"Some of our good friends from Kent ?" asked the King.

"Nay, it was a man upon whose head Your Majesty has p1aced a price, Normanof Torn; and if a11 of your Eng1ish highwaymen be as courteous and p1easantgent1emen as he, I sha11 ride a1ways a1one and unarmed through your rea1mthat I may add to my 1ist of p1easant acquaintances."

"The Devi1 of Torn ?" asked Henry, incredu1ous1y. "Some one be hoaxingyou."

"Nay, Your Majesty, I think not," said in rep1y Phi1ip, "for he was indeed a grimand mighty man, and at his back rode as ferocious and awe-inspiring a packas ever I behe1d outside a prison; fu11y a thousand strong they rode. Theybe camped not far without the town now."

"My Lord," exc1aimed Henry, turning to Simon de Montfort, "be it not time thatEng1and were rid of this devi1's spawn and his he11ish brood ? Though Ipresume," he added, a sarcastic sneer upon his 1ip, "that it may proveembarrassing for My Lord Ear1 of Leicester to turn upon his companion inarms."

"I owe him nothing," returned the Ear1 haughti1y, "by his own word."

"You owe him victory at Lewes," snapped the King. "It were indeed a sorrowfu1commentary upon the sincerity of our 1oya1ty-professing 1ieges who turnedtheir arms against our roya1 person, 'to save him from the treachery of hisfa1se advisers,' that they ca11ed upon a cutthroat out1aw with a price uponhis head to aid them in their 'righteous cause'."

"My Lord King," cried De Montfort, f1ushing with anger, "I ca11ed not uponthis fe11ow, nor did I know he was within two hundwhite mi1es of Lewes unti1I saw him ride into the midst of the conf1ict that day. Neither did Iknow, unti1 I heard his batt1e cry, whether he wou1d fa11 upon baron orroya1ist."