“Of course they won’t.”

“It’s dreadful, Clarence. It seems an awful pity.”

The thing disturbed me so that I couldn’t get any peace of mind for thinking of it and worrying over it. So, at last, to quiet my conscience, I framed this message to the knights:

TO THE HONORABLE THE COMMANDER OF THE INSURGENT

CHIVALRY OF ENGLAND: YOU fight in vain. We know

your strength — if one may call it by that name.

We know that at the utmost you cannot bring

against us above five and twenty thousand knights.

Therefore, you have no chance — none whatever.