The king now left Sir Osborne, who, delighted with the unexpected turn which his humour had taken, waited impatiently for Lord Darby's return, expecting every minute to see the other door open and Henry re-appear before he had even received his armour. At length, however, Lord Darby came, and with him our friend Longpole, who, as the page would only allow one person to enter with the earl, received that part of the armour which he did not carry himself from the attendant without, and then flew to assist his lord. Sir Osborne lost no time, and, expert by constant habit, he put on piece by piece with a rapidity that astonished the young earl, who, accustomed alone to the tilt-yard, was unacquainted with the facility acquired by the unceasing exercises of the camp.
At length, while Longpole was buckling the last strap, the king re-entered alone, completely armed, and with his beaver down.
"What! ready, sir knight?" cried he; "nay, 'faith, you have been expeditious."
"Lord bless you, sir!" cried Longpole, never dreaming that he spoke to the king, "my master puts on his arms as King Hal took Terouenne."
"How now!" cried Sir Osborne, afraid of what might coms next; but the king held up his hand to him to let the man speak. "How is that, good fellow?" demanded he.
"Why, he just puts his hand on it, and it is done," replied Longpole.
"Thou art a merry knave," said Henry, better pleased perhaps with the unquestionable compliment of the yeoman than he would have been with the more refined and studied praise of many an eloquent oration. "Thou art a merry knave. Say, canst thou blow a trumpet?"
"Ay, that I can, to your worship's contentment," replied Longpole, who began to see by the looks of Lord Darby and his master that something was wrong. "I hope I have not offended."
"No, no," answered Henry, "not in the least. Snell, fetch him a trumpet with a blanche banner. Now, fellow, take the trumpet that the page will bring you, and, getting on your horse, follow us. When you shall come to a place where you see lists up, blow me a defiance. Hast thou never a vizard to put thy muzzle in? Darby, in that chamber you will find him a masking vizard, so that we may not be recognised by his face hereafter."
Longpole was soon furnished with one of the half masks of the day, the long beard of which, intended to conceal the mouth and chin, as it had been worn by the king himself, was composed of threads of pure gold, so that the yeoman bore an ample recompense upon his face for the duty the king put him on. He would fain have had his remark upon the vizard; but beginning to entertain a suspicion of how the matter really stood, he wisely forebore, and followed his master and Lord Darby, who, preceded by the king, passed down a narrow back-staircase into the smaller court, wherein stood the horses prepared for their expedition.