I
marked the eye of Count Jacquelin during the fight, and again when you
were led up to the king. There was hatred and fury in his eye. The page
too, I hear, is his own nephew, and he will be the laughing-stock of the
French camp at having been conquered by one so much younger than
himself. It will be well to keep upon your guard, and not to go out at
night unattended. Keep Cnut near you; he is faithful as a watch-dog, and
would give his life, I am sure, for you. I will myself be also upon my
guard, for it was after all my quarrel, and the fury of this fierce
knight will vent itself upon both of us if the opportunity should come.
I hear but a poor account of him among his confreres. They say he is one
of those disgraces to the name of knight who are but a mixture of robber
and soldier; that he harries all the lands in his neighborhood; and that
he has now only joined the Crusade to avoid the vengeance which the
cries of the oppressed people had invoked from his liege lord. I am told
indeed that the choice was given him to be outlawed, or to join the
Crusades with all the strength he could raise.
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