“Wendot of Dynevor, if you are he, beware of that man, and bid your brothers beware of him, too.  I know him; I have heard much of him.  Be sure he has an eye on your fair lands, and he will embroil you yet with the English king if he can, that he may lay claim to your patrimony.  He brings you here to the court to make your peace, to pay your homage.  If I mistake not the man, you will not all of you return whence you came.  He will poison the king’s mind.  Some traitorous practices will be alleged against you.  Your lands will be withheld.  You will be fed with promises which will never be fulfilled.  And the kinsman who has sold himself body and soul to the English alliance will rule your lands, in your names firstly perchance, until his power is secure, and he can claim them boldly as his own.  See if it be not so.”

“It shall not be so,” cried Alphonso, suddenly advancing a step forward and planting himself in the midst of the group.

His cheek was crimson now, there was fire in his eyes.  He had all the regal look of his royal father as he glanced up into Wendot’s face and spoke with an authority beyond his years.

“I, the king’s son, give you my word of honour that this thing shall not be.  You are rightful Lord of Dynevor.  You took not up arms against my father in the late rebellion; you come at his command to pay your homage to him.  Therefore, whatever may be his dealings with your brothers who have assisted the rebels, I pledge my princely word that you shall return in peace to your own possessions.  My father is a just and righteous king, and I will be his surety that he will do all that is right and just by you, Wendot of Dynevor.”

“Well spoken, Alphonso!” cried Joanna and Britton in a breath, whilst Wendot took the hand extended to him, and bent over it with a feeling of loyal gratitude and respect.

There was something very lovable in the fragile young prince, and he seemed to win the hearts of all who came within the charm of his personal presence.  He combined his father’s fearless nobility with his mother’s sweetness of disposition.  Had he lived to ascend the throne of England, one of the darkest pages of its annals might never have been written.

But this hot discussion was brought to an end by the appearance of the servants, who carried in the supper, laying it upon a long table at the far end of the gallery.  No great state was observed even in the royal household, when the family was far away from the atmosphere of the court as it was held at Westminster or Windsor.

A certain number of servants were in attendance.  There were a few formalities gone through in the matter of tasting of dishes served to the royal children, but they sat round the table without ceremony; and when the chaplain had pronounced a blessing, which was listened to reverently by the young people, who were all very devout and responsive to religious influences, the unconstrained chatter began again almost at once, and the Welsh lads lost all sense of strangeness as they sat at the table of the king’s children.