The scantiness of the band, and the title of Burgundian soldiers, soon obtained admission for the little party; but all was found in a state of bustle and activity within the town; and every tongue was full of the late passage of the King of England, at a short distance from the place. Great was the bravado of the inhabitants, who universally declared, that they wished he had sat down before their walls, to afford them an opportunity of showing what glorious deeds they would have performed; and all spoke of the condition of the English troops as lamentable, and their fate sealed. The approaching battle was looked forward to as a certain triumph for the arms of France, and rather as a great slaughter of a flying enemy, than a conflict with a powerful force. The very monks of the monastery where the men-at-arms received entertainment, while the Canonesses were lodged in the adjoining nunnery, were full of the same martial spirit; and a few years earlier, it is probable, their superior would have put himself in armour to aid in the destruction of the foe. Frequently was Richard of Woodville appealed to as a knight, to pronounce upon the likelihood of King Henry surrendering at discretion; and some difficulty had he so to shape his answers as to escape suspicion.
From the conversation which took place, however, he learned that his own sovereign was in the neighbourhood of a small town at no great distance; and he resolved, as soon as he was free from the walls of Peronne, to hurry thither without any farther delay. He ventured, during the evening, to issue forth for a short time into the city, in the hope of being able to purchase arms: but scarcely any were to be found in the town: and such had been the demand for good armour, that the price had risen far beyond his scanty means. All that he could afford to buy was a strong, well-tempered sword of a somewhat antique form, which he found in the shop of an armourer; and even for that the price demanded was enormous.
Returning to the monastery, he soon escaped from a sort of conversation that was by no means pleasant to his ear, by retiring to rest; and though for some time he did not sleep, yet when slumber did visit his eyelids, she came soft and balmy. The troubled thoughts died away--the anxious questioning of the unsatisfied mind ceased--the wild throbbing of the eager heart for the coming of the undeveloped hours, found repose; and he woke calm and refreshed with the first dawn of day, to meet whatever might be in store, with a spirit prepared and ready, and a body reinvigorated by the alternation of exertion and rest.
The monastery was one of those, not at all uncommon in those days, in which the vow of seclusion did not by any means exclude contrivances for enjoying at least some communion with the world. It was not surrounded by stern walls, and a large wing of the building rested upon the street, with windows small and high up indeed, and only lighting the chambers appropriated to the use of visitors, but which often afforded the monks themselves an excellent view of what was passing in the town without. In dressing himself with as much care as circumstances would permit, Richard of Woodville approached one of these narrow casements, and gazed out upon the gay scene that was enacted below; and, though so early, multitudes of people were to be seen passing along. While some stood for a moment gossiping with their neighbours, some were hurrying forward to their busy day, and others pausing to watch a considerable body of men-at-arms, who, in somewhat bad array, and without the display of much soldier-like order, came down from a house farther up.
When he saw them at a distance, the young knight's first thought was, "If all the French troops are like these, it will be no very difficult task to win a field of them." But as the troop came on, and the three leaders riding in front, passed under the window, he was struck by the arms of one of them who appeared in the middle. He could have sworn that the armour in which the knight was habited was familiar to his eye; and it must be recollected that the ornaments which covered the harness of a man-at-arms in those days were rarely the same, so that means of identification were always at hand, such as we do not possess in the present times. But there, before his eyes, if he could believe their testimony, was the identical suit which had been sent to him by good Sir Philip Beauchamp, shortly before he left the shores of England. There were the fan-shaped palettes, with the quaint gilt figures in the corners, and the upturned pauldrons with the edge of gold, and the bacinet shaped like a globe, with the enamelled plate on the forehead bearing "Ave, Maria!"
There could be no doubt that it was the same; and Woodville's brow knit for a moment, and his teeth closed tight. But the next instant he smiled again, asking half aloud, "How could a prisoner of near two years escape pillage? If I meet you in the field, my friend, I will have that harness back again for Mary's sake, or I will lie low."
Thus saying, he resumed his toilet, and the troop passed on. A moment after, he heard a voice singing, and turning to the window again he looked out. The sounds did not come from below; but there was a large projecting mass of building, with loopholes on the three sides, which protruded into the street on his right; and it seemed to him that the sounds came thence. He listened, and caught some of the words; but every now and then they died away in the cadence of a wild French air of the period, but those he could distinguish seemed so well suited to his situation at the time, that he strove eagerly to hear more:--
"Away, away, to the field of fame,
Gallant knight, gallant knight, hie away,"
were the first sounds he could make out; but the next stanza was more distinct, and went on thus, in the French tongue:--