William, who had been pacing the room like an enraged lion in his den,
halted in amaze at this bold speech.

"This from thee, William Fitzosborne!--from thee! I tell thee, that
if all the priests in Christendom, and all the barons in France, stood
between me and my bride, I would hew my way through the midst. Foes
invade my realm--let them; princes conspire against me--I smile in
scorn; subjects mutiny--this strong hand can punish, or this large
heart can forgive. All these are the dangers which he who governs men
should prepare to meet; but man has a right to his love, as the stag
to his hind. And he who wrongs me here, is foe and traitor to me, not
as Norman Duke but as human being. Look to it--thou and thy proud
barons, look to it!"

"Proud may thy barons be," said Fitzosborne, reddening, and with a
brow that quailed not before his lord's; "for they are the sons of
those who carved out the realm of the Norman, and owned in Rou but the
feudal chief of free warriors; vassals are not villeins. And that
which we hold our duty--whether to Church or chief--that, Duke
William, thy proud barons will doubtless do; nor less, believe me, for
threats which, braved in discharge of duty and defence of freedom, we
hold as air."

The Duke gazed on his haughty subject with an eye in which a meaner
spirit might have seen its doom. The veins in his broad temples
swelled like cords, and a light foam gathered round his quivering
lips. But fiery and fearless as William was, not less was he
sagacious and profound. In that one man he saw the representative of
that superb and matchless chivalry--that race of races--those men of
men, in whom the brave acknowledge the highest example of valiant