As swiftly I bowed back and went on my way with a beating heart. For a
few moments I was filled with joy, since I could not mistake the meaning
of this signalled kiss. Then came sorrow like an April cloud, since my
wound which was in the way of healing was all re-opened. I had begun to
forget the lady Blanche, or rather by an effort of the will, to thrust
her from my thought, as my confessor had bidden me. But now on the wings
of that blown kiss thither she had flown back again, not to be frighted
out for many a day.
That night I slept at an inn at Tonbridge, a comfortable place where the
host stared at the gold piece from the bag which I tendered in payment,
and at first would not take what was due to him out of it, because it
bore the head of some ancient king. However, in the end a merchant of
Tonbridge who came in for his morning ale showed him that it was good,
so that trouble passed.
About two in the afternoon I came to Southwark, a town that to me seemed
as big as Hastings before it was burned, where was a fine inn called the
Tabard at which I stopped to bait my horses and to take a bite and drink
of ale.
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