Burgundy, and the royal signature has no weight one way or the other.
However, now that hostilities have begun, we must lose no time, for at any
moment one party or the other may make a sudden attack upon us. Burgundy
and Orleans may quarrel, but it is not for love of one or the other that
most of the nobles will join in the fray, but merely because it offers
them an opportunity for pillaging and plundering, and for paying off old
scores against neighbours. Guy, bid John Harpen come hither."

When the esquire entered, Sir Eustace went on:

"Take two men-at-arms, John, and ride round to all the tenants. Warn them
that there are plundering bands about, and that either the Burgundians or
the Orleanists may swoop down upon us any day. Tell them that they had
better send in here all their valuables, and at any rate the best of their
cattle and horses, and to have everything prepared for bringing in their
wives and families and the rest of their herds at a moment's notice. You
can say that if they like they can at once send their wives and families
in, with such store of grain and forage as they can transport; the more
the better. If the plunderers come, so much the more is saved from
destruction; if we are besieged, so much the more food have we here. Those
who do not send in their families would do well to keep a cart with two
strong horses ready day and night, so that no time would be lost when they
get the signal. We shall fire a gun, hoist the flag, and light a bonfire
on the keep, so that they may see the smoke by day or the fire by night.
Tell Jean Bouvard to come to me."

"There is trouble afoot, Jean, and at any moment we may be attacked. Place
two men-at-arms on each of the roads to St. Omer, St. Pol, and Bethune.
Post them yourself at the highest points you can find near our boundary.
By each have a pile of faggots, well smeared with pitch, and have another