The king was mightily pleased with this great prowess of the victor,
insomuch that he knighted him on the spot, and, according to the old
ballad, gave him goodly manors--
"For his hire,
Wing, Tring, and Iving, in Buckinghamshire."
He had so won, likewise, on the hitherto impenetrable disposition of
Isabella, that when he came to render his homage at her feet, she
trembled and could scarcely give the customary reply.
Raising his visor, and uncovering his helmet from the grand guard--a
plate protecting the left side of the face, shoulder, and breast--he
made a lowly obeisance at the gate of his mistress's pavilion, at the
same time presenting the stolen favour he had now so nobly won. With a
tremulous hand she bound it round his arm.
"Nay, thy chaplet, lady," shouted a score of tongues from the
inquisitive spectators. Isabella untied a rich chaplet of goldsmith's
work, ornamented with rose-garlands, from her hair, and threw it over
his helmet. Still armed with the gauntlets, which, either through hurry
or inadvertence, he had neglected to throw aside, as was the general
courtesy for the occasion, the knight seized her hand, and with a grasp
gentle for any other occasion, pressed it to his lips.
Pages:
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217