“Lord Duke,” Claramonde made answer, “sad grows my heart to see you with mail girt upon your body and a sword belted about you. For the chances of war are diverse and evil. But if it be your true will to punish this traitor then I shall say no more. May the Good Lord Jesu hold you ever free from harm and bring you safely back to me. As for Bordeaux, be assured that all shall be done here even as if you yourself sat in the hall of justice from sunrise to sunset.”
So did these two part and Huon led his men out of the city toward that keep which Angelars had fortified and held, in defiance of his rightful lord. And there the men of Bordeaux did encompass the castle and begin an assault.
But the same day that Huon did depart out of Bordeaux there came into that city another company of men. And these were pilgrims from Alamayne returning home from the Holy Land where they had visited the Tomb of Our Lord Jesu and looked upon the places where the Prince, of Peace had been both quick and dead.
The Lady Claramonde looking forth from the window of her tower chamber saw these pilgrims who were worn and suffering by reason of their long journeying. And she asked what manner of travelers they were. To her was made answer that they were pilgrims newly come from the Holy Land.
So did she then give orders that they be brought into the great hall of the castle and that to them be given meat and drink and new clothing, should they need such. And she herself did go in to serve them with her maids and men. Of this charity came great peril and suffering to Claramonde and those she loved most, as you shall see.
Now the pilgrims rejoiced at the manner of their treatment and as they went on to their own country they ever spoke aloud the praises of the Duchess Claramonde, saying that of all the highborn ladies she was the fairest and best they had ever seen. When they came to their home in Alamayne they met with the Duke Raoul who was their liege lord, this same Raoul being nephew and heir to the Emperor and well beloved by him. But he was a young man of hot passions and took little heed of the rights of lesser men.
And he did ask of the pilgrims the full tale of their wanderings which they did take great pleasure in telling him. Then did the leader of the pilgrims stand forth and say:
“Lord Duke, long and far have we journeyed and many and great are the sights we have seen in that journeying. But in our hearts do we cherish the memory of the city of Bordeaux.”
“And why do you so?” asked the Duke, amazed, for he did not deem that city of any account.
“Because, Lord Duke, when we came into that city, hungry and weary nigh unto death itself, the Lady Duchess Claramonde, she who is wife to the Duke Huon, did have us into the great hall of the castle. And with her own hands she brought unto us meat and drink and new clothing—if such we needed.
“And of all the ladies we did ever see she is the fairest—even the angels who sit now in the Halls of Heaven might well wish to be fashioned as is she. As she is fair so is she also courteous and in all ways fit to rule. She is duchess in Bordeaux, but she is meet to be a queen in a greater land. Would, Lord Duke, that she might be your wife and so our own dear lady!”
Duke Raoul, hearing this, was fired to see this lady who had so courteously used his people. Many times he thought upon the pilgrim’s words until, at length, he knew that he must go even to Bordeaux and look upon the Lady Claramonde with his own eyes. Summoning unto him his chief lords, he made known his will in this wise:
“Since I have heard such things concerning this fair Duchess of Bordeaux I cannot rest in sleep, nor does my meat have any savor in my mouth. I have no lady to share my rule and never had I knowledge before of any who is counted so much a peer among her kind. Therefore I must view this marvel for myself.”
Then he did put off his fine robes and his sword. And with stain he blackened his face and let his beard grow upon his chin. So that when he put on him the cloak of a common man he was of rough and poor seeming. In this wise he went to Bordeaux and there he did beg alms at the gate of the castle, saying that he was a pilgrim from the Holy Land.
So the steward, following the orders of his lady, brought him into the great hall where the Duchess sat at meat with all her household. And she received him courteously, giving unto him bread from her own plate. But he could not eat thereof for reason of looking upon her, and he thought that it was true that even Heaven’s angels might well wish to appear in the seeming of the Duchess Claramonde.
Then he did know a great longing and love for her which was like a fire lit within him, and he did swear privately that he would have her to wife or die. For he deemed Huon a small lordling of little account whom he could easily dispose of. And with these thoughts making evil and black his heart he departed again for his own land.
II. HOW THE DUKE RAOUL DID PLOT AND OF HUON’S ANSWER THERETO
Having set his heart upon gaining the Lady Claramonde to wife, Duke Raoul straightway rode unto the court of his uncle, the Emperor of Alamayne. And the Emperor rejoiced to see his nephew, coming to embrace him and do him all honor before those assembled there, saying:
“My dear kinsman, joyful are we to give you welcome. And if we can in any way serve you, you have but to make known your wishes here.”
The Duke Raoul knelt before the Emperor in most humble seeming and paid him homage, before he spoke aloud what was in his mind and what he had been planning since he looked upon the face of the Lady Claramonde.
“Sire, many knights ride in your train and sit in your halls, owing you liege service and all fidelity. Mayhap these be the most skillful and best warriors of all Christendom. It is in my mind that if a tournament be given here to which the knights of France, aye, even the knights of England and Spain, be bidden to show their skill—yet even then shall these of your following triumph in the lists and great shall be the glory of the men of Alamayne!”
The Emperor thought upon these words of Duke Raoul and to him also it did appear a pleasant and notable plan, and straightway he did agree that this would be so. And he caused to be sent out to the four ways of the world heralds and trumpeters to proclaim the giving of such a tournament to be held at his city of Mayence within the half year.
But Raoul smiled secretly to himself and, when again among those of his own household, being full merry with the wine he had drunk that night, he gave open voice to the dark plotting he had done, so that divers of his lords heard him say:
“This Huon of Bordeaux has been widely bespoken as a man of war, full of cunning and high deeds. Such a man will not remain aloof from the Emperor’s tournament. And he is hardly more than a green youth in years, while I have spent many seasons in the field. Thus when I shall challenge him to -single combat let no man fear the ending. Huon shall die beneath my sword and his lands and lady will drop into my hands as easily as the ripe fruit falls from its parent tree in the proper season.”
Among those lords who listened to this unworthy boasting was one Godrun of Noremberg who in his boyhood had served as a page in the household of Duke Sevin of Bordeaux. And many had been the kindnesses shown him there. Also he had sported with Huon when they had both been lads scarce out of childhood and together they had learned to swing swords and hold lances, giving many a stout blow to each other during that learning. So that Godrun-now looked upon Duke Raoul with much disfavor and determined in his heart that this fell plan would be spoiled if he could have the doing of it.
He called his squire and together they slipped away from the Emperor’s court and rode with all speed into France and even into the city of Bordeaux with little rest or food and drink to sustain them.