A piece of money and a pair of spurs was all the hint, the warning, that he dared to give, and it was given, and its warning taken; and the imperative duty the laws of chivalry, of honor, friendship, all alike demanded done.

The brother by the brother saved! Was Gloucester, then, a traitor to his sovereign, good my liege ?" "Say first, my lord, how Gloucester now will reconcile these widely adverse duties, how comport himself, if duty to his liege and sovereign call on him to lift his sword against his brother ?" demanded Edward, raising himself on his elbow, and looking on the kneeling nobleman with eyes which seemed to have recovered their flashing light to penetrate his soul.

Wrath itself appeared to have subsided before this calm yet eloquent appeal, which in that age could scarcely have been resisted without affecting the honor of the knight to whom it was addressed.
An expression of suffering, amounting almost to anguish, took the place of energy and fervor on the noble countenance of Gloucester, and his voice, which had never once quivered or failed him in the height of Edward's wrath, now absolutely shook with the effort to master his emotion.

Twice he essayed to speak ere words came; at length-- "With Robert of Carrick Gilbert of Gloucester was allied as brother, my liege," he said.

"With Robert the rebel, Robert the would-be king, the daring opposer of my sovereign, Gloucester can have naught in common.