"
"But, Sir Eustace," Guy said, when he had concluded, "how do these matters
affect you? I thought that by the treaty the west part of Artois was
English."
"Ay, lad, it was so settled; but at that time the strength of France had
been broken at Poitiers, and the Black Prince and his army were so feared
that his terms were willingly accepted in order to secure peace. Much has
happened since then: war has been constantly going on, sometimes hotly,
sometimes sluggishly; France has had her own troubles, and as the English
kings have been more pacific, and England has become weary of bearing the
heavy expenses of the war, the treaty has become a dead letter. Gascony,
in which province Armagnac is the greatest lord, is altogether lost to
England, as is the greater part of Guienne. A great proportion of the
people there were always bitterly opposed to the change, and, as you know,
even in the time of the Black Prince himself there were great rebellions
and troubles; since then town after town and castle after castle has
declared for France, and no real efforts have ever been made by the
English to win them back again. I, who in England am an English baron,
and--so long as things go on as at present--a French noble while in
France, am in a perilous position between my two Suzerains. Were an
English army to land, I should join them, for I still hold myself to be a
vassal of the king of England, as we have been for three generations.
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