He and his comrades should be worth a
good hundred thousand crowns."
Edward spurned the Italian away from him with his foot until he
sprawled among the rushes, but even as he lay there like a wounded
snake his dark eyes never left the King's face.
"You double traitor! You would sell Calais to de Chargny, and
then in turn you would sell de Chargny to me. How dare you
suppose that I or any noble knight had such a huckster's soul as
to think only of ransoms where honor is to be won? Could I or any
true man be so caitiff and so thrall? You have sealed your own
doom. Lead him out!"
"One instant, I pray you, my fair and most sweet lord," cried the
Prince. "Assuage your wrath yet a little while, for this man's
rede deserves perhaps more thought than we have given it. He has
turned your noble soul sick with his talk of ransoms; but look at
it, I pray you, from the side of honor, and where could we find
such hope of worshipfully winning worship? I pray you to let me
put my body in this adventure, for it is one from which, if
rightly handled, much advancement is to be gained."
Edward looked with sparkling eyes at the noble youth at his side.
"Never was hound more keen on the track of a stricken hart than
you on the hope of honor, fair son," said he. "How do you
conceive the matter in your mind?"
"De Chargny and his men will be such as are worth going far to
meet, for he will have the pick of France under his banner that
night.
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