Fulk had donned his helmet before leaving the Black Mere. He had said but little during the ride, and his heart was still bitter in him. He looked at the great round tower rising against the sky, and muttered to himself, “That the King of such a castle should be a liar and a coward!”
The royal banner drifted in the wind, and as they rode up the narrow street a company of men-at-arms clattered down with a knight in green armour at their head. Knollys beckoned him aside, and they drew apart and spoke together while the men-at-arms rode on. And Fulk looked at them longingly; he would not grumble if he had five hundred such fellows at his back.
Knollys rejoined him.
“Richard is out with his hawks, but will be back before nightfall. The Princess is in the castle, and so are Salisbury and Warwick.”
They rode up to the gate, and the guard passed them when they saw Knollys’ face. In the first court they dismounted, leaving their horses with the grooms. A page came forward. Knollys asked for my Lord of Salisbury, and the lad answered that Salisbury was at chess in the garden with the Princess. Knollys bade him lead on.
He spoke to Fulk as they followed the page.
“Keep your vizor down; say nothing; leave all to me.”
They came into the garden, a green space surrounded by a great yew hedge. Two peacocks strutted about, spreading their tails. In the centre was a stone basin in which goldfish swam to and fro. The Princess had set up her chess-table in the shade of a little stone pavilion that was covered with climbing roses, and on a bench sat three of her ladies, two reading together out of a book, the third busy with gold orfrey work. A page stood behind Salisbury’s chair. The chessmen were of ivory, white and red, and at Knollys’ coming the Princess was conning the board, one hand poised tentatively over her queen.
Knollys and Fulk paused some paces away; Salisbury was bending forward in his chair and frowning a little. The Princess made her move, not having heard the footsteps on the grass.
“Madame, here is Sir Robert Knollys.”