Darpent could be
ennobled, or would purchase an estate bringing a title, hers would
still be esteemed a mesalliance, unworthy the daughter of Anselme de
Ribaumont the Crusader, and of the 'Bravest of Knights,' who gained
the chaplet of pearls before Calais.
'Crusader!' said Annora; 'I tell you that his is truly a holy war
against oppression and wrong-doing. Look at your own poor peasants,
Meg, and say if he, and those like him, are not doing their best to
save this country from a tyranny as foul as ever was the Saracen
grasp on the Holy Sepulchre!'
'He is very like to perish in it,' I said.
'Well,' said Nan, with a little shake in her voice, 'if they told
those who perished in the Crusades that they died gloriously and
their souls were safe, I am sure it may well be so with one who
pleads the cause of the poor, and I despite of his own danger never
drew his sword against his King.'
There was no denying, even if one was not in love, and a little tete
montee besides, like my poor Nan, that there was nobility of heart in
Clement Darpent, especially as he kept his hands clear of rebellion;
and I would not enter into the question of their differing religions.
I left that for Eustace. I was certain that Annora knew, even better
than I did, that the diversity between our parents had not been for
the happiness of their children. In my own mind I saw little chance
for the lovers, for I thought it inevitable that the Court and the
Princes would draw together again, and that whether Cardinal Mazarin
were sacrificed or not, the Frondeurs of Paris would be overthrown,
and that Darpent, whose disinterestedness displeased all parties
alike, was very likely to be made the victim.
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