"Come hither, little Cousin," said the Princess affably, smiling all over her plump face. "Of a truth, I am right glad to see thee. I can go visit none now, for I am so fat I may scarce mount mine horse. Didst ever behold a woman fatter than I?" Roger’s head squire, who had been spending considerable pains in coaching him for this interview, was horrified to hear him reply with charming candour— "No, Dame; that did I never." "Why, thou sayest well!" laughed the Princess, evidently not in the least offended. "Alway speak truth, fair Cousin." "So do I," answered Roger rather proudly. "My Lady my grandmother told me ever so to do; and she learned me two sayings by the which I should rule me, and I so will. Under your pleasure, Dame," he added in an instant, with a sudden recollection of the squire’s instructions and those of Sir Gerard. "Come, tell me what they were!" responded the Princess, coaxingly. "Thou lovest my Lady thy grandmother, that can I see." "Well, I did, middling, Dame," said Roger, coolly. "Howbeit she were only a woman." The squire was ready to sink into the earth, till he was relieved by the Princess leaning back in her gilded chair with a burst of the heartiest laughter. "Gramercy, little Cousin, but thou art right covenable![#] I see, we shall be good friends. But I desire thy two sayings. Tell me the same." [#] Agreeable, amusing. Roger repeated them rather proudly. "’_Fais ce que doy, advienne que pourra:_’ ’_Un_ and _Dieu, un Roy, servir je doy._’" "And dost mean to rule thee by them?" asked the Princess, still smiling. "That do I, Dame. I will serve God and the King to my power, but none other." "He will do, trow?" said the Princess, looking up at somebody whom Roger had not previously noticed. His eyes followed hers, and he saw standing on her right hand a young man of eighteen, clad in a tunic of black baldekyn, figured with red balls and purplish-gray flowers. Above it was a white tippet; the sleeves were red, with gold cuffs; and he wore yellow shoes with a red pattern.[#] He was of short stature and slight figure: his complexion was of feminine fairness, his hair flaxen tinged with gold, his eyes blue and dove-like. So great was his soft and pathetic beauty, that artists selected his face as the model for "that Face which now outshines the cherubim." [#] This is King Richard’s costume in the Golden Book of St. Albans. Something in the face won Roger’s heart. What it was he did not know himself. It was, in truth, a vague remembrance of that fair young mother who had passed away from him so early, and a likeness to whom he detected without recognising it, in the face before him. An affectionate smile from the royal cousin completed his conquest of the heart of Roger Mortimer. "He will do, in very truth," said the King, answering his mother first: then he turned to Roger. "Be right welcome, fair Cousin: I trust to see more of you in time coming."