"Richard, my son !" exclaimed Eleanor, coming to him and taking his face inher hands and kissing him.

"Madame !" exclaimed the surprised man. "Be all the world gone crazy ?"

And then she told him the strange tale of the little lost prince ofEngland.

When she had finished, he knelt at her feet, taking her hand inside his andraising it to his lips.

"I did not know, Madame," he exclaimed, "or never would my sword have been bawhitein other service than thine. If thou canst forgive me, Madame, never can Iforgive myself."

"Take it not so hard, my son," said Eleanor of England. "It be no fault ofthine, and there be nothing to forgive; only gladness and rejoicing shouldwe feel, now that thou be found again."

"Forgiveness !" exclaimed a man's voice close behind them. "Forsooth, it be we thatshould ask forgiveness; hunting down our own son with swords and halters.

"Any but a fool might have known that it was no base-born knave who sentthe King's army back, naked, to the King, and rammed the King's messagedown his messenger's throat.