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The Man-at-Arms; or, Henry De Cerons. Volumes I and II cover

The Man-at-Arms; or, Henry De Cerons. Volumes I and II

Chapter 40: (EVA ST. CLAIRE)
By G. P. R. James
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About This Book

A nostalgic narrator recalls early years at an ancestral chateau in the south of France, describing sunshine-soaked slopes, seasonal pastimes, and the pure pleasures of youth. Taken in as a needy relation by the castle lord, the narrator enjoys initial kindness that shifts after the lord brings home a beautiful, wealthy bride who greets him with warm interest. Festivities and rural sports contrast with an undercurrent of changing fortunes as the lord’s generosity gives way to resentment tied to marriage and inheritance. The account proceeds through memory, examining social dependence, family tension, and the bittersweet persistence of childhood innocence amid domestic change.


Footnote 2: He was also called the Prince Dauphin and the Prince d'Auvergne.


Footnote 3: This curious trait of the famous D'Andelot is recorded by all the other persons present as well as by Monsieur de Cerons. The person who was thus killed, is said to have been the Marquis de Monsalez, but there is every reason to think that this is a mistake.


Footnote 4: He was called the Prince Dauphin on account of his being the Dauphin of Auvergne; but we have given him the title of prince only for fear of confusion. It has been attempted in these pages to display his character as it really was, we give a few traits and anecdotes of his conduct in situations in which he was actually placed.



(EVA ST. CLAIRE)


Footnote 1: This was an effeminate custom, against which the good Archbishop Anselm preached in vain. Some, indeed, of the Norman nobles cut off the long ringlets which were the objects of his aversion, but many retained them, and few gave up the vices that accompanied them.