[1281] This is the English account; _Gesta Hen._ (Stubbs), vol. ii. p. 69, copied by Rog. Howden (Stubbs), vol. ii. p. 364. But the French writers turn it into something very like a miracle. See Rigord (Duchesne, _Hist. Franc. Scriptt._, vol. v.), p. 28; Will. Armor., _Gesta Phil. Aug._ (_ibid._), p. 75, and _Philipp._, l. iii. (_ibid._), p. 133. [1282] _Gesta Hen._ as above. [1283] Gir. Cambr. _De Instr. Princ._, l. iii. c. 25 (Angl. Christ. Soc., p. 140) says the investment began on the morrow of the Azay conference. [1284] _Gesta Hen._ as above. See Stubbs, _Rog. Howden_, vol. ii. pref. p. lxvi and note. [1285] _Gesta Hen._ as above. Gir. Cambr. as above (p. 141). For the duke of Burgundy Gerald substitutes the count of Blois. Bishop Stubbs (_Rog. Howden_, as above) adopts the former version. [1286] _Gesta Hen._ as above. [1287] _Ibid._ Cf. Rigord and Will. Armor. as above, and _Philipp._ l. iii. (_ibid._), pp. 133, 134. The tidings were carried at once to Henry, with a final summons to meet the conqueror at Colombières, half-way between Tours and Azay.[1288] Henry, at his wits’ end, consulted William the Marshal as to whether or not he should respond to the summons; William recommended him to follow the counsel of his barons; they advised that he should go, and he went. Most of his followers went with him; Geoffrey, however, feeling that he could not endure to see his father’s humiliation, besought and obtained permission to remain where he was.[1289] Henry found a lodging in a small commandery of Knights Templars at Ballan,[1290] close to Colombières; but he had no sooner reached it than he was seized with racking pains in every limb and every nerve. He again called for William the Marshal, who did his best to soothe him, and persuaded him to go to bed. Philip and Richard had always refused to believe that his sickness was anything but a feint, and despite the pleadings of his friends they still insisted that the conference should take place[1291] on the following day.[1292] When they saw him, however, they were compelled to admit the truth of his excuse; his sternly-set and colourless face shewed but too plainly how acutely he was suffering. So evident was his weakness that they offered him a seat--on a cloak spread upon the ground--but he refused it; he had not come there, he said, to sit down with them; he had come simply to hear and see what the French king demanded of him, and why he had taken away his lands.[1293] Philip formulated his demands with brutal bluntness; he required that Henry should put himself, as a conquered enemy, entirely at his mercy before he would discuss any terms at all.[1294] Henry could not at once bring himself to submit. Suddenly, amid the breathless stillness of the sultry July morning, a