"I have vowed before his mother's corpse to shield him from you,"
returned Eustace.

"Think of the consequences, Sir Eustace," said Sir Philip Ashton,
coming up to him. "Remember the unrepealed grant to the Clarenhams.
The Lynwood manor may be at any moment resumed, to which, failing
your nephew, you are heir. You will ruin him and yourself."

"It is his person, not his lands, that I am bound to guard," said
Eustace. "Let him do his worst; my nephew had better be a landless
man, than one such as Fulk would make him."

"Think," continued Sir Philip, "of the disadvantages to your cause
of provoking a fray at such a time. Hold your hand, and yield the
boy, at least till the cause come before the Chancellor."

"Never," said Eustace. "His parents have trusted him to me, and
I will fulfil my promise. The scandal of the fray be on him who
occasions it."

"Recollect, my Lord," said Ashton, turning to Fulk, "that this may
be misrepresented. These young warriors are hot and fiery, and this
young Knight, they say, has succeeded to all his brother's favour
with the Prince."

"I will not be bearded by a boy," returned Clarenham, thrusting him
aside. "Hark you, Sir Eustace. You have been raised to a height
which has turned your head, your eyes have been dazzled by the
gilding of your spurs, and you have fancied yourself a man; but in