The halberdiers closed round their old chief, but did not press upon him.

Three went before him, three behind, and one walked on each side, and the lieutenant led the little detachment.

The men were too much accustomed to seeing courtiers in the extremes of favour and disfavour to be much surprised at the arrest of Mendoza, and they felt no great sympathy for him.

He had always been too rigidly exacting for their taste, and they longed for a younger commander who should devote more time to his own pleasure and less to inspecting uniforms and finding fault with details.

Yet Mendoza had been a very just man, and he possessed the eminently military bearing and temper which always impose themselves on soldiers.