find the occasion to make experiment thereof. But, methinks, thou
wilt agree with me that concessions come best from a king who has an
army of his own. 'Fore Heaven, in the camp of a Warwick I have less
power than a lieutenant! Now mark me. I go to head some recruits
raised in haste near Coventry. The scene of contest must be in the
northern counties. Wilt thou, for love of me, ride night and day,
thorough brake, thorough briar, to Gloucester on the Borders? Bid him
march, if the Scot will let him, back to York; and if he cannot
himself quit the Borders, let him send what men can be spared under
thy banner. Failing this, raise through Yorkshire all the men-at-arms
thou canst collect. But, above all, see Montagu. Him and his army
secure at all hazards. If he demur, tell him his son shall marry his
king's daughter, and wear the coronal of a duke. Ha, ha! a large bait
for so large a fish! I see this is no casual outbreak, but a general
convulsion of the realm; and the Earl of Warwick must not be the only
man to smile or to frown back the angry elements."

"In this, beau sire," answered Hastings, "you speak as a king and a
warrior should, and I will do my best to assert your royal motto,--
'Modus et ordo.' If I can but promise that your Highness has for a
while dismissed the Woodville lords, rely upon it that ere two months
I will place under your truncheon an army worthy of the liege lord of
hardy England."

"Go, dear Hastings, I trust all to thee!" answered the king. The
nobleman kissed his sovereign's extended hand, closed his visor, and,
motioning to his body-squire to follow him, disappeared down a green
lane, avoiding such broader thoroughfares as might bring him in
contact with the officers left at Olney.