Transcribed from the 1905 Macmillan and Co. edition by Janet Haselow, Marian Taylor and David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org THE LITTLE DUKE RICHARD THE FEARLESS BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE," ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS London MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1905 _All rights reserved_ RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. _Originally published elsewhere_. _Transferred in_ 1864. _First Edition printed_ (S) _for Macmillan and Co. November_ 1864 (_Pott_ 8_vo_). _Reprinted_ 1869, 1872, 1873, 1876, 1878, 1881 (_Globe_ 8_vo_), 1883, 1885, 1886, 1889. _New Edition_ 1891, (_Crown_ 8_vo_), 1892, 1894, 1895, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1903, 1905. CHAPTER I On a bright autumn day, as long ago as the year 943, there was a great bustle in the Castle of Bayeux in Normandy. The hall was large and low, the roof arched, and supported on thick short columns, almost like the crypt of a Cathedral; the walls were thick, and the windows, which had no glass, were very small, set in such a depth of wall that there was a wide deep window seat, upon which the rain might beat, without reaching the interior of the room. And even if it had come in, there was nothing for it to hurt, for the walls were of rough stone, and the floor of tiles. There was a fire at each end of this great dark apartment, but there were no chimneys over the ample hearths, and the smoke curled about in thick white folds in the vaulted roof, adding to the wreaths of soot, which made the hall look still darker. The fire at the lower end was by far the largest and hottest. Great black cauldrons hung over it, and servants, both men and women, with red faces, bare and grimed arms, and long iron hooks, or pots and pans, were busied around it. At the other end, which was raised about three steps above the floor of the hall, other servants were engaged. Two young maidens were strewing fresh rushes on the floor; some men were setting up a long table of rough boards, supported on trestles, and then ranging upon it silver cups, drinking horns, and wooden trenchers.