"
"I remember now," the earl said. "Yes, I see you wear the Percy badge;
but how have you got here, and why have you come?"
"I come as a simple messenger, my lord. A royal courier arrived at
Ludlow, with a letter from London for the king. His majesty had laid
his commands on Sir Edmund Mortimer, that he was not to weaken his
force by a single lance; and as, for aught Sir Edmund knew, the letter
might be of great importance, I volunteered to endeavour to carry it
through; taking with me only this man-at-arms, on whom I could wholly
rely, whatever might happen, he having accompanied me on more than one
dangerous expedition.
"Sir Edmund consented. We rode first to Shrewsbury, to obtain
information as to the course the king had taken. At Welshpool we left
our horses behind us, thinking it easier to make our way through the
woods on foot, seeing that the roads were said to be beset by the
Welsh. So we reached Llanidloes; and then, hearing where the king was
then posted, from a convoy of wounded that had been brought in that
day, and who had been attacked and very hardly treated as they came
along, we thought to make a detour through the woods, so as to get
behind any Welshmen who might be watching the road.
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