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."