They are Count Charles
d'Estournel, Sir John Poupart, and Sir Louis de Lactre."
Holding his hand she advanced to meet them and introduced them to him.
"Gentlemen," Sir Eustace said, "no words of mine can express the gratitude
that I feel to you for the service that you have rendered to my wife and
children. Henceforth you may command me to the extent of my life."
"The service was requited before it was rendered, Sir Eustace," Count
Charles said; "it has been service for service. In the first place your
esquire, with that tall archer of yours, saved my life when attacked by a
band of cutthroats in Paris. This to some small extent I repaid when, with
my two good friends here and some others, we charged a mob that was
besieging the house in which your dame lodged. Then Master Aylmer laid a
fresh obligation on us by warning us that the butchers demanded our lives
for interfering in that business, whereby we were enabled to cut our way
out by the Port St. Denis and so save our skins. We could not rest thus,
matters being so uneven, and therefore as soon as the king's party arrived
in a sufficient force to put down the tyranny of the butchers, we returned
to Paris, with the intention we have carried out--of finding Dame Margaret
in her hiding-place, if happily she should have escaped all these perils,
and of conducting her to you. And now, having delivered her into your
hands, we will take our leave.
Pages:
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350