"That depends upon circumstances, sir," answered the Frenchman, offended at the tone of the other. "You are governor of Calais, but you do not command here. You are off the English pale, sir; and I say that unless the lady goes with you willingly and by preference, you shall not take her."
"I shall not!" exclaimed the Englishman. "Who the devil shall stop me?"
"That will I," answered the French knight; "and I tell you so to your beard."
The Englishman laid his hand upon his sword, and the Frenchman was not slack to follow his example; but Constance interposed. "Hold, hold, gentlemen!" cried she; "I am not worthy of such contention. Monsieur de Bussy, favour me by offering every expression of my humble duty to his highness your noble king; and show him that I intended instantly to have obeyed his commands, and followed you to his court, but that I am compelled, against my will, to do otherwise. Sir John Hardacre, I am ready to accompany you."
"If such be your will, fair lady," replied the French knight, "I have nothing but to execute your charge. However, I must repeat, that without your full consent you shall not be taken from French ground, or I am no true knight."
An angry replication trembled on the lip of the English captain, but Constance stopped its utterance by once more declaring her willingness to go; and the French officer, bowing low, thrust back his sword into the sheath, and left the cottage, somewhat out of humour with the event of his expedition.
When he and his followers had ridden away, Sir John Hardacre called up a lady's horse, which one of his men-at-arms led by the bridle; and after permitting Constance to make some change of her apparel, and to pay the good folks of the cottage for her entertainment, he placed her in the saddle, and holding the bridle himself, led her away at a quick pace towards Guisnes. He was a rough old soldier, somewhat hardened by long military service; but the beauty and gentleness of his fair prisoner (for such indeed may we consider poor Constance to have been) somewhat softened his acerbity; and after riding on for near an hour in silence, during which he revolved at least twenty ways of addressing the lady, without pleasing himself with any, he began by a somewhat bungling excuse, both for his errand and his manner of executing it.
"I suppose, sir," replied Constance, coldly, "that you have done your duty. Whether you have done it harshly or not is for you to consider."
This quite put a stop to all the knight's intentions of conversation, and did not particularly soothe his humour; so that for many miles along the road he failed not every moment to turn round his head, and vent his spleen upon his men in various high-seasoned curses, for faults which they might or might not have committed, as the case happened; the knight's powers of objurgation not only extending to the cursing itself, but also to supplying the cause.
It was nearly seven o'clock when they began to approach the little town of Guisnes, but at that season of the year the full light of day was still shining upon all the objects round about; and Constance might perceive, as they rode up, all the bustle, and crowding, and idle activity caused by the arrival of the court.