Part 10 (1/2)
”My name is Guy Aylmer, sir; I am the son of Sir James Aylmer, an English knight, and am here as the esquire of Dame Margaret de Villeroy, who arrived but this morning in Paris.”
”And who is this stalwart fellow whose staff has done more execution than both our sword-blades?” the young count asked; ”verily it rose and fell like a flail on a thras.h.i.+ng-floor.”
”He is one of Dame Margaret's retainers, and the captain of a band of archers in her service, but is at present here as one of her men-at-arms.”
”In truth I envy her so stout a retainer. Good fellow, I have to thank you much, as well as Monsieur Guy Aylmer, for your a.s.sistance.”
”One is always glad of an opportunity to stretch one's arms a bit when there is but a good excuse for doing so,” the archer said; ”and one needs no better chance than when one sees a gentleman attacked by such sc.u.m as these ruffians,” and he motioned to the men lying stretched on the ground.
”Ah, you are Englis.h.!.+” D'Estournel said with a slight smile at Tom's very broken French. ”I know all about you now,” he went on, turning to Guy. ”I was not present today when your lady had audience with Burgundy, but I heard that an English dame had arrived, and that the duke came but badly out of the encounter in words with her. But we had best be moving on or we may have the watch on us, and we should be called upon to account for these ten fellows lying here. I doubt not but half of them are only stunned and will soon make off, the other six will have to be carried away. We have a good account to give of ourselves, but the watch would probably not trouble themselves to ask any questions, and I have no fancy for spending a night locked up in the cage with perhaps a dozen unsavoury malefactors. Which way does your course lie, sir?”
”We are lodged at the house of Maitre Leroux, provost of the silversmiths.”
”Then you are going in the wrong direction. You return up this street, then turn to your right; his house is in the third street to the left. I shall do myself the honour of calling in the morning to thank you more fully for the service you have rendered me, which, should it ever fall into my power, you can count on my returning. My way now lies in the opposite direction.”
After mutual salutes they parted, and Guy followed the directions given to them.
”That was a sharp skirmish, Master Guy,” Long Tom said contentedly; ”the odds were just enough to make it interesting. Did you escape scatheless?”
”Not altogether, Tom, I had a sword-thrust in my shoulder; but I can do with it until I get back, when I will get you to bandage it for me.”
”That will I; I did not get so much as a scratch. A quarter-staff is a rare weapon in a fight like that, for you can keep well out of the reach of their swords. In faith I have not had so pleasant an exercise since that fight d.i.c.kon and I had in the market-place at Winchester last Lammas fair.”
”I am afraid Dame Margaret will scold us for getting into a fray.”
”Had it not been for your wound we need have said nothing about it; but you may be sure that you will have to carry your arm in a sling for a day or two, and she will want to know the ins and outs of the matter.”
”I think the affair has been a fortunate one, for it has obtained for me the friends.h.i.+p of a young Burgundian n.o.ble. Friendless as we are here, this is no slight matter, and I by no means grudge the amount of blood I have lost for such a gain. There is a light in Dame Margaret's cas.e.m.e.nt; she said that she should sit up till my return, and would herself let me in, for the household would be asleep two hours ago; and as Maitre Leroux and his wife have shown themselves so kindly disposed towards us, she should not like the household disturbed at such an hour. I was to whistle a note or two of Richard Mon Roi, and she would know that we were without.”
He whistled a bar or two of the air, they saw a shadow cross the cas.e.m.e.nt, then the light disappeared, and in a minute they heard the bolts undrawn and the door opened.
”You are late, Guy,” she said; ”I have been expecting you this hour past.
Why, what has happened to you?” she broke off as she saw his face.
”It is but a trifle, lady,” he said; ”a sword-thrust in the shoulder, and a little blood. Long Tom will bind it up. Our delay was caused partly by the fact that the Italian was engaged, and it was half-an-hour before I could see him. Moreover, we had been kept at the trysting-place, as the guide did not recognize me owing to Tom being with me; and lastly, we were somewhat delayed by the matter that cost me this sword-thrust, which I in no way grudge, since it has gained for us a friend who may be useful.”
Tom had by this time barred the door and had gone upstairs. ”I am disappointed in you, Guy,” Dame Margaret said severely when they entered the room. ”I told you to keep yourself free from frays of all kinds, and here you have been engaged in one before we have been twelve hours in Paris.”
”I crave your pardon, madam, but it is not in human nature to stand by without drawing a sword on behalf of a young gentleman defending himself against a dozen cut-throats. I am sure that in such a case your ladys.h.i.+p would be the first to bid me draw and strike in. The matter did not last three minutes. Tom disposed of six of them with his quarter-staff, the gentleman had killed two before we arrived, and I managed to dispose of two others, the rest took to their heels. The young gentleman was Count Charles d'Estournel; he is, as it seems, in the Duke of Burgundy's train; and as we undoubtedly saved his life, he may turn out a good and useful friend.”
”You are right, Guy; I spoke perhaps too hastily. And now about the other matter.”
Guy told her all that had taken place.
”And what is this man like?” she asked when he had concluded.
”Now that I saw him without the astrologer's robe and in his ordinary costume he seemed to me a very proper gentleman,” Guy replied. ”He is my height or thereabouts, grave in face and of good presence. I have no doubt that he is to be trusted, and he has evidently resolved to do all in his power to aid you, should it be necessary to do so. He would scarce have introduced his daughter to me had it not been so.”
”He must be a strange man,” Dame Margaret said thoughtfully.