"Good! may it fere with thee, as with old; Montgomerie and Henry of France!"
"How?"
"A splinter may make his wife a widow. Cock and pie, sirs! A ring—a ring! To the baresse!—Back, sirs, back!—We would break a spear for honour and for beauty. Have at thee, Marquis!" exclaimed Ormiston, as he made the point of his long lance ring on the splendid armour of the Frenchman.
"Bon diable!" grinned the Marquis; "J'en suis ravis! I am delighted!"
"And have at your grace!" said Bothwell, slightly touching Darnley; "I have made a vow, in the queen's name, to run a course with the tallest man on the ground, and the tallest man is thee."
"By St. John! Lord Earl, thou art somewhat over-valiant," said Darnley, bestowing an unmistakeable frown upon the rash noble, who laughed like a madcap as he backed his horse among the startled men-at-arms and spectators, crying—
"A ring! a ring!—Back, caitiffs and gomerals! and then we shall see who are good knights, as King William said of old."
"Wouldst thou have me maintain the field against the beauty of my own wife?" asked the young king, with a terrible frown.
"Certes, yes! for thou seemest least sensible of it."
"Less than thee, perhaps!"