A March on London eBook

“When men are kept as serfs, they work as serfs—­I mean to say they work unwillingly and slowly, while, had they the sense of being free, and of having the same rights as others, they would labour more cheerfully.  Moreover, it would double the strength of the force that the king and his nobles could place in the field.  I am not speaking upon my own judgment, but from what I have learned from my father.”

They had no sudden attack to fear from lurking foes, for an act of Edward the First was still in force, by which every highway leading from one market-town to another was always to be kept clear, for two hundred feet on each side, of every ditch, tree, or bush in which a man might lurk to do harm; while, as any ill that happened to travellers was made payable by the township in which it occurred, there was a strong personal interest on the part of the inhabitants to suppress plundering bands in their neighbourhood.  Both Edgar and Albert rode in partial armour, with steel caps and breast-pieces, it being an ordinance that all of gentle blood when travelling should do so, and they carried swords by their sides, and light axes at their saddle-bows.

It was but a little past three o’clock when they crossed London Bridge and then made for the Tower, near which Sir Ralph was lodged.

CHAPTER IV

IN LONDON

“I am glad indeed to see you, my young swordsman,” Sir Ralph, who was waiting at the door to receive them, said to Edgar after he had greeted his wife and children.  “This affair at Dartford threatens to be more serious than I expected.  I was on the point of starting for home when I heard of the trouble, and should have done so had not the king asked me to remain here, seeing that at present his uncles and many other nobles are absent, and that, as he was pleased to say, my advice and sword might be useful to him should the trouble grow serious.  When, therefore, we received news that all that part of Kent was in a blaze, I sent out a messenger to you, dame, to come hither to me.  What is the latest news?”

“Master Ormskirk can best tell you, Sir Ralph, seeing that he was himself yesterday in Dartford and learned something of their intentions.”

Edgar then recounted what he had seen and heard in the streets of Dartford.

“Your account tallies with the news that came here but an hour since, namely, that a crowd of men were marching towards Rochester; a panic prevails in that town, and the wise heads have sent off this messenger, as if, forsooth, an army could be got together and sent down to their aid before these rioters reach the place.”

“I am glad to come up, husband,” Lady De Courcy said. “’Tis some time since I was in town, and I would fain see what people are wearing, for the fashions change so rapidly that if one is away from town six months one finds that everyone stares, as if one had come from a barbarous country.”