Edgar the Ready: A Tale of the Third Edward's Reign

by W. P. Shervill

The recollection of the stirring scenes they had been through together always remained a bond of union between Edgar and Peter the armourer's lad, and the desire to aid and the desire to serve remained with them even after months and years had passed by. If Edgar wanted someone to go on an errand, it was Peter who was only too delighted to go; and if Peter had ever any desire beyond his work, it was always to Edgar that he came for advice or permission. If anything, the bond between them increased with the lapse of time, and it became a recognized thing in the castle that Peter was the special protégé and retainer of Edgar Wintour.

Three or four years passed without any change of note taking place in the affairs of the castle. Then its lord, Sir John Chartris, returned from the wars, and an alteration was made that had a considerable influence in the lives of more than one of its inmates. Sir John had previously paid several visits to his home but had soon departed, for he was constantly campaigning in Flanders, the south of France, or elsewhere. On this occasion he returned alone, for his esquire had recently been knighted, and had left him to take service under another banner.

As soon as the news that the office of personal esquire to Sir John was vacant became known, the excitement and rivalry between Aymery Montacute, Roland Mortimer, Robert Duplessis, Philip Soames, and Edgar became intense. That such a contingency was likely soon to arise had been known for some time, and each of them had nursed within himself the secret hope that he might be the fortunate one and follow his master to the wars. Rivalry had always existed between them, but naturally this increased tenfold at the thought that a selection must soon be made, for Sir John had so far steadily refused to take with him more than one esquire.

In prowess with weapons, both on foot and on horseback, Aymery, Roland, and Edgar were generally considered to be about equal. But this estimate was based on their performances in the castle courtyard and gymnasium, and little account, if any, was taken of the fact that Edgar always wore full armour, and, more even than this, wore his vizor down in those encounters. His comrades, however, had become so used to meeting him in this fashion, and made so little of it beyond a few half good-humoured gibes at his supposed dislike for cuts and bruises, that they overlooked the heavy handicap under which he laboured. Edgar, however, had not forgotten it, and resolved that when a trial was made to qualify one of their number for the coveted position, he would fight unencumbered, in the hopes of being able easily to overcome all his opponents.

The lessons he had learned at Gaspard's, too, would then very largely come into play for the first time. Several of the best strokes he had there learnt and practised he never used at Wolsingham, partly because he did not wish to accentuate the rivalry that already existed by easily worsting his comrades, and partly because he had had from the first a vague idea that a knowledge of new modes of attack or defence, about which they knew nothing, might prove useful to him in the days to come.

Several times the rivalry between him and one or two of his comrades had led perilously near to an open quarrel; but Edgar so far had, by the exercise of tact and a certain amount of forbearance, generally managed to keep the peace. Twice, however, he had had high words with Aymery and Roland over the rough manner in which they had treated Peter when sending him on their errands. Even this had blown over, though it remained an understood thing that if anyone wanted to annoy Edgar it was a safe and sure plan to bully the cripple lad.

A few weeks after Sir John's return home, it leaked out that it was likely that he would take part in an expedition which was being dispatched to Guienne under the leadership of the Earl of Derby. Much was hoped for from this expedition, and it seemed certain that those fortunate ones who took part in it would be in a fair way towards winning much renown. It happened also that the greater part of the lands to which Sir John's ward, Beatrice d'Alençon, was heiress, lay not far from the probable scene of the expedition, and presently the further news transpired that Sir John contemplated taking her with him, accompanied by his elder daughter, Gertrude, with the object of seizing an early opportunity of looking into the condition of her estates.

As has already been explained, both Aymery and Roland had for years past proudly worn the gage of Beatrice, with or without her permission, and not unnaturally this news sent them nearly wild with the desire to follow Sir John as his esquire. To take part in a famous campaign beneath her very eyes would, they felt certain, be a sure means towards gaining her admiration.

From the moment this news leaked out their rivalry was fanned to boiling-point, and the quarrels between them became constant. Only Edgar's tact and self-control kept him from embroilment also; for though they knew he was no rival so far as Beatrice was concerned, for he openly scoffed at all such notions, they both feared his swordsmanship, which might defeat their ambitions to follow Sir John to the wars. All indeed that was needed to drag him within the circle of their strife was something which would rouse his antagonism to the pitch at which theirs normally stood. An explosion would then be inevitable. Unfortunately this spark was presently supplied, and the unhappy cause of the mishap was Peter, the armourer's lad.

It happened that one day Aymery had set Peter to work to burnish up his armour, which he had carelessly left exposed to the rain after he had been going over it and fondly trying it on on the walls of the keep. Peter went to work willingly enough, but the havoc was so great that by the time he should have returned to the armourer it was only half done. Hastily completing it, in a rough-and-ready fashion, he put it back in the esquires' chamber and went on his way to the forge, intending to finish the work as soon as he was again free. Presently two or three of the pages entered the chamber, and Aymery's armour spread out on the table was the first object to attract their attention. Not knowing or caring to whom it belonged, and ripe for any sort of mischief, they proceeded to amuse themselves by kicking and throwing the pieces about the room.