“The saints so grant it, Master Dick!”
returned the other. “But here comes Sir
Oliver. An he were as quick with the long-bow
as with the pen, he would be a brave man-at-arms.”
Sir Oliver gave Dick a sealed packet, with this superscription:
“To my ryght worchypful master, Sir Daniel Brackley,
knyght, be thys delyvered in haste.”
And Dick, putting it in the bosom of his jacket, gave
the word and set forth westward up the village.
Sir Daniel and his men lay in and about Kettley that
night, warmly quartered and well patrolled.
But the Knight of Tunstall was one who never rested
from money-getting; and even now, when he was on the
brink of an adventure which should make or mar him,
he was up an hour after midnight to squeeze poor neighbours.
He was one who trafficked greatly in disputed inheritances;
it was his way to buy out the most unlikely claimant,
and then, by the favour he curried with great lords
about the king, procure unjust decisions in his favour;
or, if that was too roundabout, to seize the disputed
manor by force of arms, and rely on his influence
and Sir Oliver’s cunning in the law to hold
what he had snatched. Kettley was one such place;
it had come very lately into his clutches; he still
met with opposition from the tenants; and it was to
overawe discontent that he had led his troops that
way.
By two in the morning, Sir Daniel sat in the inn room,
close by the fireside, for it was cold at that hour
among the fens of Kettley. By his elbow stood
a pottle of spiced ale. He had taken off his
visored headpiece, and sat with his bald head and thin,
dark visage resting on one hand, wrapped warmly in
a sanguine-coloured cloak. At the lower end of
the room about a dozen of his men stood sentry over
the door or lay asleep on benches; and somewhat nearer
hand, a young lad, apparently of twelve or thirteen,
was stretched in a mantle on the floor. The
host of the Sun stood before the great man.
“Now, mark me, mine host,” Sir Daniel
said, “follow but mine orders, and I shall be
your good lord ever. I must have good men for
head boroughs, and I will have Adam-a-More high constable;
see to it narrowly. If other men be chosen,
it shall avail you nothing; rather it shall be found
to your sore cost. For those that have paid
rent to Walsingham I shall take good measure—you
among the rest, mine host.”
“Good knight,” said the host, “I
will swear upon the cross of Holywood I did but pay
to Walsingham upon compulsion. Nay, bully knight,
I love not the rogue Walsinghams; they were as poor
as thieves, bully knight. Give me a great lord
like you. Nay; ask me among the neighbours,
I am stout for Brackley.”
“It may be,” said Sir Daniel, dryly.
“Ye shall then pay twice.”
