be

left untroubled when he had great work to do. when i came back

the gallon jar was empty, and he lay as you see him, with the

board in front of him with this sorry device." she raised up a

panel which was leaning against the wall, and showed a rude

painting of a scraggy and angular fowl, with very long legs and a

spotted body.

"was that," she asked, like the bird which thou hast seen?"

alleyne shook his head, smiling.

"no, nor any other bird that ever wagged a feather. it is most

like a plucked pullet which has died of the spotted fever. and

scarlet too! what would the gentles sir nicholas boarhunte, or

sir bernard brocas, of roche court, say if they saw such a thing-

-or, perhaps, even the king's own majesty himself, who often has

ridden past this way, and who loves his falcons as he loves his

sons? it would be the downfall of my house."

"the matter is not past mending," said alleyne. "i pray you,

good dame, to give me those three pigment-pots and the brush, and

i shall try whether i cannot better this painting."

dame eliza looked doubtfully at him, as though fearing some other

stratagem, but, as he made no demand for ale, she finally brought

the paints, and watched him as he smeared on his background,

talking the while about the folk round the fire.

"the four forest lads must be jogging soon," she said. "they

bide at emery down, a mile or more from here. yeomen prickers

they are, who tend to the king's hunt. the gleeman is called

floyting will. he comes from the north country, but for many

years he hath gone the round of the forest from southampton to

christchurch. he drinks much and pays little but it would make

your ribs crackle to hear him sing the 'jest of hendy tobias.'

mayhap he will sing it when the ale has warmed him."

"who are those next to him?" asked alleyne, much interested. "he

of the fur mantle has a wise and reverent face."

"he is a seller of pills and salves, very learned in humors, and

rheums, and fluxes, and all manner of ailments. he wears, as you

perceive, the vernicle of sainted luke, the first physician, upon

his sleeve. may good st. thomas of kent grant that it may be

long before either i or mine need his help! he is here to-night

for herbergage, as are the others except the foresters. his

neighbor is a tooth-drawer. that bag at his girdle is full of

the teeth that he drew at winchester fair. i warrant that there

are more sound ones than sorry, for he is quick at his work and a

trifle dim in the eye. the lusty man next him with the red head

i have not seen before. the four on this side are all workers,

three of them in the service of the bailiff of sir baldwin

redvers, and the other, he with the sheepskin, is, as i hear, a

villein from the midlands who hath run from his master. his year

and day are well-nigh up, when he will be a free man."

"and the other?" asked alleyne in a whisper. "he is surely some

very great man, for he looks as though he scorned those who were

about him."

the landlady looked at him in a motherly way and shook her head.

"you have had no great truck with the world," she said, "or you

would have learned that it is the small men and not the great who

hold their noses in the air. look at those shields upon my wall

and under my eaves. each of them is the device of some noble

lord or gallant knight who hath slept under my roof at one time

or another. yet milder men or easier to please i have never

seen: eating my bacon and drinking my wine with a merry face, and

paying my score with some courteous word or jest which was dearer

to me than my profit. those are the true gentles. but your

chapman or your bearward will swear that there is a lime in the

wine, and water in the ale, and fling off at the last with a

curse instead of a blessing. this youth is a scholar from

cambrig, where men are wont to be blown out by a little

knowledge, and lose the use of their hands in learning the laws

of the romans. but i must away to lay down the beds. so may the

saints keep you and prosper you in your undertaking!"

thus left to himself, alleyne drew his panel of wood where the

light of one of the torches would strike full upon it, and worked

away with all the pleasure of the trained craftsman, listening

the while to the talk which went on round the fire. the peasant

in the sheepskins, who had sat glum and silent all evening, had

been so heated by his flagon of ale that he was talking loudly

and angrily with clenched hands and flashing eyes.

"sir humphrey tennant of ashby may till his own fields for me,"

he cried. "the castle has thrown its shadow upon the cottage

over long. for three hundred years my folk have swinked and

sweated, day in and day out, to keep the wine on the lord's table

and the harness on the lord's back. let him take off his plates

and