"It is a faithful friend, my Lord Bishop," said the Duke; "you may tell your news before him."
"It will soon be generally known," said the chancellor. "Louis and Edward are fully accorded." Both the Duke and the English Earl started.
"I expected this," said the Duke, "but not so soon."
"The Kings have met," answered his minister.
"How—in battle?" said Oxford, forgetting himself in his extreme eagerness.
The chancellor was somewhat surprised, but as the Duke seemed to expect him to give an answer, he replied, "No, Sir Stranger—not in battle, but upon appointment, and in peace and amity."
"The sight must have been worth seeing," said the Duke; "when the old fox Louis, and my brother Black—I mean my brother Edward—met. Where held they their rendezvous?"
"On a bridge over the Seine, at Picquigny."
"I would thou hadst been there," said the Duke, looking to Oxford, "with a good axe in thy hand, to strike one fair blow for England, and another for Burgundy. My grandfather was treacherously slain at just such a meeting, at the Bridge of Montereau, upon the Yonne."
"To prevent a similar chance," said the chancellor, "a strong barricade, such as closes the cages in which men keep wild beasts, was raised in the midst of the bridge, and prevented the possibility of their even touching each other's hands."