Chapter 10

They bore him barefaced on his bier,
Six proper youths and tall,
And many a tear bedew'd his grave
Within yon kirkyard wall.
THE FRIAR OF ORDERS GRAY.

While these matters took place in the castle-yard, the young
squire, Damian Lacy, obtained the audience which he had requested
of Eveline Berenger, who received him in the great hall of the
castle, seated beneath the dais, or canopy, and waited upon by
Rose and other female attendants; of whom the first alone was
permitted to use a tabouret or small stool in her presence, so
strict were the Norman maidens of quality in maintaining their
claims to high rank and observance.

The youth was introduced by the confessor and Flammock, as the
spiritual character of the one, and the trust reposed by her late
father in the other, authorized them to be present upon the
occasion. Eveline naturally blushed, as she advanced two steps to
receive the handsome youthful envoy; and her bashfulness seemed
infectious, for it was with some confusion that Damian went
through the ceremony of saluting the hand which she extended
towards him in token of welcome. Eveline was under the necessity
of speaking first.

"We advance as far as our limits will permit us," she said, "to
greet with our thanks the messenger who brings us tidings of
safety. We speak--unless we err--to the noble Damian of Lacy?"

"To the humblest of your servants," answered Damian, falling with
some difficulty into the tone of courtesy which his errand and
character required, "who approaches you on behalf of his noble
uncle, Hugo de Lacy, Constable of Chester."

"Will not our noble deliverer in person honour with his presence
the poor dwelling which he has saved?"

"My noble kinsman," answered Damian, "is now God's soldier, and
bound by a vow not to come beneath a roof until he embark for the
Holy Land. But by my voice he congratulates you on the defeat of
your savage enemies, and sends you these tokens that the comrade
and friend of your noble father hath not left his lamentable death
many hours unavenged." So saying, he drew forth and laid before
Eveline the gold bracelets, the coronet, and the eudorchawg, or
chain of linked gold, which had distinguished the rank of the
Welsh Prince. [Footnote: Eudorchawg, or Gold Chains of the Welsh.
These were the distinguished marks of rank and valour among the
numerous tribes of Celtic extraction. Manlius, the Roman Champion,
gained the name of Torquatus, or he of the chain, on account of an
ornament of this kind, won, in single combat, from a gigantic
Gaul. Aneurin, the Welsh bard, mentions, in his poem on the battle
of Catterath, that no less than three