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
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