The letter was written giving other particulars, and was then given to a peasant with a crown and the order to take it at once to Sedan from the Captain Bayard.  The good man set off with it, but, as Bayard had foreseen, he had not gone far before he was taken and gave up the letter to save his life.  This message greatly troubled Count Sickingen, who was already suspicious of the other general, and was not slow to imagine that he had been betrayed and left in the post of danger.  The more he thought of it the more his rage increased, and at last he gave orders to sound the retreat and cross the river, to the dismay and indignation of Count Nassau, who saw that this was practically raising the siege.  Angry messages passed between the two generals, until at length they were on the point of actual fighting.

The Good Knight had been watching all this from the ramparts to his great amusement, and he now thought it time to add to the confusion by a well-aimed attack of artillery, which so added to the nervous alarms of the besiegers that next morning they packed up their tents and camp equipment, and the two Counts went off in different directions, while it was a long time before they became friends again.  Thus it was that Bayard kept at bay the overwhelming forces of the enemy for three weeks, until the King of France himself arrived with a great army.  We see how it was that enemies of the Good Knight could never get over a kind of supernatural terror both of his splendid valour and his endless resources.  King Francis sent for Bayard to his camp, and on his way thither the indomitable captain retook the town of Mouzon.  He was received with the greatest honour by the King, who bestowed on him the famous order of St. Michael and the command of a hundred men-at-arms.  He also made many promises of future greatness, and both he and his mother, the Queen Louise, praised Bayard to the skies.  But, unfortunately, the only results of all this praise were a few empty honours and an immense amount of jealousy and ill-feeling amongst the courtiers.  Indeed, we find that after this time Bayard never had any important charge given to him, and never attained the position, which he so richly deserved, of commander in time of war.  It is very interesting to notice that the “Loyal Servitor”—­that faithful chronicler who followed Bayard through all his campaigns, and probably often wrote at his dictation—­never allows us to suspect that the Good Knight felt any bitterness at this neglect.  Not one word of complaint is ever heard; he never murmured, he asked for nothing; his only anxiety was to serve his country and his king.

If Bayard was not rewarded with the prizes of his profession he was certainly always chosen when any dangerous or wearisome business was on hand.

The Good Knight was not recalled to Court, and it is supposed that, besides the jealousy which his brilliant deeds had awakened, he was also in disgrace on account of his warm friendship for Charles de Bourbon, who was now being driven to despair and ruin through the hatred of Louise de Savoie.