Aye, I'll go and
leave you to settle with this worthy trader who may hold that you have
duped him. Do it as you will, except in one fashion, of which you know.
Now a word with my cousin Blanche and another at the Palace and I ride
for Dover. Farewell, Cousin Aleys. Farewell, worthy merchant for whose
loss I should grieve, did I not know that soon you will recoup yourself
out of gentle pockets. Mourn not over me over much, either of you, since
doubtless ere so very long I shall return."
Now my blood flamed up and I answered:
"I pray you do not hurry, my lord, lest you should find me waiting for
you with a shield and a sword in place of a warrant and a pen."
He heard and called out, "Fore God, this chapman thinks himself a
knight!"
Then with a mocking laugh he went.
CHAPTER VI
MARRIAGE--AND AFTER
Sir Robert and I stood facing each other speechless with rage, both of
us. At length he said in a hoarse voice:
"Your pardon, Master Hastings, for the affronts that this bastard
lordling has put upon you, an honest man. I tell you that he is a
loose-living knave, as you would agree if you knew all his story, a
cockatrice that for my sins I have nurtured in my bosom.
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