Such was the result of Geoffrey de Chargny's project for gratifying Philip of Valois by gaining possession of Calais.
[CHAPTER XLII]
A PRINCESS IN PERIL
My excitement, which for many hours before I reached the homestead, where I came just in time to hear that I was too late, had been intense, gradually subsided; and such was the reaction which took place that, for days and weeks, my depression was well-nigh intolerable. I had no heart to return to Westminster; and having, on the plea of recruiting my health and spirits in the air I had breathed during childhood, obtained from Sir Thomas Norwich leave to absent myself from my duties as page, I walked and rode about the forest of Windsor, indulging in melancholy musing over the past, and as indifferent to the future as I had previously been enthusiastic and sanguine. In vain I essayed to rouse myself from lethargy. I felt as if nothing could ever again revive my hope, and restore me to that energy which is hope in action. I had already passed weeks in this frame of mind, when fortune threw me in the way of a terrible adventure, in which I won some honour, and nearly lost my life.
It was autumn; and albeit the harvest was gathered in, and the leaves were falling from the trees, the sun shone with sufficient brightness to gladden the heart of man, and to impart to the landscape a cheerful aspect; when, having occasion one day to visit the little town of Windsor, I mounted my black steed and rode through the forest. When, absorbed in reflection, I was wending my way up one of the glades, my horse, while pacing proudly along the grassy path, suddenly shied; and, looking round, I perceived that he had been startled by the green dress and white bow of an archer, who emerged from the wood, closely attended by a black mastiff of prodigious strength, and capable of being a powerful friend or a terrible foe.
I observed that the archer eyed me with a glance of recognition; and, drawing up, I, with a consciousness of having seen him before, gave him "Good day," and, with a slight effort of memory, I called to mind that he was one of the Englishmen who, stationed in the prince's division, had drawn their bows at Cressy; that I had often observed and praised his dexterity during the expedition into France; and, moreover, that he was one of those who had been since taken into the king's service, by way of rewarding them for their marvellous achievements during the war with Philip of Valois. Remembering such to have been the case, I entered into conversation with him, and while I rode slowly, and he walked at my stirrup, with his mastiff at his heels, through the forest, in the direction of Windsor, he talked of the battles and sieges in which he had taken part.
Now this archer, whose name was Liulph, was of yeoman extraction and Saxon descent; and I have no doubt that, if he had lived in earlier centuries, when a bitter sense of the distinction between the victor and vanquished races kept the kingdom in hot water, he would have figured as an outlaw of Sherwood, and possibly rivalled the exploits which have made the names of Robin Hood and his merry men so famous. But England was no longer what it had been in the days of Robin Hood and his merry men; for the first Edward had succeeded in teaching English archers to draw their bows only against the enemies of their country, and they had not forgotten the lessons of that great king.
It happened, however, that Liulph was not only a stout and handsome young man, but intelligent for a person of his rank, and of an inquiring turn of mind; and being on this occasion anxious to learn something of St. George, under whose patronage he had fought the French, he put several questions, which, I fear, would sadly have perplexed many who shouted the name most loudly in the hour of conflict. Fortunately, however, I was in a position to return satisfactory answers, and related that St. George was a Christian and a native of Cappadocia; that, making an expedition into Libya in quest of adventure, he arrived just in time to save the king's daughter from a terrible dragon which had devoured many of the inhabitants; and that, becoming famous throughout Christendom as a warrior-saint, he was, as time rolled on, acknowledged as patron of the old Dukes of Guienne, from whom, in the female line, the Plantagenets derive their descent; and that, therefore, King Edward, when instituting the Order of the Garter, and placing it under the protection of the Trinity and certain saints, recognised St. George as the chief, and in his honour founded, at Windsor, the chapel that bears his name.
As I brought my narrative to a termination, we were approaching the castle of Windsor, and were, indeed, so close that I could see the stronghold through the trees. At the same time I descried, at no great distance from the place we had reached, a party of ladies; and, aware that Queen Philippa and her daughters were residing at the castle, I had no difficulty in recognising the Lady Isabel, who in the previous year had been betrothed to, and then deserted by, the young Count of Flanders. On seeing the princess and her ladies I reined back my steed, and, not wishing to intrude on their privacy, was turning to make for the town by another direction, when an exclamation, expressive of alarm, which broke from Liulph, directed my attention to a circumstance which made my blood run cold, and all but froze every vein in my heart.