"I want no errant-knight to serve me," said the Lady Alice,blushing, in answer. "Thou dost ill tease me, coz! An thou art sofree in choosing him a lady to serve, thou mayst choose himthyself for thy pains.""Nay," said the Lady Anne, laughing; "I say thou shalt be histrue lady, and he shall be thy true knight. Who knows? Perchancehe may serven thee in some wondrous adventure, like as Chaucertelleth of. But now, Sir Errant-Knight, thou must take thy leaveof us, and I must e'en let thee privily out by thepostern-wicket. And if thou wilt take the risk upon thee and comehither again, prithee be wary in that coming, lest in venturingthou have thine ears clipped in most unknightly fashion."That evening, as he and Gascoyne sat together on a bench underthe trees in the great quadrangle, Myles told of his adventure ofthe afternoon, and his friend listened with breathless interest.
"But, Myles," cried Gascoyne, "did the Lady Anne never once seemproud and unkind?""Nay," said Myles; "only at first, when she chid me for fallingthrough the roof of their arbor. And to think, Francis! Lady Anneherself bade me hold the Lady Alice as my true lady, and to serveher in all knightliness!" Then he told his friend that he wasgoing to the privy garden again on the next Saturday, and thatthe Lady Anne had given him permission so to do.
Gascoyne gave a long, wondering whistle, and then sat quitestill, staring into the sky. By-and-by he turned to his friendand said, "I give thee my pledge, Myles Falworth, that never inall my life did I hear of any one that had such marvellousstrange happenings befall him as thou."Whenever the opportunity occurred for sending a letter toCrosbey-Holt, Myles wrote one to his mother; and one can guesshow they were treasured by the good lady, and read over and overagain to the blind old Lord as he sat staring into darkness withhis sightless eyes.
About the time of this escapade he wrote a letter telling ofthose doings, wherein, after speaking of his misadventure offalling from the wall, and of his acquaintance with the youngladies, he went on to speak of the matter in which he repeatedhis visits. The letter was worded in the English of that day--thequaint and crabbed language in which Chaucer wrote. Perhaps fewboys could read it nowadays, so, modernizing it somewhat, it ranthus:
"And now to let ye weet that thing that followed that happeningthat made me acquaint with they two young Damoiselles. I take meto the south wall of that garden one day four and twenty greatspikes, which Peter Smith did forge for me and for which I payhim fivepence, and that all the money that I had left of myhalf-year's wage, and wot not where I may get more at thesepresent, withouten I do betake me to Sir James, who, as I didtell ye, hath consented to hold those moneys that Prior Edwardgave me till I need them.
"Now these same spikes, I say, I take me them down behind thecorner of the wall, and there drave them betwixt the stones, myvery dear comrade and true friend Gascoyne holping me thereto todo. And so come Saturday, I climb me over the wall and to theroof of the tool-house below, seeking a fitting opportunity whenI might so do without being in too great jeopardy.
"Yea; and who should be there but they two ladies, biding mycoming, who, seeing me, made as though they had expected me not,and gave me greatest rebuke for adventuring so moughtily. Yet,methinks, were they right well pleasured that I should soaventure, which indeed I might not otherwise do, seeing as I havetelled to thee, that one of them is mine own true lady for toserven, and so was the only way that I might come to speech withher."Such was Myles's own quaint way of telling how he accomplishedhis aim of visiting the forbidden garden, and no doubt the smackof adventure and the savor of danger in the undertakingrecommended him not a little to the favor of the young ladies.
After this first acquaintance perhaps a month passed, duringwhich Myles had climbed the wall some half a dozen times (for theLady Anne would not permit of too frequent visits), and duringwhich the first acquaintance of the three ripened rapidly to anhonest, pleasant friendship. More than once Myles, when in LordGeorge's train, caught a covert smile or half nod from one orboth of the girls, not a little delightful in its very secretfriendliness.
