Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 26, 2025
'Why does the great King cover his face? said Gilles de Gurdun; 'and why does he, of his own will, keep the light of God from him? Is he at the edge of his dominion? Hath he touched the limit of his power? Then I am stronger than my Duke; for I see the towers shine in the sun; I see the Mount of Olives, Calvary also, and the holy temple of God.
Jehane, now behind Richard's head, lifted him up in her arms. 'Knock off those fetters, says the King. Saint-Pol was free. 'Eustace, says Richard, 'you and I have bandied hard words enough, and blows enough. My chains will be off before sunrise, and yours are off already. Answer me, is Gurdun dead? Saint-Pol dropped to his knees. 'Oh, my lord, he died where he fell.
The poor girl felt herself doomed beforehand. What king's mistress had ever been his wife? And how could she be Richard's wife, betrothed to Gilles de Gurdun? Richard was much afield in these days, making military dispositions against his coming absence in Poictou. She saw him rarely; but in return she saw his peers, and had to keep her head high among the women of the French court.
In came the King's breakfast, a jug of wine, some white bread. The King's beard was trimmed, his hair brushed, fresh clothes put on. He dismissed his attendants, crossed over the room like a stalking cat, and gave Gilles a clap behind which made him leap in the air. 'Get up, Gurdun, said Richard. 'Tell me that you are ashamed of yourself, and then listen to me. Gilles went down on one knee.
On the other hand, if I am put away by my lord the King that he may make a good marriage, I shall be claimed again by the man to whom I was betrothed before, and so the doom be in danger of fulfilment. For, look now, Madame, the leper said, "Wife of a dead man and his killer"; and there is none so sure to kill the King as Sir Gilles de Gurdun.
The town gate was opened full early, the booths about it did a great trade; at a quarter before seven Sir Gilles de Gurdun rode in, with his father on his right hand, the prior of Rouen on his left, and half a dozen of his kindred, fair and solid men all. Gilles himself looked well knit for the business in hand; all the old women agreed that he would make a masterful husband.
'Look, De Gurdun, he says, 'there goes the King unmailed. Wilt thou shoot him in the back, and so end all? 'By God, Eustace, says Gilles, 'that I will not. 'Why not, then? Gurdun said, 'Because I dare not. I am more afraid of him when he scorns me thus than when his face is upon me.
When he next turned with a calm, true face to Jehane there was not a shred of the Angevin in him; all was burnt away. 'What is the name of this knight, Jehane? She told him, Gilles de Gurdun. Then he said, 'Come hither, De Gurdun, and Gilles knelt down before the son of his overlord. Jehane would have knelt to him too, but that he held her by the hand and would not suffer it.
'Eh, the minion! said certain sniggering old women to whom this was told, 'she'll not find so soft a lap at Gurdun! But others said, 'Gurdun is the Duke's, and will one day be the Duke's son's. What will Sieur Gilles do then with his straining wife? You cannot keep your hawk on the cadge for ever ah, nor hood her for ever! And so on. All this points to some public excitement.
The shot was a fatal one in every way; in the fury into which the wound of the king threw the besieging army the castle was taken by storm, and all the persons found in it were immediately hanged, as some authorities say, by the king's orders, with the exception only of Gurdun.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking