"All is well, Master Edgar. I have been into the town, and have told the ladies that there is no news, and that thou wert worn out with searching, and sleeping heavily. I have hopes that thou wilt make thy name in the mêlée to-day; but what chance would there be of thy doing thyself justice after wearing thyself out riding all night long?"
Too angry to bandy words with the lad, and realizing, too, that it was out of regard for him that he had disobeyed his orders, Edgar strode back to his tent, hastily washed himself, and then rode into the town. He had no good news to tell, and the ladies could not help but feel that something serious must be keeping Sir John, or he would certainly have either appeared in person or have sent someone to tell them of his detention elsewhere. It was for them a time of anxiety and perplexity, and Edgar could do little save suggest all sorts of accidents that might have kept the knight back for a few hours.
One thing besides his master's life, however, Edgar felt he had to consider, and that was his honour. With the contest of the afternoon Sir John's honour was now closely bound up. The utmost publicity had been given to the affair, and did he not appear and answer to the challenge of Sir Gervaise de Maupas, he would be regarded on all sides as a dishonoured knight. Edgar felt this most keenly, and resolved that at all costs he would keep the secret of Sir John's disappearance from becoming known, so that if he returned at the last moment, as he might well do, idle tongues would have had no cause to wag against him.
No one besides the ladies, Matthew, and Peter knew that Sir John was missing, and all these he swore to silence. They were ready enough to agree, for none could think that so experienced a warrior as Sir John could have been overcome so easily as to disappear and leave no trace. In fact, Matthew roundly declared that an hour or so before the contest with Sir Gervaise was timed to commence would see him back, and the others fervently hoped that he might prove to be right.
CHAPTER VIII
The Lists of Bordeaux
Completely forgetting that he was one of the seven chosen to do battle for the English esquires against the best of their Gascon allies, Edgar spent the little time left of the morning in making enquiries of all who might have seen Sir John at any point during his afternoon's ride--countrymen coming in with carts laden with farm produce, the men who had kept watch during the afternoon and evening along the outer side of the camp, and any others who might possibly have some news to tell, however meagre. His enquiries were quite fruitless, however, and his fears that there might have been foul play gradually returned to him as the morning wore on. At last he returned to the camp and sent for Peter.
"Peter," he said, "I want thee now to keep close watch to see who doth visit Sir Gervaise de Maupas. I begin to feel once more that he is at the bottom of the mischief; and it hath occurred to me that if his emissaries have waylaid Sir John they will, if they have not done so already, come to him to report the result of their vile plot. Keep watch, then, and see who the men are, and if thou canst do so quietly, call Matthew and scruple not to seize them on some pretext or another. Pick a quarrel with them--anything, so long as ye lay hands on them and keep them till I come."
Peter nodded, as though in entire approval, and limped off upon his errand, and Edgar turned to find Arthur Pomeroy, mounted and armed, waiting for him with every sign of impatience a pace or two away.
"So this is the way thou dost spend the precious moments--gibbering with stableboys and camp followers, Edgar Wintour," he cried in a voice of disgust. "'Tis but twenty minutes short of noon, and thou not in the saddle and not a piece of thine armour girded on. Hast gone daft, man, or forgotten that the onset sounds at noon?"