for calling him traitor, and they drew their swords, and I ran away
to call father, but oh! mother, I heard them clash!" and she
shuddered again.

"See," said Susan, as they had reached the corner of a thick screen
of yew-trees, "all is safe. There they stand, and father between
them speaking to them. No, we will not go nearer, since we know that
it is well with them. Men deal with each other better out of women's
earshot. Ah, see, there they are giving one another their hands.
All is over now."

"Humfrey stands tall, grave, and stiff! He is only doing it because
father bids him," said Cicely. "Antony is much more willing."

"Poor Humfrey! he knows better than Antony how vain any hope must be
of my silly little princess," said Susan, with a sigh for her boy.
"Come in, child, and set these locks in order. The hour of noon hath
long been over, and father hath not yet dined."

So they flitted out of sight as Richard and his son turned from the
place of encounter, the former saying, "Son Humfrey, I had deemed
thee a wiser man."

"Sir, how could a man brook seeing that fellow on his knee to her?
Is it not enough to be debarred from my sweet princess myself, but I
must see her beset by a Papist and traitor, fostered and encouraged
too?"

"And thou couldst not rest secure in the utter impossibility of her
being given to him? He is as much out of reach of her as thou art."