Through these scattered knots of horsemen Chandos rode, and as
many of them were old antagonists it was "Ha, John!" on the one
side, and "Ha, Raoul!" "Ha, Nicholas!" "Ha, Guichard!" upon the
other, as they brushed past them. Only one cavalier greeted them
amiss, a large, red-faced man, the Lord Clermont, who by some
strange chance bore upon his surcoat a blue virgin standing amid
golden sunbeams, which was the very device which Chandos had
donned for the day. The fiery Frenchman dashed across their path
and drew his steed back on to its haunches.
"How long is it, my Lord Chandos," said he hotly, "since you have
taken it upon yourself to wear my arms?"
Chandos smiled. "It is surely you who have mine," said he, "since
this surcoat was worked for thee by the good nuns of Windsor a long
year ago."
"If it were not for the truce," said Clermont, "I would soon show
you that you have no right to wear it."
"Look for it then in the battle to-morrow, and I also will look
for yours," Chandos answered. "There we can very honorably settle
the matter."
But the Frenchman was choleric and hard to appease. "You English
can invent nothing," said he, "and you take for your own whatever
you see handsome belonging to others." So, grumbling and fuming,
he rode upon his way, while Chandos, laughing gayly, spurred
onward across the plain.
The immediate front of the English line was shrouded with
scattered trees and bushes which hid the enemy; but when they had
cleared these a fair view of the great French army lay before
them.
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