean, my lord, jealousies and animosities. Our present King comes to the throne by succession; and his father has left him a crown divested of half its thorns. His nurture has been different too: never having suffered oppression, he has nothing to retaliate; never having struggled with foes, he has no fear of enmity. People say in my land, that one man builds a house and another dwells in it. So is it with every one who wins a throne; he has to raise and strengthen the fabric of his power, only to leave the perfect structure to another."
The Duke leaned his head upon his hand, and thought profoundly. Ambitious visions, often roused by the very name of Henry IV., were reproved by the moral of his life; and though John the Bold might not part with them, he turned his thoughts to other channels, and strove to learn from Richard of Woodville the character and disposition of the English sovereign, if not his intentions and designs. On those points, the young knight was more open and unreserved. He painted the monarch as he really was, laughed when the Prince spoke of his youthful wildness, and said, "It was but a masking face, noble Duke, put on for sport, and, like a mummer's vizard, laid aside the moment it suited him to resume himself again. Those who judge the King from such traits as these will find themselves wofully deceived;" and he went on to paint Henry's energies of mind in terms which--though the Duke might attribute part of the praise to young enthusiasm--still left a very altered impression on the hearer's mind in regard to the real character of the English King.
I have said that these interviews took place more than once, and also that they generally took place in private; for the Duke did not wish to excite any jealousy in his Burgundian subjects; but, on more than one occasion, several of the foreign noblemen who had flocked to the Court of Lille were present, and between the Count of St. Paul and Woodville some intimacy speedily sprung up. The Count, irritated by what he thought injustice, revolved many schemes of daring resistance to the Court of France. He thought of raising men, and, as the ally of Burgundy, opposing in arms the Armagnac faction and the Dauphin; he thought of visiting England, and treating on his own part with Henry V.; and from the young English knight he strove to gain both information and assistance. There was in that distinguished nobleman many qualities which commanded esteem, and Woodville willingly gave him what advice he could; and yet he tried to dissuade him from being the first to raise the standard of revolt, pointing out that, although the state of mind of the King of France, and the absence of all legal authority in those who ruled, might justify a Prince so nearly allied to the royal family as the Duke of Burgundy, in struggling for a share of that power which he saw misused, especially as he was a sovereign Prince, though feudatory for some of his territories to the crown of France, yet an inferior person could hardly take arms on his own account without incurring a charge of treason, which might fall heavily on his head if the Duke found cause ultimately to abstain from war.
The Count listened to his reasons, and seemed to ponder upon them; and though no one loves to be persuaded from the course to which passion prompts, he was sufficiently experienced to think well of one who would give such advice, however unpalatable at the moment.
Thus passed nearly a month from the day on which the young Englishman quitted Ghent; and so changeful and uncertain were the events of the time, that he would not venture to absent himself from the Court of Burgundy even for an hour, lest he should miss the opportunity of winning advancement and renown. In that time, however, he had gained much. He was no longer a stranger. The ways and habits of the Court were familiar to him; he was the companion of all, and the friend of many, who, on his first appearance, had looked upon him with an evil eye; and many an occurrence, trifling compared with the great interests that were moving round, but important to himself, had taken place in the young knight's history. The ceremony of being armed a knight was duly performed, the Duke fulfilling his promise on the first occasion, and completing that which had been but begun at Pont St. Maxence. Yet this very act, gratifying as it was to one eager of honour, was not without producing some anxiety in the mind of the young Englishman. Such events were accompanied with much pageantry, and followed by considerable expense. Hitherto, all his charges had been borne by himself, and he saw his stock of wealth decreasing far more rapidly than he had expected. Though apartments had been assigned to him in the Graevensteen at Ghent, none had been furnished him in the castle of Lille; and no mention was made of reimbursing him for anything he had paid.
One day, however, early in June, he was called to the presence of the Duke, and found him just coming from a conference with the deputies of the good towns of Flanders. The Prince's face was gay and smiling; and as he passed along the gallery towards his private apartments, he exclaimed, turning towards some of his counsellors, "Let no one say I have not good and generous subjects. Ha! Sir Richard," he continued, as his eye fell upon the young Englishman, "go to the chamber of my son--he has something to tell you."
Richard of Woodville hastened to obey; but the Count de Charolois was not in his apartment when he arrived, and some minutes elapsed before the young Prince appeared. When he came at length, however, he was followed by three or four of his men bearing some large bags, apparently of money, which were laid down upon the table in the anteroom.
"Get you gone, boys," said the Count, turning to his pages; "and you, Godfrey, see that all be ready by the hour of noon. Now, my friend," he continued, as soon as the room was clear, "I have news for you, and, I trust, pleasant news too. First, I am for Ghent, and you may accompany me, if you will."
"Right gladly, my lord the Count," replied Richard of Woodville; "for, to say truth, almost all my baggage is still there, and I have scarcely any clothing in which to appear decently at your father's court. I have other matters, too, that I would fain see to in Ghent."