This the prince
refused. He would agree to return all the castles and towns he had
taken, surrender all prisoners, and swear not to bear arms against the
French for seven years; this and no more he would offer.
King John would listen to no such terms. He had the English at his
mercy, as he fully believed, and it was for him, not for them, to make
terms. He would be generous. The prince and a hundred of his knights
alone should yield themselves prisoners. The rest might go free. Surely
this was a most favorable offer, pleaded the cardinal. But so thought
not the Black Prince, who refused it absolutely, and the cardinal
returned in despair to Poitiers.
That day of respite was not wasted by the prince. What he lacked in men
he must make up in work. He kept his men busily employed, deepening the
dikes, strengthening the hedges, making all the preparations that skill
suggested and time permitted.
The sun rose on Monday morning, and with its first beams the tireless
peace-maker was again on horse, with the forlorn hope that the bloody
fray might still be avoided. He found the leaders of the hosts in a
different temper from that of the day before. The time for words had
gone; that for blows had come.
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