In the Days of Chivalry | Page 6

Gaston, he hesitated not an instant, but with flashing
eyes he sprang at the right arm of his powerful adversary, and had
wrested the whip from him and tossed it far away before the words
were well out of the angry lord's mouth.
With a great oath the man drew his sword; but the youth laughed him to
scorn as he stepped back out of reach of the formidable weapon. He
well knew his advantage. Light of foot, though all unarmed, he could
defy any horseman in this wooded spot. No horse could penetrate to the
right or left of the narrow track. Even if the knight dismounted, the
twin brothers, who knew every turn and winding of these dim forest
paths, could lead him a fine dance, and then break away and let him
find his way out as best he could. Fearless and impetuous as Gaston

ever was, at this moment his fierce spirit was stirred more deeply
within him than it had ever been before, for in this powerful warrior
who had dared to insult both him and his brother, ay, and their mother's
fair fame too -- he recognized the lineaments of the hated Sieur de
Navailles.
The more cautious Raymond had done the same, and now he spoke in
low though urgent accents.
"Have a care, Brother! Knowest thou who it be?"
"Know? ay, that I do. It is he who now holds by force and tyranny
those fair lands which should be ours -- lands which our forefathers
held from generation to generation, which should be theirs now, were
right and justice to be had, as one day it may be, when the Roy
Outremer comes in person, as men say he will one day come, and all
men may have access to his royal presence. And he, the tyrant, the
usurper, dares to call us base born, to call us peasants, we who own a
nobler name than he!
"The day will come, proud man, when thou shalt rue the hour when
thou spakest thus to me -- to me who am thy equal, ay, and more than
thy equal, in birth, and who will some day come and prove it to thee at
the sword's point!"
Many expressions had flitted over the rider's face as these bold words
had been spoken -- anger, astonishment, then an unspeakable fury,
which made Gaston look well to the hand which held the shining sword;
last of all an immense astonishment of a new kind, a perplexity not
unmixed with dismay, and tinged with a lively curiosity. As the youth
ceased speaking the knight sheathed his sword, and when he replied his
voice was pitched in a very different key.
"I pray you pardon, young sirs," he said, glancing quickly from one
handsome noble face to the other. "I knew not that I spoke to those of
gentle birth. The dress deceived me. Tell me now, good youths, who
and whence are ye? You have spoken in parables so far; tell me more
plainly, what is your name and kindred?"

Raymond, who had heard somewhat of the enmity of the Sieur de
Navailles, and knew that their identity as sons of the house of De
Brocas had always been kept from his knowledge, here pressed his
brother's arm as though to suggest the necessity for caution; but
Gaston's hot blood was up. The talk they had been holding together had
strung his nerves to the utmost pitch of tension. He was weary of
obscurity, weary of the peasant life. He cared not how soon he threw
off the mask. Asked a downright question, even by a foe, it was natural
to him to make a straightforward answer, and he spoke without fear and
without hesitation.
"We are the sons of Arnald de Brocas. De Brocas is our name; we can
prove it whenever such proof becomes needful. Our fathers held these
fair lands long ere you or yours did. The day may come when a De
Brocas may reign here once more, and the cursed brood of Navailles be
rooted out for ever."
And without waiting to see the effect produced by such words upon the
haughty horseman, the two brothers dashed off into the wood, and were
speedily lost to sight.
CHAPTER II.
FATHER ANSELM.
The mill of Sainte-Foi, which was the home of the twin brothers of the
De Brocas line, was situated upon a tributary stream of the river Adour,
and was but a couple of leagues distant from the town of Sauveterre --
one of those numerous "bastides" or "villes Anglaises" built by the
great King Edward the First of England during his long regency of the
province of Gascony in the lifetime of his father. It was one of those
so-called "Filleules de