"
"What were these adventures, Oswald?"
"It was a matter touching the Earl of March--not Sir Edmund's nephew,
now in the care of the king, but the Scottish earl, George, Earl of
Dunbar, also bearing the title of Earl of March. Now that he has taken
the oath to King Henry, there is no reason why I should not speak of
it."
And he then gave them an account of his visit to Dunbar, and of his
escape.
"And why did the earl wish to keep you?"
"Maybe, sir, that he had not then made up his mind, and thought that
affairs might yet have been accommodated between himself, Douglas, and
the Scottish king."
"Perhaps that was so," Sir John agreed. "He is a crafty, as well as a
bold man. However, you were well out of Dunbar, and you and your monk
managed the affair well. Think you that the earl is to be trusted?"
"I should say so. These great Scottish nobles deem themselves well-nigh
the king's equal, and carry on their wars against each other as
independent lords. His castle of Dunbar is in the hands of his
bitterest enemy, and Douglas will come into no small portion of his
estates. Without the aid of England he could not hope to recover them,
and his interests, therefore, are wholly bound up with ours.
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