At the head of the party rode the Earl and his brother side byside, each clad cap-a-pie in a suit of Milan armor, the cuirassof each covered with a velvet juppon embroidered in silver withthe arms and quarterings of the Beaumonts. The Earl wore aroundhis neck an "S S" collar, with a jewelled St. George hanging fromit, and upon his head a vizored bascinet, ornamented with awreath covered with black and yellow velvet and glistening withjewels.
Lord George, as was said before, was clad in a beautiful suit ofribbed Milan armor. It was rimmed with a thin thread of gold,and, like his brother, he wore a bascinet wreathed with black andyellow velvet.
Behind the two brothers and their equerries rode the rest intheir proper order--knights, gentlemen, esquires, men-at-arms--tothe number, perhaps, of two hundred and fifty; spears and lancesaslant, and banners, permons, and pencels of black and yellowfluttering in the warm September air.
From the castle to the town they rode, and then across thebridge, and thence clattering up through the stony streets, wherethe folk looked down upon them from the windows above, or crowdedthe fronts of the shops of the tradesmen. Lusty cheers wereshouted for the Earl, but the great Lord rode staring everstraight before him, as unmoved as a stone. Then out of the townthey clattered, and away in a sweeping cloud of dust across thecountry-side.
It was not until they had reached the windy top of WilloughbyCroft, ten miles away, that they met the King and his company. Asthe two parties approached to within forty or fifty yards of oneanother they stopped.
As they came to a halt, Myles observed that a gentleman dressedin a plain blue-gray riding- habit, and sitting upon a beautifulwhite gelding, stood a little in advance of the rest of theparty, and he knew that that must be the King. Then Sir Jamesnodded to Myles, and leaping from his horse, flung the reins toone of the attendants. Myles did the like; and then, stillfollowing Sir James's lead as he served Lord Mackworth, wentforward and held Lord George's stirrup while he dismounted. Thetwo noblemen quickly removed each his bascinet, and Myles,holding the bridle- rein of Lord George's horse with his lefthand, took the helmet in his right, resting it upon his hip.
Then the two brothers walked forward bare- headed, the Earl, alittle in advance. Reaching the King he stopped, and then benthis knee--stiffly in the armored plates--until it touched theground. Thereupon the King reached him his hand, and he, risingagain, took it, and set it to his lips.
Then Lord George, advancing, kneeled as his brother had kneeled,and to him also the King gave his hand.
Myles could hear nothing, but he could see that a few words ofgreeting passed between the three, and then the King, turning,beckoned to a knight who stood just behind him and a little inadvance of the others of the troop. In answer, the knight rodeforward; the King spoke a few words of introduction, and thestranger, ceremoniously drawing off his right gauntlet, claspedthe hand, first of the Earl, and then of Lord George. Myles knewthat he must be the great Comte de Vermoise, of whom he had heardso much of late.
A few moments of conversation followed, and then the King bowedslightly. The French nobleman instantly reined back his horse, anorder was given, and then the whole company moved forward, thetwo brothers walking upon either side of the King, the Earllightly touching the bridle-rein with his bare hand.
Whilst all this was passing, the Earl of Mackworth's company hadbeen drawn up in a double line along the road-side, leaving theway open to the other party. As the King reached the head of thetroop, another halt followed while he spoke a few courteous wordsof greeting to some of the lesser nobles attendant upon the Earlwhom he knew.
In that little time he was within a few paces of Myles, who stoodmotionless as a statue, holding the bascinet and the bridle-reinof Lord George's horse.
What Myles saw was a plain, rather stout man, with a face fat,smooth, and waxy, with pale-blue eyes, and baggy in the lids;clean shaven, except for a mustache and tuft covering lips andchin. Somehow he felt a deep disappointment. He had expected tosee something lion-like, something regal, and, after all, thegreat King Henry was commonplace, fat, unwholesome-looking. Itcame to him with a sort of a shock that, after all, a King was innowise different from other men.
Meanwhile the Earl and his brother replaced their bascinets, andpresently the whole party moved forward upon the way toMackworth.
