"I have no purpose, sir, to ride for that good lord, the Duke, any more," answered Richard of Woodville; "I did but seek his Court to win honour and renown; but now I am called to England by many motives, so that I may well promise not to serve with him again; but if your proposal goes farther, and you would have me give my knightly word, not to fight for my Sovereign against any power on earth where he may need my arm, I must at once say no. I am his vassal, and will do my duty according to my oath, whenever he shall call upon me. He is my liege lord; and--" "There are some Englishmen, and not a few," said the Count of Armagnac, in a harsh and grating tone of voice, "who do not hold him to be such, but rather an usurper. Edmund, Earl of March, is your liege lord, young knight." "He has never claimed that title, noble sir," answered Richard of Woodville; "and indeed, has renounced it, by swearing allegiance himself to his great cousin." "Compulsion, all compulsion," said the Duke of Orleans; "we shall yet see him on the throne of England." "I trust not, my lord the Duke," answered the English knight; "but if the plea of compulsion can, in your eyes, justify the breach of an oath, how could you expect me to keep a promise made, not to serve against this crown of France, here in a prison?" "But why say you, that you trust not to see him on the throne?" asked the Count of Armagnac, evading the part of Woodville's reply which he would have found difficult to answer. "He is surely a noble and courteous gentleman, full of high virtues." "Far inferior in all to his royal cousin," answered the knight; "but it is not on that account alone I say so, but for many reasons. We Englishmen believe that our crown is held by somewhat different rights from yours of France. At the coronations of our kings, we by our free voices confirm them on their throne. The people of England have a say in the question of a monarch's title; and without that recognition they are not kings of England. To our present sovereign, the nobles of the land offered their homage ere the crown was placed upon his brow; but he, as wise in this as in all else, would receive none till he was proclaimed King, not by a herald's trumpet, but by the tongues of Englishmen. Besides, I say, I trust I shall never see the Earl of March wearing the English crown, because I hope never to see an honourable nobleman forget his oath, nor a perjured monarch on the throne." "And yet your fourth Harry forgot his," said the Duke of Orleans. "Not till intolerable wrongs and base injustice drove him to it," answered the knight; "not till the monarch so far forgot his compact with the subject, as to free him from remembrance of his part of the obligation. Besides, I was then a boy; I found a sovereign reigning by the voice of the people; to him I pledged my first oath of fealty. I have since pledged it to his son; and I will keep it."