CHAPTER II
THE RETURN OF THE GRÂCE À DIEU
For the nonce all thoughts of the expected arrival of Sir Oliver Lysle were forgotten, save by the Lady Bertha and her son.
The pennons and garlands were already being removed, the minstrels trooped silently back to the great hall, and the banner of the Lysles was lowered to half-mast.
Yet, although all outward signs of merrymaking had disappeared, the feast provided for the tenantry was to be partaken of on the arrival of the Grâce à Dieu.
Soldiers and peasants gathered in small knots, eagerly discussing the events that were likely to ensue consequent upon the late monarch's decease.
"But Prince Henry was ever a young gallivant," observed Arnold Gripwell. "I' faith, 'tis no great advancement to have seen the inside of a gaol."
"Have a care, gossip, or thine ears will suffer for it," remonstrated a bearded master-archer. "Boys will be boys, they say. Perchance our King has put off all his ill-deeds."
"They do say that he hath made absolute confession," said another. "I have it on authority of a member of Sir Thomas Erpingham's household that the Prince hath repaired to the chapel of a recluse, and, laying bare to him the misdeeds of his whole life, hath put off the mantle of vice, and hath returned decently adorned with the cloak of virtue."
"So be it," replied Gripwell stoutly. "The late King, though his title to the throne were but a hollow one, was ever a soldier and a man. Give me a man whom I can serve and follow to the wars, say I."