  After brief delay at the gate, the travellers were admitted and escorted to the place selected for them. As Constance was anxious to meet the King at once, she sent word to the seneschal and followed him to the castle, accompanied by Arthur, HÖel, and Alan. A marshal met them near the entrance and called a servant to aid them in dismounting. There was in the courtyard such a crowd of knights, pages, and court people of various ranks that they made slow progress. Arthur paid little attention to the brilliant rooms through which they passed or to the persons who occupied them. His thoughts were fixed upon one object—to see Richard, his uncle. The marshal bade HÖel and Alan wait in the great hall, where two halberdiers kept guard, and then beckoned to a page and ordered him to wait upon the Duchess. The page disappeared behind a door, which he almost immediately reopened. Stepping back into an anteroom, he left the guests free to enter. With rapidly beating heart Arthur crossed the threshold, following his mother, and found himself in a spacious apartment, at the upper end of which King Richard rose from a carven arm-chair and advanced to meet the Duchess. He greeted the Duchess cordially, took her hand, and said: “It is long, dear sister-in-law, since we met, and we have passed through great sorrows. But you have had one consolation,” he added, placing his hand upon Arthur’s shoulder. Arthur took the King’s other hand and kissed it. King Richard invited his guests to be seated and took his place between them. Then he looked at Arthur again, murmuring to himself, “Geoffrey! Geoffrey!” Tears filled the Duchess’s eyes as Richard continued: “We loved each other dearly. Geoffrey was less impulsive, and restrained me from committing many a rash act, but he stood by me to the last. Do you know, Lady Constance, when I was engaged in that unfortunate revolt against my father, how I came to you alone in the darkness of night, pursued by his soldiers? They demanded me as their prisoner, but Geoffrey would not surrender me, and we beat our assailants back from the walls. Geoffrey surely saved his brother, but in doing so he was in rebellion against his father.” During this conversation Arthur was lost in contemplation of his uncle. Even without armor Richard was the ideal of a hero. He was the incomparable knight who in every tournament dashed horse and rider into the dust; for whom no foe was too strong, no fortress too secure, and who, after his victories, sang in competition with the troubadours. A smile lit up Richard’s face as he noticed the boy’s rapt gaze, and, turning suddenly, he asked, “What are you thinking about, Arthur?” “I was thinking,” replied Arthur with a start—“oh, I was thinking that my father could not help standing by you. As brother and as knight he could not have done otherwise.” “And yet,” said Richard, looking at the red cross fastened upon his left shoulder, “the Church now demands that I shall go to the Holy Land and make expiation for my resistance to my father’s authority. I have promised to go, and shall keep my word, though it is hard to leave my kingdom, which is not yet quieted. Oh, Arthur, if you were only a man and could fight by my side! There is glory still to be acquired in the morning-land for him who is victor under the banner of Godfrey of Bouillon, Greatly excited by Richard’s words, Arthur fell upon his knees, exclaiming, “I will go with you, my uncle and my king: I will be your page, your servant!” Constance stretched out her hand as if to restrain him, but Richard said with a quiet smile: “No, Arthur; wait until you have come to a man’s strength. There will be great deeds for you to perform later.” Arthur and the Duchess rose to take leave of the King, who embraced her, saying: “As you may be in need of rest, I will not detain you longer, but I will receive you again to-morrow as my guest.” The King struck a shield hanging upon the wall, whereupon two pages and the marshal entered, and under their respectful escort the Duchess and Duke left the castle after they had been rejoined by HÖel and Alan. |
|
