Chapter 30 - Page 2

lord," said Vidal, "all is lost--love, dominion, high
office, and bright fame--so late a chief among nobles, now a poor
palmer!"

"Wouldst thou make sport with my misery?" said Hugo, sternly; "but
even that comes of course behind my back, and why should it not be
endured when said to my face?--Know, then, minstrel, and put it in
song if you list, that Hugo de Lacy, having lost all he carried to
Palestine, and all which he left at home, is still lord of his own
mind; and adversity can no more shake him, than the breeze which
strips the oak of its leaves can tear up the trunk by the roots."

"Now, by the tomb of my father," said the minstrel, rapturously,
"this man's nobleness is too much for my resolve!" and stepping
hastily to the Constable, he kneeled on one knee, and caught his
hand more freely than the state maintained by men of De Lacy's
rank usually permitted. "Here," said Vidal, "on this hand--this
noble hand--I renounce--" But ere he could utter another word,
Hugo de Lacy, who, perhaps, felt the freedom of the action as an
intrusion on his fallen condition, pulled back his hand, and bid
the minstrel, with as stern frown, arise, and remember that
misfortune made not De Lacy a fit personage for a mummery.

Renault Vidal rose rebuked. "I had forgot," he said, "the distance
between an Armorican violer and a high Norman baron. I thought
that the same depth of sorrow, the same burst of joy, levelled,
for a moment at least, those artificial barriers by which men are
divided. But it is well as it is. Live within the limits of your
rank, as heretofore within your donjon tower and your fosses, my
lord, undisturbed by the sympathy of any mean man like me. I, too,
have my duties to discharge."

"And now to the Garde Doloureuse," said the baron, turning to
Philip Guarine--"God knoweth how well it deserveth the name!--
there to learn, with our own eyes and ears, the truth of these
woful tidings. Dismount, minstrel, and give me thy palfrey--I
would, Guarine, that I had one for thee--as for Vidal, his
attendance is less necessary. I will face my foes, or my
misfortunes, like a man--that be assured of, violer; and look not
so sullen, knave--I will not forget old adherents."

"One of them, at least, will not forget you, my lord," replied the
minstrel, with his usual dubious tone of look and emphasis.

But just as the Constable was about to prick forwards, two persons
appeared on the path, mounted on one horse, who, hidden by some
dwarf-wood, had come very near them without being perceived. They
were male and female; and the man, who rode foremost, was such a
picture