Now while all wondered what this talk might mean, the Doge and Acour most of any, although the latter grew uneasy, fearing he knew not what, Hugh whispered to Dick. Then Dick loosed the mouth of the leather sack he carried, and out of it tumbled on to the marble floor a whole suit of blood-stained armour.
“Whence came these?” asked Hugh of Dick.
“Off the body of the night, Sir Pierre de la Roche, whom you slew at Crecy. I stripped him of them myself.”
“Whose crest and cognizance are these, herald?” asked Hugh again, lifting the helm and shield and holding them on high that all might see.
The herald stepped forward and examined them.
“Without doubt,” he said slowly, “they are those of the lord of Cattrina. Moreover,” he added, “five years ago I limned yonder swan upon this very shield with my own hand. I did it as a favour to Cattrina there, who said that he would trust the task to none but an artist.”
Now the silence grew intense, so much so that the rustle of a lady’s dress sounded loud in the great hall.
“What say you now, my lord of Cattrina?” asked the Doge.
“I say that there is some mistake, Illustrious. Even if there were none,” he added slowly, “for their own good and lawful purposes knights have changed armour before to-day.”
“There is no mistake!” cried Hugh in a ringing voice. “This signor of so many names is a signor of many coats also, which he can change to save his skin. He wore that of Sir Pierre de la Roche to protect himself from the vengeance of the King of England and of the English squire whom he had wronged. He took mercy from the hand of that squire, who, as he knew well, would have shown him none had he guessed the truth. He left the poor knight, whom he had bribed to be his double, to die beneath that same squire’s hand who thought him named de Noyon. Therefore the blood of this de la Roche is on his head. Yet these are small matters of private conduct, and one that is greater overtops them. This false lord, as Sir Edmund Acour, swore fealty to Edward of England. Yet while he was bound by that sacred oath he plotted to depose Edward and to set up on his throne the Duke of Normandy.