John de Brocas was lying dangerously ill in one of the apartments of the Palace.  The King was greatly concerned at hearing how severely he had been hurt; and when the story came to be told more in its details, and it appeared that to John’s fidelity and the stanch support of Audley’s two youthful esquires the heir of England owed his life, Edward and his Queen both paid a visit to the room where the sick youth lay, and with their own hands bestowed liberal rewards upon the twin brothers, who had stood beside the Prince in the stress of the fight, and had both received minor hurts in shielding him.

Sir James Audley was himself in the King’s train; but he was about to leave the south for a secret mission in Scotland, entrusted to him by his sovereign.  He was going to travel rapidly and without any large escort, and for the present he had no further need for the services of the Gascon twins.  Neither of the lads would be fit for the saddle for more than a week to come, and they had already made good use of their time in England, and had interested both the King and the Prince in them, and had also earned liberal rewards.  In their heart of hearts they were anxious to remain in the neighbourhood of Guildford, for they knew that there they were not far from Basildene.  Wherefore when they understood that their master had no present occasion for any further service from them, they were not a little excited and pleased by the thought that they were now in a position to prosecute their own quest in such manner as seemed best to them.

They had made a wonderfully good beginning to their life of adventure.  They had won the favour not only of their own kinsfolk, but of the King and the Prince.  They had money and clothes and arms.  They had the prospect of service with Sir James in the future, when he should have returned from his mission and require a larger train.  Everything seemed to be falling in with their own desires; and it was with faces of eager satisfaction that they turned to each other when the knight had left them alone again, after a visit to the long rush-carpeted room, by the glowing hearth of which they were sitting when he had come to seek them soon after the King had visited John’s couch.

John lay in a semi-conscious state upon the tall canopied bed, beneath a heavy pall of velvet, that gave a funereal aspect to the whole room.  He had been aroused by the King’s visit, and had spoken a few words in reply to the kind ones addressed to him; but afterwards he had sunk back into the lethargy of extreme weakness, and the brothers were to all intents and purposes alone in the long dormitory they had shared with John, and with two more comrades who had also received slight hurts, but who had now been summoned to attend the Prince on the return journey to Windsor, which was to be taken leisurely and by short stages.