Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/114

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firm in his allegiance, and it was now, according to some accounts, that he received his earldom of Surrey, an earldom to be borne in after times along with that which took its name from Roger's own Arundel. William became the King's chief counsellor, and his position at Lewes must have thrown difficulties in the way of any communication between Arundel and Pevensey. And in truth, when Earl Roger found it safest to watch and be prudent, we are not surprised to find events presently shaping themselves in such a way as to make it his wisest course to play the part of the Curio of the tale.

But meanwhile where was King William? Where was the king who had taken his place on his father's seat with so much ease, but whose place upon it had been so soon and so rudely shaken? We have been called on more than once in earlier studies to mark how the two characters of fox and lion were mingled in the tempers of the Conqueror and his countrymen, and assuredly the Conqueror's second surviving son was fully able to don either garb when need called for it. At this moment we are told in a marked way that William Rufus showed himself in the character of that which is conventionally looked on as the nobler beast. He had no mind to seek for murky holes, like the timid fox, but, like the bold and fearless lion, he gave himself mightily to put down the devices of his enemies. Yet the first time when*