Now that the power
of the butchers has been broken and that their leaders have fled, I came
back again, chiefly to find out what had become of you, and whether you
and your charges have passed through these evil times unharmed."
"We have all been in hiding, and save for an adventure or two have passed
the time quietly. Now that the gates are open we are going to make our
escape, for you see everything points to the probability that the
Orleanists will very shortly be supreme here, and after the defeat Sir
Eustace gave Sir Clugnet de Brabant they might be glad still to retain our
lady as hostage, though methinks they would treat her more honourably than
the Duke of Burgundy has done."
"Possibly they might, but I would not count upon it, for indeed wherever
they have taken a town they have treated those who fell into their hands
most barbarously. 'Tis true that they have some excuse for it in the
treatment of so many knights and ladies here. Indeed it seems to me that
France has been seized with madness, and that Heaven's vengeance will fall
upon her for the evil things that are being done. And now, can we aid you
in any way? The duke was extremely civil when I saw him on my arrival here
yesterday. He said that I and my friends were wrong in not having trusted
in him to protect us from the demands of the butchers. I told him frankly
that as he had in other matters been so overborne by them, and had been
unable to save noble knights and ladies from being murdered by them under
the pretence of a trial that all men knew was a mockery, it was just as
well that we had taken the matter into our own hands without adding it to
his other burdens; and that I and my friends felt that we had no reason to
regret the step we had taken, and we knew that our feelings were shared by
many other nobles and knights in Burgundy.
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