"Yet he is a man of violence, and with
none of the skill and dexterity with which Duke Philip steered his
course."
"A plague on such skill," muttered Leonard. "Caring solely for his
own gain, not for the right!"
"Yet your Count has a heavy hand," said Lambert. "Witness Dinant!
unhappy Dinant."
"The rogues insulted his mother," said Leonard. "He offered them
terms which they would not have in their stubborn pride! But speak
not of that! I never saw the like in England. There we strike at
the great, not at the small. Ah well, with all our wars and troubles
England was the better place to live in. Shall we ever see it more?"
There was something delightful to Grisell in that "we," but she made
answer, "So far as I hear, there has been quiet there for the last
two years under King Edward."
"Ay, and after all he has the right of blood," said Leonard. "Our
King Henry is a saint, and Queen Margaret a peerless dame of romance,
but since I have come to years of understanding I have seen that they
neither had true claim of inheritance nor power to rule a realm."
"Then would you make your peace with the White Rose?"
"The rose en soleil that wrought us so much evil at Mortimer's Cross?
Methinks I would. I never swore allegiance to King Henry. My father
was still living when last I saw that sweet and gracious countenance
which I must defend for love and reverence' sake.
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