Page:A C Doyle - The White Company.djvu/244

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214
THE WHITE COMPANY

shall feel a touch of our displeasure. I send now a message to our Cousin Charles which his whole kingdom may read. Let him take heed lest worse befall him. Where is my Lord Chandos? Ha, Sir John, I commend this worthy knight to your care. You will see that he hath refection, and such a purse of gold as may defray his charges, for indeed it is great honour to any court to have within it so noble and gentle a cavalier. How say you, sire?' he asked, turning to the Spanish refugee, while the herald of Navarre was conducted from the chamber by the old warrior.

'It is not our custom in Spain to reward pertness in a messenger,' Don Pedro answered, patting the head of his greyhound. 'Yet we have all heard the lengths to which your royal generosity runs.'

'In sooth, yes,' cried the King of Majorca.

'Who should know it better than we,' said Don Pedro bitterly, 'since we have had to fly to you in our trouble as to the natural protector of all who are weak?'

'Nay, nay, as brothers to a brother,' cried the prince, with sparkling eyes. 'We doubt not, with the help of God, to see you very soon restored to those thrones from which you have been so traitorously thrust.'

'When that happy day comes,' said Pedro, 'then Spain shall be to you as Aquitaine, and, be your project what it may, you may ever count on every troop and every ship over which flies the banner of Castile.'

'And,' added the other, 'upon every aid which the wealth and power of Majorca can bestow.'

'Touching the hundred thousand crowns in which I stand your debtor,' continued Pedro carelessly, 'it can no doubt——'

'Not a word, sire, not a word!' cried the priuce. 'It is not now when you are in grief that I would vex your mind with such base and sordid matters. I have said once and for ever that I am yours with every bowstring of my army and every florin in my coffers.'

'Ah! here is indeed a mirror of chivalry,' said Don