1 files changed, 7296 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/43170-0.txt b/43170-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16be778
--- /dev/null
+++ b/43170-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7296 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43170 ***
+
+Prentice Hugh
+By FM Peard
+Illustrations by FB
+Published by National Society's Depository, London.
+This edition dated 1887.
+
+Prentice Hugh, by FM Peard.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+PRENTICE HUGH, BY FM PEARD.
+
+PREFACE.
+
+There are differences of opinion as to Bishop Bitton's share in the
+transforming of Exeter Cathedral, and I have followed that expressed by
+Archdeacon Freeman, who, after speaking of the prevalent idea that the
+present choir was the work of Stapledon, states that, from the evidence
+of the Fabric Rolls, it was done by Bitton, whose episcopate lasted from
+1292 to 1307.  After noticing the facts which point to this conclusion,
+Archdeacon Freeman adds: "We thus establish, as I conceive, with
+absolute certainty, the date of the completion of the _eastern half of
+the choir_, a point entirely misconceived hitherto.  To Bitton and not
+to Stapledon it must be ascribed.  And we shall see reason presently for
+ascribing to him all the substantial features of the remainder, and the
+vaulting of the whole."
+
+With regard to the story itself, no one can be more conscious than I am
+myself of the dangers inseparable from attempting to place it at so
+early a date, when the author is at once plunged into a very quagmire of
+possible anachronisms.  I can only ask the indulgence of those who,
+happening to cast their eyes upon these pages, detect there the errors
+in manners and customs which I am too conscious may exist.
+
+It may be convenient, for the unlearned, to notice that the value of
+coins was about fifteen times as much as in the present day.  Thus one
+pound equalled fifteen pounds, and one mark (or shilling) fifteen
+shillings.  A groat contained four silver pennies, and there were two
+hundred and forty pennies in a silver pound.
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+AT STOURBRIDGE FAIR.
+
+"Have at him, Peter!"
+
+"Roll him in the mud!"
+
+"Nay, now, 'twere rarer sport to duck the lubber in the river!"
+
+These and a hundred other taunts were hurled with entire freedom at the
+head of a sturdy boy, to judge from his round and rosy face not more
+than eleven years old, by six or eight urchins, who were dancing round
+him with many unfriendly demonstrations.  Apparently there had already
+been an exchange of hostilities.  One of the half-dozen had received a
+blow in the eye which had half closed that organ and another showed
+signs of having suffered on the nose, much to the damage of his
+clothing; these injuries had evidently enraged and excited the
+sufferers.  Prudence, however, was not forgotten.  They egged each other
+to the attack, but at the same time showed signs of hesitation, perhaps
+for want of a leader who might organise a simultaneous rush.
+
+The boy, meanwhile, though he too bore marks of the fray, for his
+clothes were torn, and a streak of blood on his cheek showed where he
+had been hit by a stone or a stick, kept a valiant front.  He stood with
+his back against a fine oak, and flourished a short stout cudgel.
+
+"Come on, come on, all of you!" he shouted.  "A broken crown the first
+shall have, I promise you!"
+
+"He's threatening thee, Jack Turner.  Hit him over the pate!"
+
+"Look at his jerkin--he's one of the Flemish hogs."
+
+"Flemish!" cried the boy indignantly.  "Better English than all of you
+put together.  No English that I know are cowards!"
+
+The dreadfulness of such a charge overcame all fears of broken heads.
+With a yell of rage the urchins rushed pell-mell upon their foe, and
+battle, indeed, arose!  He defended himself with a courage and vigour
+worthy of all praise, hitting at weak points, and bestowing at least two
+of his promised broken heads.  But numbers will prevail over the most
+determined bravery, and here were at least a dozen kicking legs and
+encumbering arms.  Do what he would he could not shake them off, blows
+rained upon him under which he turned dizzy, and his evil case would
+soon have been exchanged for a worse, if an unexpected ally had not
+rushed upon the group.  A splendid deer-hound crashed in upon them,
+upsetting two or three of the boys, though more as if he were amusing
+himself with a rough frolic than with thought of harm.  The urchins,
+however, did not stay to consider this, for, picking themselves up with
+cries of terror, they fled as fast as their legs could carry them,
+leaving sundry spoils behind them in the shape of apples and a
+spice-cake, which latter the dog, doubtless considering himself entitled
+to his share of the booty, gobbled up without a moment's hesitation.
+
+The boy who had been the object of attack was the only one who showed no
+sign of fear.  He stood, breathless and panting, his cheeks crimson, his
+clothes torn, but with so resolute a determination in his face as proved
+that he was ready for another fight.  Seeing, however, that the hound
+had no ill intentions, he straightened and shook himself, picked up the
+cap which had fallen off in the fray, and looked round to see who was
+near.
+
+He saw for the first time that two persons were watching him with some
+amusement.  One was a boy of about fourteen, the other an elderly man in
+the grey dress of a Franciscan friar.
+
+"Thou art a sturdy little varlet," said the friar, coming forward with a
+smile, "and held thine own right well.  But I doubt me how it would have
+gone, had Wolf not borne in to the rescue.  No shame to thee either, for
+thou wast sorely overmatched.  What had brought such a force of
+rascaille upon thee?"
+
+The boy had grown rather redder, if that were possible, but he spoke out
+bravely.
+
+"Holy friar, they were angry because this morning I saved a monkey out
+of their hands.  Its master, an Italian, had died, and they called the
+poor beast a devil's imp, and were going to stone it to death."
+
+"I would Wolf had served them worse!  But why did they not fight with
+thee at the time?"
+
+"They were but three then," said the boy with a laugh.
+
+"Hum.  And who are the little varlets?  Give me their names, and they
+shall have a goodly thrashing."
+
+The boy for the first time hung his head.  The other lad, who had been
+listening impatiently, broke in in French.
+
+"Set Wolf at them in another sort of fashion.  I see them still skulking
+about, and peeping at us from behind the trees--the unmannerly loons!
+They need to be taught a lesson."
+
+"Gently, Edgar," said the friar, laying his hand on his young
+companion's arm, "Wolf might prove a somewhat dangerous chastiser.
+Come, boy, let us have their names," he added, turning to the other.
+
+"Holy friar," said the boy eagerly, "I know the French."
+
+The friar lifted his eyebrows.
+
+"I thought thy tongue had a strange trick about it, but I could have
+sworn it was Flemish that it resembled."
+
+"We have just come from Flanders."
+
+"Not English," cried Edgar angrily.  "If I had known he was one of those
+blood-sucking foreigners, who fasten like leeches upon our poor country,
+Wolf should never have bestirred himself to the rescue."
+
+"Peace," said the friar more sharply, but before he could say more the
+younger boy broke in indignantly--
+
+"We are English, good English!  My father has but been in Flanders
+perfecting himself in his trade of wood-carving."
+
+"And 'twas there you learnt the French?"
+
+"Ay, sir, from the monks."
+
+"Perhaps also thou hast learnt to read?" pursued the friar, with the
+smile with which in these days we might ask a ploughboy whether he knew
+Hebrew.
+
+"A little," said the boy modestly.
+
+So unexpected was the answer, that the friar started back.
+
+"Why this is amazing!" he said.  "Edgar, dost thou hear?"
+
+"Ay.  He is training, no doubt, for the monastery," said the lad
+carelessly, though looking at the other with amazement.
+
+"Nay," said the boy sturdily; "no monk's hood for me.  I would be a
+soldier and fight for King Edward."
+
+"And what knowest thou of King Edward?" inquired the friar, who
+evidently found amusement in questioning.
+
+"What all the world knows," the boy answered sturdily, "that never was a
+nobler king or truer Englishman."
+
+"Ay?  Learnt you that in Flanders?" said the friar, lifting his eyebrows
+in some astonishment.  "Well, wherever you had it, 'tis good teaching
+and true, such as men by-and-by will look back and own.  And so nothing
+will serve thee but hard blows?  What is thy name?"
+
+"Hugh Bassett, holy friar."
+
+"Come to the great Stourbridge fair with thy father and mother?"
+
+"My mother is dead.  My father has brought some of his carvings here to
+sell, and we lodge in the sacristan's house because 'tis too cold in the
+fields."
+
+Wolf, at a call from the young lad, had come back from an investigation
+among the oaks, and was now slobbering affectionately over his young
+master's hand; Hugh watching him with deepest interest.
+
+"There is one thing thou hast all but forgotten," said the friar; "the
+names of thy tormentors?  See, they are still watching and peeping."
+
+The boy again hung his head.
+
+"What now?  Hast lost thy tongue?"
+
+"Nay, father, but--"
+
+"But what?"  Then as Hugh muttered something, "What, I am not to know?
+Yet they were for serving thee badly enough!"
+
+"I would fight them again," said the boy, looking up boldly.
+
+"I warrant thou wouldst," said the friar, laughing heartily.  "And
+without a mother, who will mend thy clothes?  They have suffered more
+damage than thy tough head, which looks as if 'twere made to bear
+blows."
+
+Hugh glanced with some dismay at his torn jerkin.  It was not the first
+time that the question had presented itself, though the friar's
+questions had driven it out of his head.  And the elder lad now showed
+symptoms of impatience.
+
+"May we not be going back, sir?" he said to his companion.  "The
+jongleurs were to be at their play by now, and we are not like to see
+much out in this green tangle."
+
+"As thou wilt," said the good-tempered friar; "I will but make one more
+proffer to our valiant friend.  See here, Hugh, I have a fancy to know
+the name of the biggest of thine enemies, the one who set the others on
+thee.  Will a groat buy the knowledge?  There it is before thine eyes,
+true English coin, and no base counterfeit pollard.  Only the name, and
+it is thine."
+
+"Not I!" cried the boy.  "I'll have nothing to do with getting him
+flogged."
+
+"Yet I'll answer for it thy pocket does not see many groats, and what
+brave things there be to be bought at the fair!  Sweets and comfits and
+spices."
+
+"They would choke me!"
+
+The friar laughed long, with a fat, noiseless chuckle full of merriment.
+
+"Well," he said, "I keep my groat, and thou thine honour, and I see that
+Wolf hath shown himself, as ever, a dog of discretion.  Shall we take
+the boy back to thy father's lodgings, Edgar, and persuade Mistress
+Judith to bestow some of her fair mending upon his garments?"
+
+"So as we waste no more time here, I care not," said the lad
+impatiently.
+
+Bidding the boy follow, Friar Nicholas and his companion walked away,
+leaving the wood with its undergrowth of bracken, already looking rather
+brown and ragged with the past heat of the summer, and first touch of
+frost sharpening the nights in the low-lying Eastern counties, as is
+often the case by Michaelmas.  At that time, towards the end of the
+thirteenth century, it need hardly be said that the country presented a
+very different appearance from that which we see now.  Parts were
+densely wooded, and everywhere trees made a large feature in the
+landscape, which was little broken by human habitations.  The chief
+clearings were effected in order to provide sheep walks, wool being at
+that time a large, if not the largest, export; although matters had not
+as yet arrived at the condition of some fifty years later, when, after
+England was devastated by the Black Death, and agricultural labour
+became ruinously dear, serfs were evicted from their huts, and even
+towns destroyed, in order to gain pasturage for sheep.  Under Edward the
+First things were tending the other way; marshes were drained, waste
+land was brought into cultivation, and towns were increasing in size and
+importance.  Wheat was dear, animal food cheap.  Some of the greater
+barons lived in almost royal state, but the smaller gentry in a
+simplicity which in these days would be considered absolute hardship.
+
+With an absence of shops, and with markets bringing in no more than the
+local produce of a few miles round, it will be easily understood how
+fairs became a need of the times.  They began by people flocking to some
+Church festival, camping out round the church, and requiring a supply of
+provisions.  The town guilds, setting themselves to supply this want,
+found here such an opening for trade that the yearly fairs became the
+chief centres of commerce, and had a complete code of laws and
+regulations.  Privileges were even granted to attract comers, for at a
+fair no arrest could be made for debts, saving such as were contracted
+at the fair itself.  And it was a fruitful source of revenue, because
+upon everything bought a small toll was paid by the buyer.
+
+Gradually these fairs increased in importance.  English traders
+travelled to those across the seas, to Leipsic, to Frankfort, even to
+Russia.  Foreigners in their turn brought their wares to England, where
+the principal yearly fair was held at Stourbridge, near Cambridge,
+another of scarcely less importance at Bristol, and somewhat lesser ones
+at Exeter and other towns.
+
+The scene at these fairs, when the weather was favourable, was one of
+extreme gaiety and stir.  As the friar and his young companion, followed
+by Hugh, walked back towards the town a soft autumnal sun was shining on
+the fields, where were all sorts of quaint and fantastic erections, and
+where the business of the fair was at its height.  Such people as could
+find house-room were lodged in the town, but these only bore a moderate
+proportion to the entire throng, and the less fortunate or poorer ones
+were forced to be content with tents, rude sheds, and even slighter
+protection.  These formed the background, or were tacked on to the
+booths on which the varied collection of wares were set forth, and which
+with their bright colourings gave the whole that gay effect which we now
+only see in the markets of the more mediaeval of foreign towns.  To this
+must be added a large number of motley costumes: here not only were seen
+the different orders of English life--the great baron with his wife and
+children, his retinue, squires, men-at-arms, pages; the abbot riding in
+little less state; friars, grey, black, and white; pilgrims--but
+foreigners, men of Flanders with richly dyed woollen stuffs, woven from
+English wool; merchants from the Hans towns displaying costly furs;
+eastern vendors of frankincense, and spices, and sugar; Lombard usurers;
+even the Chinaman from Cathay, as China was then called, with his stores
+of delicate porcelain--each and all calling attention to their wares,
+and inviting the passers-by, whether nobles or churls, to buy.
+
+The fair originated in a grant to the hospital of lepers at Cambridge,
+bestowed by King John.  It opened on the nineteenth of September,
+continued for two or three weeks, and was under the control of the
+master of the leper-house, no slight undertaking when the great
+concourse of people is considered, for not only had they to be housed
+and fed, but at a time when carriages and carts were unknown, and men
+and merchandise were alike carried on horses and mules, there must
+necessarily have been a vast number of beasts to keep.  Protection had
+to be afforded against possible attacks of robbers or outlaws, and--
+almost the most difficult task of all--it was necessary to check as far
+as possible quarrels which frequently arose between the haughty barons
+or their retainers, as also to protect the foreigners from the rough
+treatment which it was not unlikely they would receive should anything
+excite the people against them.  Particularly, and it must be owned
+justly, was this at times the case with the usurers.
+
+But though the nominal business of the fair consisted in trading,
+money-getting, and money-lending, there were plenty of shows and
+amusements to attract those who loved laughter.  In one part a number of
+lads were throwing the bar, in another they were playing at what seemed
+a rough kind of tennis.  Merry Andrews tumbled on the green, rope
+dancers performed prodigies of activity; here men played at
+single-stick, wrestled, or shot at a mark; at another place were the
+jongleurs or conjurers, and in yet another a bespangled company of
+dancing dogs, which excited the lordly contempt of Wolf.
+
+"These fellows have rare skill," said Edgar, watching a conjurer effect
+a neat multiplication of balls.
+
+"Stay and watch them," said the friar.  "Thy father will not yet have
+ridden back from Cambridge, and thou art not wanted in the house.  I
+will go and do my best to gain Mistress Judith's good aid for this
+urchin, and after that, if he will, he may show me where he lodges."
+
+Sir Thomas de Trafford, knight of the shire, and father of the lad
+Edgar, had found accommodation for his family in a house which we should
+now consider very inadequate for such a purpose, though it was then held
+to have made a considerable stride towards absolute luxury from being
+able to boast a small parlour, or talking room.  Neither glass nor
+chimneys, however, were yet in use, although the latter were not
+unknown, and had crept into some of the greater castles.  Fires were
+made in the centre of the rooms, and the pungent wood smoke made its
+escape as best it could through door or windows, which in rough weather
+or at night were protected by a lattice of laths.
+
+The friar, however, went no further than the passage, where he called
+for Mistress Judith, and was presently answered in person by a somewhat
+crabbed-looking personage, who listened sourly to his entreaty that she
+would do something towards stitching together Hugh's unfortunate jerkin.
+
+"The poor varlet has no mother," he ended.  But Mistress Judith pursed
+her mouth.
+
+"The more need he should be careful of his clothing," she was beginning,
+when suddenly with a rush two little golden-haired girls of not more
+than four or five came running along the passage, calling joyfully upon
+Friar Nicholas, and clinging to his grey cloak.
+
+"Thou wilt take us to the fair, wilt thou not?"
+
+"And let us see the monkey that runs up the ladder, and the dancing
+bear, and--we have some nuts for the monkey."
+
+Mistress Judith's face relaxed.
+
+"Nay, now, children, ye must not be troublesome.  The good friar has
+doubtless other business on hand--"
+
+"I'll take them, I'll take them," said the friar, hastily, "if you will
+put the boy in order by a few touches of your skilful handiwork.  As
+soon as I have bestowed him in safety I will return for them."
+
+"To see the monkey," persisted little Eleanor.
+
+"Ay, if thou wilt--" He was interrupted by a pull of the sleeve from
+Hugh.
+
+"So please you, holy friar," said the boy shyly, "the monkey is at our
+lodging."
+
+"What, is that the poor beast which those young villains would have
+stoned?  Nay, then, hearken, little maidens.  The monkey has been in
+evil case, and was like to be in worse but for this boy, Hugh Bassett.
+And the cruel varlets who would have killed it set upon him for
+delivering it, and though he fought right sturdily he would have been in
+evil case but for Wolf."
+
+"Our Wolf?"
+
+"Even so.  What say you now?"
+
+"He is a good boy," said the little Anne gravely.  Eleanor went nearer,
+and looked steadfastly at Hugh.
+
+"Is the poor monkey at your house?"
+
+"Ay, little mistress."
+
+"Shall we come and see him?"
+
+Hugh looked uncertainly at the friar, and the friar at Mistress Judith.
+Mistress Judith threaded her needle afresh.
+
+"If my lady--" began the friar.
+
+"My lady does not permit my young mistresses to run about the fair like
+churls' children," interrupted the nurse sourly.  "Marry, come up!  I
+marvel your reverence should have thought of such a thing."
+
+She was interrupted in her turn.  Eleanor had clambered on a chair and
+flung her arms round her neck, laying hold of her chin and turning it so
+as to look in her face, and press her rosy lips to her cheek.
+
+"Nay, nay, mother said we should see the monkey!  Thou wilt come with
+us, and Friar Nicholas, and this good boy.  Say yea, say yea, good
+nurse!"
+
+Mistress Judith, rock with all others, was but soft clay in the hands of
+her nurslings.  She remonstrated feebly, it is true, but Eleanor had her
+way, and it was not long before the little party set forth, the children
+indulging in many skips and jumps, and chattering freely in their
+graceful _langue de Provence_.
+
+There was so much to see, and so many remarks to be made on many things,
+such wonderful and undreamt of crowds, such enchanting goods, such
+popinjays, such booths of cakes, such possibilities of spending a silver
+penny, that it seemed as if the sacristan's house would never be
+reached, and 'twas easy to see it cost the children something to turn
+from the fair towards the church.  Perhaps Anne would have consented to
+put their object aside and remain in this busy scene of enchantment.
+But nothing to Eleanor could balance her desire to see the monkey, and
+they went their way with no further misadventure than arose from the bag
+of nuts slipping from her little fingers, and the nuts scattering in all
+directions.
+
+The sacristan's house consisted of but one room, with the fire as usual
+in the centre.  The sacristan himself was in the church; over the fire
+sat a thin pale-faced man, engaged in putting the last strokes to a
+carved oaken box of most delicate workmanship.  The monkey, which had
+been sitting with him, directly the little party appeared, uttered a cry
+of fear, sprang on the high back of a bench, and from thence to the
+uncovered rafters of the roof, where it sat jabbering indignantly, and
+glancing at the visitors with its bright eyes.
+
+The man, who was Stephen Bassett, Hugh's father, rose and greeted them
+respectfully, though with some amazement at seeing his boy in unknown
+company.
+
+"Welcome, holy friar," he said.  "If you seek John the sacristan, Hugh
+shall run and fetch him from the church."
+
+"Nay," said the friar, with his easy smile, "I fear me we are on a
+lighter quest.  These little maidens had a longing to behold the monkey,
+and thy boy offered to bring them here for that purpose."  Mistress
+Judith looked unutterable disgust at the poor room and her surroundings,
+though she condescended to sit down on a rough stool, from which she
+first blew the dust.  The friar entered into conversation with Stephen
+Bassett, and the little golden-haired girls pressed up to Hugh.
+
+"Make him come down," said Eleanor pointing.
+
+"He is frightened--I know not," said Hugh, shaking his head.  He was,
+however, almost as anxious as the other children could be to show off
+his new possession, and, thanks either to an offered nut, or to the
+trust which the monkey instinctively felt towards his deliverer, the
+little creature came swiftly down, hanging by hand and tail from the
+rafters, to intensest delight of both Anne and Eleanor, and finally
+leaping upon Hugh's shoulder, where it cracked its nut with all the
+confidence possible.  It was small and rather pretty, and it wore much
+such a little coat as monkeys wear now.  Eleanor could not contain her
+delight.  She wanted to have it in her own arms, but her first attempt
+to remove it from its perch brought such a storm of angry chattering
+that Anne in terror plucked her sister's little gown and implored her to
+come away.  Eleanor drew back unwillingly.
+
+"Why doesn't he like me?" she demanded.  "I love him.  What is his
+name?"
+
+"Agrippa."
+
+"Agrippa!  And can he do tricks?  Yesterday he did tricks."
+
+"He knows me not yet, mistress," explained Hugh.  "His master died
+suddenly, and he had no other friend."
+
+"But thou wilt be his friend," said Eleanor, looking earnestly at the
+boy, "and so will I.  I will leave him all these nuts.  Anne, I would my
+father would give us a monkey!"
+
+"I like him not," said Anne, fearfully withdrawing yet closer to
+Mistress Judith.  Eleanor knew no fear.  She would have taken the little
+creature in her arms, regardless of its sharp teeth, or of the waiting
+woman's remonstrances, but that Hugh would not suffer her to make the
+attempt.  He looked at the two little girls with an eager pride and
+admiration, felt as if he were responsible for all that happened, and
+had he been twice his age could not have treated them with more careful
+respect.
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+STOLEN AWAY.
+
+Meanwhile the friar and Stephen Bassett conversed together, seated on a
+rude bench at the other side of the dimly-lit room.  The friar was a man
+of kindly curiosity, who let his interests run freely after his
+neighbours' affairs, and, attracted by the boy, whose education had far
+overpast that of the knight's son, Edgar, he made searching inquiries,
+which Stephen answered frankly, relating more fully than Hugh how in
+Flanders, where he had travelled in order to perfect himself in an art
+not yet brought to a high pitch of excellence in England, his wife had
+died, and he having been left with the boy on his hands, the child had
+excited the interest of the monks, who, finding him teachable, had
+instructed him in the then rare accomplishments of reading and writing.
+
+"He is like to forget them, though," he added with a sigh, "unless in
+our wanderings we fall upon other brothers as good as those, which is
+scarce likely."
+
+"Have you thought of his taking the habit?"
+
+"Nay, his bent lies not that way," said Bassett, smiling.  The other
+smiled also.
+
+"Truly, it seemed not so by the lusty manner in which he laid about him
+but now.  And I mind me he spoke of his wish to be a soldier."
+
+"That I will not consent to," Bassett replied hastily; "he shall follow
+my trade.  It would break my heart if I thought that all my labours died
+with me."  He was interrupted by a fit of coughing.
+
+"And where," inquired the Franciscan, "where dost thou purpose going
+when the fair is ended?"
+
+"In good sooth, holy friar, that is what troubles me.  I had thought of
+London, but I wot not--"
+
+The other leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knee, and his chin in
+the palm of his hand.
+
+"I wot not either," he said at last, "but in these days there is much
+noble work akin to thine going on in the great churches and minsters of
+the kingdom.  There is St Peter's at Exeter, now.  One of our order was
+telling me but lately how gloriously the bishop of that see is bringing
+it to perfection.  The air in those western shires is soft and healing,
+better for thy cough than London, which has many fens giving out their
+vapours, to say nothing of the smoke arising from that vile coal the
+citizens are now trying to burn, and which pours out its choking fumes
+upon the poor air.  Were I thee I would not bestow myself in London."
+
+"Exeter," said Bassett reflectively; "I thank thee for the suggestion.
+My wife came from those shires, and a bishop with a zeal for decoration
+might well give me employment."
+
+"The journey is long," put in the friar, with a desire that prudence
+should have her share in this advice of his which the wood-carver seemed
+so ready to adopt.
+
+"We are used to journeys and I dread them not."
+
+"Nor fear robbers?"
+
+"I am too poor to tempt them.  Besides, our great king has done much for
+the security of the country, by what I hear.  Is it not so, holy friar?"
+
+"Truly it is.  But Scotland has taken more of his thought lately, and
+when the lion is in combat, the smaller beasts slink out to fall on
+their prey.  But if you make your way to Exeter and would go first
+through London, our house in Newgate Street will give you hospitable
+lodging.--How now, Mistress Eleanor?"
+
+"It is the monkey, Friar Nicholas--might he not bring it for madam, our
+mother, to see?  He says that Wolf would eat him."
+
+"And in good sooth that were not unlikely.  Better be content to come
+here again and see the little pagan beast, if Mistress Judith does not
+mislike it.  Fare thee well, Master Bassett.  I will meet thee again,
+and hear whether Exeter still has attraction."
+
+Mistress Judith rose and shook her skirts before folding them round her,
+an operation which the monkey, happening to be close to her on Hugh's
+shoulder, resented greatly, chattering at and scolding her with all his
+might.  Eleanor screamed with delight, while Anne hid her face; and
+Hugh, somewhat abashed at Mistress Judith's displeasure, retired with
+Agrippa to the back of the room, while his father escorted his guests a
+few paces beyond the door.
+
+He came back and found Hugh enthusiastic over his new friends.
+
+"The dog, father, a noble beast!  I would you had seen him!  I warrant
+me Peter the smith's son has had enough of fighting to last him a while.
+He ran like a deer!"
+
+"And how fell it out?"
+
+Thus questioned a long story had to be told of the ill deeds of Peter,
+who had been the chief offender; and the damage to Hugh's garments,
+which Mistress Judith had but hastily caught together, was ruefully
+exhibited.  Stephen shook his head.
+
+"Another time keep thy fighting till a woman is near to back up thy
+prowess with her needle.  Yet--I'll not blame thee.  'Twould have been a
+cowardly deed to have suffered that poor beast to be stoned.  And at
+least I can mother thee for these bruises and scratches."
+
+He fetched some water as he spoke, took out a few dried herbs from a
+bag, set them in the water on the fire, and as soon as the decoction was
+ready bathed the boy's many hurts with a hand as gentle indeed as his
+mother's could have been.  While this was going on he talked to the
+child with a freedom which showed them to be more than usually
+companions in the fullest sense of the word.
+
+"What thinkest thou the good friar hit upon?  He thought I might find
+work at one of the great churches which are rising to perfection in the
+land.  And, Hugh, thou hast heard thy mother speak of Exeter?  At Exeter
+there is much of this going on, and if we could get there, I might
+obtain the freedom of one of the craft guilds, and apprentice thee."
+
+"Ay"--doubtfully.
+
+"Well, why that doleful tone?"
+
+"I would be a soldier, father."
+
+"Serve thy 'prenticeship first and talk of fighting afterwards.  Dost
+thou think King Edward takes little varlets of eleven years old to make
+his army?  Besides--speak not of it, Hugh.  My heart is set upon thy
+carrying on my work.  Life has not been sweet for me, and 'tis likely to
+be short; let me see some fruit before I die."
+
+The boy flung his arms round Bassett's neck.
+
+"Father, talk not like that!  I will be what thou wilt!"
+
+"Thou wilt?  Promise me, then," said his father eagerly.
+
+"I promise."
+
+Stephen Bassett's breath came short and fast.
+
+"See here, Hugh.  Thou art young in years but quick of understanding,
+and hast been my close companion of late.  Thou art ready to engage, as
+far as thou canst--I would not bind thee too closely," he added,
+reluctantly--"to renounce those blood-letting dreams of thine, and
+follow my trade, and, as I well believe thou wilt, make our name
+famous?"
+
+"Ay," said the little lad gravely, "that will I do.  Only--"
+
+"What?"
+
+"If I must needs be cutting something, I would sooner 'twere stone than
+wood."
+
+"Sayest thou so?" said the carver, rising and walking backwards and
+forwards in the room.  He was evidently disappointed, and was undergoing
+a struggle with himself.  But at last he stopped, and laid his hand
+kindly upon the boy's shoulder.  "As thou wilt, Hugh," he said; "I would
+not be unreasonable; and truly I believe thy hand finds more delight in
+that cold unfriendly surface than in the fine responsive grain of the
+wood.  So thou art a carver, choose thine own material.  Stone and wood
+are both needed in the churches.  We will go to Exeter.  I mind me thy
+mother had cousins there.  We will but wait for the end of the fair, and
+there will be folk going to London with whom we may journey safely."
+
+The man's sanguine nature as usual overleapt all difficulties.  His
+cough and his breathing were so bad, that others might have well dreaded
+the effects of a long and toilsome journey, but he would hear of no
+possible drawbacks, and Hugh was too young to be alarmed, and took the
+over-bright eyes and occasional flush of the cheek as glad signs that
+his father was getting well again.
+
+Thanks to Hugh's new friends, moreover, Bassett sold his work, and sold
+it well.  Dame Edith de Trafford sent for him, desiring he would bring
+his boy and some specimens of his carving.  Hugh begged sore to be
+allowed to take Agrippa, for the joy it would give to the little
+Eleanor, but his father would not have it.  The monkey, though it had
+attached itself devotedly to Hugh, was capricious with others, variable
+in temper, and at times a very imp of mischief, and Stephen feared its
+pranks might offend their new patroness.
+
+Agrippa was, therefore, consigned to the rafters, where he chattered
+with displeasure at seeing his master go out without him.
+
+"If he is to journey with us, we must get him a cord," said Bassett.
+"As it is, we shall pass for a party of mountebanks.  See that the door
+is safely closed, for John the sacristan will not be back yet awhile."
+
+The night had been wet, and the gaiety of the fair much bedraggled in
+consequence.  Under foot, indeed, the mud and mire of the trampled grass
+made so sticky a compound that it was difficult for one foot to follow
+the other.  The poor folk who had been obliged--as numbers were--to
+sleep on rough boards, raised on four legs from the ground, and but
+slightly protected from the weather, were in sad plight.  Happily the
+sun had come out, and though there was not much heat in his rays, they
+served to lessen some of the discomfort, and to bring back a touch of
+cheerfulness.  Peter the smith's son, with one or two others, pointed
+and grimaced at Hugh as he passed on, without venturing to approach
+nearer.  The goldsmiths were hanging up costly chains and sets of pearls
+with which to tempt the noble ladies who approached, while a Hans trader
+called attention to the fact that winter was coming and his furs would
+protect from cramps and rheumatism.  Presently down through the booths
+rode a party of knights and javelin men, none other than the high
+sheriff with the four coroners and others, on their way to the shire
+court, which was to be held that day under the shire-oak a few miles
+distant.  A number of countrymen had already gone off to this meeting,
+and in a few minutes Hugh saw Wolf bounding along by the side of a
+smaller group of knights; Edgar was behind with a younger party, and
+evidently Sir Thomas de Trafford as one of the knights of the shire was
+proceeding to join the assembly.  Many remarks were made by the
+bystanders, to which Bassett, who had been long out of England, listened
+attentively.  He found that much satisfaction was in general expressed,
+though one or two malcontents declared that each assembly was but the
+herald for a demand for money.
+
+"Parliament or no parliament, 'tis ever the same," grumbled one small
+cobbler, drest in the usual coarse garment reaching just below the
+knees, and headed by a square cape, too large for his shrunk shoulders:
+"wars to be waged, and money to be squeezed from our bodies."
+
+"Thine would not furnish the realm with the weight of a silver penny,"
+said a burly countryman, glancing with much contempt at the cobbler.
+"And when does the king ask for aid except in case of need?  If thou
+hadst, as I friends in Cumberland, I reckon you would be the first to
+cry out that a stop should be put to these Scotch outlaws harrying the
+borders."
+
+"And hast thou friends in Gascony, too, Dick-o'-the-Hill?" demanded the
+little cobbler spitefully.
+
+"Nay, it's been a scurvy trick of the French king, that getting hold of
+Gascony," put in a baker who had joined the group; "I'm all for fighting
+for Gascony."
+
+"Well, I'll warrant that our burgesses, Master Dennis and Master Small,
+will speak their minds against any wicked waste," persisted the cobbler.
+"'Tis time the king were checked."
+
+"And who has given you burgesses to speak for you, ay, and passed laws
+putting the ay and the nay into your own hands?" broke in Stephen
+Bassett indignantly.  "I have been out of England for many a long year,
+but I mind the time, my masters, if you have forgotten, when the
+parliament was called, not to vote whether or no the money should be
+raised, but to raise it.  Few laws had you in old days, and little voice
+in them!"
+
+"He speaks the truth," said a grave franklin standing by.
+
+"When, since the days of Alfred, has there been an English king like our
+King Edward?" added Dick-o'-the-Hill.
+
+"One that ever keeps his word."
+
+"And makes laws for the poor."
+
+"I say that none speak against him except traitors and false loons,"
+said the baker, squaring up towards the cobbler in a threatening manner.
+
+"Nay, my masters, I meant no harm," urged the cobbler, alarmed.  "The
+saints forbid that I should say a word against King Edward!  Doubtless,
+we shall pay our twelfth, such of us as can--and be as much better as we
+are like to be."
+
+He added these words under his breath, but Stephen Bassett caught them.
+
+"Ay," he said, "so long as we are saved from sinking into a nation of
+curs such as thee."
+
+The cobbler cast an infuriated look at him as he walked on, the flush
+which Hugh loved to see on his cheek.
+
+"That was an evil man, father," said the boy.  Bassett was silent for a
+space.
+
+"There are many such discontented knaves," he returned at last, "eating
+like a canker into the very heart of our nation.  Self, self, that is
+the limit to which their thoughts rise.  And they measure all others by
+their own petty standard--even the king.  It makes one sick at heart to
+think what he has done for his country, and how--to hear some of these
+mean-spirited loons talk--it is turned against him, and besmirched, till
+fairest deeds are made to look black, and nothing is left to him but his
+faults."
+
+If Hugh could not understand all, he took in much, and remembered it
+afterwards.  But the delights of the fair drove all else out of his head
+for the moment, and he could scarce be torn away from the dancing bear.
+
+"Hearken," said his father at last with a laugh, "whatever happens, I'll
+have none of the bear!  His masters may die, and he be baited by all the
+dogs in the town, but he shall never be my travelling fellow.  Come,
+'tis time we were at the lady's."
+
+This time they were passed through the passage to the talking room,
+where Dame Edith was sitting on a bench or low settle.  The walls were
+unplastered, its rough floor uncarpeted, its windows unglazed, to modern
+notions it would have seemed little better than a cell, but Dame Edith
+herself created about her an air of refinement and delicacy.  After the
+new fashion, instead of the plaits which had been worn, her fair hair
+was turned up and enclosed in a network caul of gold thread, over which
+was placed a veil.  She wore a kirtle of pale blue silk, and a
+fawn-coloured velvet mantle, with an extravagantly long train
+embroidered in blue.  She looked too young to be the mother of Edgar,
+and indeed was Sir Thomas's second wife, and the very darling of his
+heart.  The twins, especially Anne, strongly resembled her; Eleanor had
+more of her father's and her step-brother's eager impetuosity, but Anne
+bade fair to be as sweet-mannered and dainty as her mother.  Bassett and
+his son had hardly made their greeting, before the little maidens were
+in the room, Eleanor so brimming over with questions about the monkey
+that she could scarce keep her tongue in check.
+
+Dame Edith smiled very kindly on the boy.
+
+"I have heard all the tale from Friar Nicholas," she said, "and of how
+discreetly Wolf came to the rescue.  And so thou wouldst be a soldier?"
+
+Hugh coloured, and his father broke in--
+
+"Nay, lady, he hath laid by that foolish fancy.  He will be a carver,
+like myself."
+
+She lifted her pretty eyebrows.
+
+"In good sooth?  Now we had settled matters quite otherwise.  I had won
+my good husband to consenting that he should be taken into our meine,
+and there he might have risen.  Is the subject quite decided?"
+
+"Quite, lady," Bassett said firmly.  "I thank you very humbly for your
+goodness, but Hugh and I must hold together while I live, and I have set
+my heart upon his carving a name for himself with a lowlier but a more
+lasting weapon than the sword."
+
+His cough shook him again as he spoke, and Dame Edith, though unused to
+opposition, was too kindly natured to show displeasure.  She asked to
+see what he had brought, and was soon wrapt in admiration at the free
+and delicate work which was displayed.  Meanwhile, Eleanor could whisper
+to Hugh--
+
+"Hath Agrippa eaten all the nuts?  Doth he like spice-bread or figs?
+I'll give thee some.  But oh, I wish, I wish thou hadst brought him!
+Wolf is gone to the shire-oak.  And see now, bend down thy head, and
+hearken to a secret.  Madam, our mother, has a silken cord for thee to
+hold him with.  When may we come again and see him?  I should like it to
+be to-day."
+
+Dame Edith was a liberal purchaser.  Her last choice was a beautiful
+little reliquary box, minutely carved, yet with a freedom of design
+which enchanted her.  She would scarcely allow them to leave her, and
+the afternoon had advanced before father and son found themselves on
+their way back to the sacristan's house.  He met them at the door--a
+little, withered old man--in an indignant temper.
+
+"Folk should shut the door behind them, and not leave the house to be
+pillaged," he said, crossly.  "Here I come back and find all in
+disorder, and the door wide open to invite all the ill loons in the
+place to come in and work their will."
+
+"We left the door safely shut," said Bassett, in surprise.
+
+"Father--Agrippa!" cried Hugh, bolting into the house.
+
+His fears were too true.  No Agrippa chattered his welcome to them from
+the rafters, and as he always remained in that place of refuge during
+their absence, and was too timid to come down to any stranger, it was
+evident that some dire abduction had taken place.  Hugh, who had grown
+very fond of the monkey, was like one distracted.  John, the sacristan,
+who loved it less, was disposed to be philosophical.
+
+"Well, well, well," he said, "if the varlets have taken nought else I
+wish them joy of their bargain, and 'tis well it's no worse.  By 'r
+Lady, 'tis a foul thing to break into a man's house, and we shall see
+what the Master of the College will say to the watch."
+
+"I'll find the poor beast, if he be still alive," said Hugh, with a
+choke in his voice, "wherever they've bestowed him.  'Tis Peter's work!"
+
+He was rushing out when Bassett checked him.
+
+"Softly, softly," he said, "prudence may do more than valour in this
+case.  Let us ask a few questions to begin with.  Master John, at what
+time came you back?"
+
+"At four o' the clock, and found the door open--thus, and the tankard of
+ale I had left emptied.  The scurvy knaves!  But there's no virtue left
+in the watch since Master Simpkins got the upper hand, and hath upset
+all the ancient customs."
+
+Scarce restraining Hugh's impatience, his father made inquiries at some
+of the houses round, and ended at last in gaining information.  Goody
+Jones was sick of a fever, and her little grandchild, playing at
+bob-apple before the door with another, had seen Peter, the smith's son,
+and two other boys, whom she named, go into the sacristan's house.
+Pressed to say whether she saw them come out again, she said nay.  Her
+grandam had called her, and she had run in.
+
+Link the first was therefore established.
+
+Hugh was for rushing at once to Peter, and forcing the rest out of him,
+but Bassett counselled more wary walking.
+
+"'Tis a deep-laid plot," he said, "and it were best to meet craft by
+craft.  Besides, if they are accused, they may kill the poor beast to
+save themselves and spite thee.  Let us go out to the fair, and maybe we
+shall pick up some tidings."
+
+It was dreadful to Hugh to behold Peter in the distance, and to be
+restrained from falling upon him, and the fair had quite lost its charm,
+though the noise and stir had increased.  Costard-mongers were bawling
+apples--red, white, and grey costards--at the top of their voices;
+pig-women inviting the passers-by to partake of the roast pig which
+smoked on their tables; tooth-drawers and barbers, each proclaiming his
+calling more loudly than the other.  The abbot of a neighbouring
+monastery had his palfrey surrounded by a group of clothiers, while a
+fool in motley was the centre of another group.  Among these the
+wood-carver spied a sturdy yeoman, the same Dick-o'-the-Hill who had
+opposed the cobbler earlier in the day.  It struck him that here was a
+man for his purpose, and he managed to extract him from the others, and
+to tell him what they were seeking.  Honest Dick-o'-the-Hill scratched
+his head.
+
+"If you knew where they had disposed the beast," he said, "and breaking
+of heads could do it, I'm your man.  But as for finding where 'tis hid,
+my wife would tell you I was the veriest numskull!"  The next moment he
+brightened.  "I have it!  There's my cousin before us, carrying that
+fardel of hay.  He's the wisest head for miles round, and I'll warrant
+he'll clap some sense on the matter.  Hi, Mat!  Ancient Mat!"
+
+Thus adjured, a small, dried-up, pippin-faced man paused on his way, and
+waited till his cousin overtook him and explained what was amiss.  He
+listened testily, showing profound contempt for honest Dick's
+straightforward, though somewhat heavy-handed, suggestions, but more
+deference towards Stephen Bassett.
+
+"More likely that the knaves have sold than harmed the creature," he
+pronounced at the end of the story.
+
+"Find out where it is, and I'll do what cracking of crowns is needed,"
+said Dick.
+
+"Mend thine own, which is cracked past recovery," growled the other.
+"Hearken, master,"--to Bassett--"who is likely to buy such a beast?"
+
+"Some noble household."
+
+"Rather some puppet-show or party of mountebanks; those who have dancing
+dogs or a bear."
+
+"Right!" cried Stephen, joyfully.  "What a fool was I not to think of
+it!"
+
+"I said he had the best head in the shire," said Dick, with triumph.
+
+"And," continued Matthew, unheeding, "thou wottest that the licence to
+all foreigners expires to-day, and that they must leave the fair?  See
+there, those Flemish traders are putting their wares together, and the
+abbot has made a good bargain for his silken hangings.  My counsel is to
+go to the watch, and, when the bear and his masters are on the march,
+search for the monkey.  If I mistake not they will not be able to hide
+him."
+
+"Well thought of, friend," said Bassett, heartily.  "No need of the
+watch, though," put in Dick-o'-the-Hill; "I'll bring a stout fellow or
+two who'll do what is necessary."
+
+"Ay, and get us trounced up as the trailbastons the king hates,
+numskull," said his cousin.  "But 'tis nothing to me.  Go thine own way
+for an obstinate loggerhead!"
+
+Dick, who seemed to regard Mat's railing as something rather honourable
+than otherwise entered into the proposal with extreme zest.  He produced
+a quarterstaff, which he flourished with formidable ease, declaring
+himself ready with its aid to encounter the bear himself.  Stephen
+Bassett hoped to carry the matter through peaceably, but he felt that
+his efforts might go more smoothly backed up by a display of force, and
+welcomed Dick's assistance, as well as that of a neighbour whom he
+offered to fetch.  There was not much time to lose, and they agreed to
+meet at a certain spot within half an hour, a time which to Hugh's
+impatience seemed interminable.  His father had enough to do in keeping
+him quiet, and in finding out where the watch, whose business it was to
+keep order at the fair, were bestowed.  Matthew, having disposed of his
+hay, rejoined Bassett, really desirous to know whether his surmises
+turned out to be correct; but, as he declared, solely that he might help
+to check his cousin Dick's ignorant zeal.
+
+Four of them, therefore, to say nothing of Hugh, took up their position
+in the field just on the outskirts of the fair, and waited patiently or
+impatiently, after their natures, for the event.
+
+Soon a motley crowd began to emerge from the booths.  The most
+picturesque features of the show, indeed, were departing, for foreigners
+were not allowed to compete with the English traders beyond a certain
+number of days; and Flemish, Italians, Chinese, streamed forth, to find
+a night's lodging as best they might beyond the forbidden limits.  This
+expulsion was accompanied by a good deal of coarse jesting and railing
+from the other sellers, who rejoiced at the departure.
+
+It was not long before the bear appeared, led by two men.
+
+"Father, father!" cried Hugh, in a tumult of excitement.
+
+"Speak the word, master, when thou desirest an appeal to my
+quarterstaff," put in Dick-o'-the-Hill, "or even give me a nod, and I'll
+warrant I'll not be backward.  I'll answer for the bear."
+
+"Ay, I verily believe thy head to be as thick as its own," said Matthew.
+"When wilt thou learn that brains are better than fists?  Peace, and
+keep back."
+
+Stephen Bassett had stepped out, and civilly informed the men that a
+monkey had been taken from his house, and that he had reason to think it
+might be in their possession.
+
+"Going beyond known facts," muttered Matthew, "yet one must sometimes
+make a leap in the dark.  They shake their heads and deny.  What next?
+Friend Stephen presses his demand, and all four knaves wax violent in
+vowing lies; and Dick is puffing and blowing with desire to break heads.
+They have the beast, but where?"
+
+His quick eyes, darting hither and thither, had soon answered this
+question.  One or two of the men had bundles on their backs, and a boy
+carried something of the same sort, though smaller.  Matthew noticed
+that, at a word from one of the men, this boy slipped out of the group,
+and, avoiding the side where Dick and his neighbour Hob were mounting
+guard, passed round near Matthew himself.  In an absolutely unexpected
+moment he found himself caught by the arm, and though he fought and
+kicked he was held in a vice.  The men turned upon Matthew with
+threatening gestures, and Dick, in high delight, flourished his
+quarterstaff, and pressed up to the defence with one eye on the bear,
+who in a free fight might be held to represent an unknown quantity.
+
+Finding they had fallen into powerful hands the Italians confined
+themselves to pouring out violent ejaculations, while Hugh flung himself
+upon the bundle.  His fingers trembled so much with excitement that he
+could hardly drag out the wooden skewers which served to keep it
+together, but in a minute or two it was unrolled, and the terrified
+monkey sprang out.  He had made one frightened leap already when Hugh's
+call checked him, and the next moment, with a cry of delight, almost
+human in its intensity, he ran to the boy, and clambering on his
+shoulder gave the most unmistakable signs of pleasure.
+
+"The monkey is his own jury," said Matthew, sententiously.  "Tried and
+found guilty, my masters."
+
+The Italians, however, had no intention of giving up their booty without
+a struggle, and they called upon several jongleurs, who had crowded
+round, to assist them.  One went so far as to seize the monkey,
+whereupon Dick's cudgel, describing a circle in the air, came down upon
+the head of the assailant with such force that he dropped like a stone,
+and Hob following up with another blow scarcely less formidable, it
+seemed likely that here would be a battle royal.  Two men fell upon
+Matthew, who would have been in evil case had not Dick done as much for
+him as he had for the monkey; and Stephen Bassett was set upon with a
+vigour which soon left him breathless, although Hugh, clasping Agrippa
+with one hand, with the other arm laid about him to such excellent
+purpose that he hoped to save his father from hurt till Dick could come
+to the rescue.
+
+But might has been often found to get the upper hand of right, and both
+Stephen and Dick had fallen into the common English error of underrating
+their opponents.  A good many of the foreigners had closed round with
+the desire to help their own body, and without knowing anything of the
+quarrel; and the English, who would have stoutly taken the opposite
+side, could only see that some quarrel was going on, and supposed the
+strangers to be fighting among themselves.  Dick had done prodigies of
+valour, and dealt furious blows with his quarterstaff, but he was
+hampered by numbers who clung to his arm, and by the charge of
+protecting his cousin, and he was reluctantly framing a call for rescue
+when a party of horsemen rode into the very thick of the struggling
+mass, and scattered it in all directions.
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+RESCUED.
+
+It was time.  Stephen Bassett was all but spent, and Hugh, trying his
+best to shield him, was pressed backwards until, to his terror, he found
+himself close to the hairy form of the bear.  But the instant the
+knights appeared the throng opened and fled, except the bear-leaders,
+who, hampered by their unwieldy animal, prepared to put the best face
+they could on the matter.
+
+For the first few minutes, indeed, there was nothing but trying to quiet
+the horses, frightened out of their senses by finding themselves in
+close neighbourhood with the bear, and this gave time for Hugh to look,
+and to cry out joyfully--
+
+"Father, it is Sir Thomas de Trafford!  He will see justice done."
+
+"How now, my masters?" cried the knight, a dark-haired, bright-eyed man
+with a red face.  "What means this brawling?"
+
+"Your worship," said Dick-o'-the-Hill, wiping his face with the back of
+his hand, "these knaves have been taken in the very act of stealing."
+
+"Is that you, Dick Simpkins?" said Sir Thomas, with a laugh.  "I might
+have guessed that heads could not be broken without your having a hand
+in the breaking.  But the King will have none of this violence, and the
+Master of the Hospital will have thee up for it, neck and crop."
+
+Dick, looking somewhat sheep-faced at this view of his conduct, was yet
+going to reply, when his cousin Matthew pushed forward.
+
+"Hearken not to him, your worship," he began; "he is an ignorant though
+a well-meaning knave.  But I humbly bid your worship take notice that
+these men be the culprits who have stolen our property, and, when we
+would have reclaimed it, set upon us, and were like to have killed us."
+
+"Killed us forsooth!" muttered Dick, stirred to anger at last.
+
+"--Had your worship not come to our rescue.  And as witness, knowing all
+the circumstances--none better--I claim, if they are put upon their
+trial, to take my place as one of the twelve jurors.  It is a case of
+flagrant delict."
+
+The culprits, conscious of their guilt, but not understanding the
+conversation, stood as pale as death, glancing from one to the other.
+
+"Let us hear in plain words what hath been stolen," said Sir Thomas,
+impatiently.
+
+"Please your worship," said Hugh, stepping forward and holding out the
+monkey, "it is Agrippa."
+
+"A monkey!  Why, thou must be the urchin my little maidens are for ever
+chattering about.  And Edgar--where is Edgar?  Not here?  The youngster
+is stopping in the fair.  And did these fellows steal thy monkey?"
+
+Bassett, who had recovered his breath, put in his word.
+
+"Ay, your worship; when we were away at your lady's, showing her the
+carved work of mine she would see.  We left the door of John the
+sacristan's--where we are lodging--shut, and came back to find it open
+and the monkey gone."
+
+"Might he not have escaped?"
+
+"He was too timid unless he had been driven forth.  Besides, we have
+evidence that the boy, who hath shown much ill-will already in the
+matter, was seen to go in at the door with two others.  If these men are
+questioned I believe they will tell us that they bought the beast from
+these boys, and your worship may hold their fault the less."
+
+The knight growled something in his beard which was not flattering to
+foreign traders; but his sense of justice led him to take the course
+which Bassett suggested, and he put his questions in French to the
+Italians, who, watching the faces of those around (of whom a
+considerable number had now collected), were in mortal terror of short
+shrift.  By all the saints in the calendar they vowed that no thought of
+stealing had crossed their minds.  A boy had brought the monkey; they
+could understand no more than that he wanted to sell it, and, as they
+were glad of the opportunity, they gave him ten silver pennies for their
+bargain.
+
+Matthew was greatly vexed not to understand this defence, in which he
+would have been ready enough to pick holes; but Bassett, knowing that,
+though true in the main, their story said nothing to explain their
+denial of having seen the monkey or of its concealment in the bag, kept
+merciful silence.  The men, at any rate, had been punished by fright,
+and when Sir Thomas de Trafford asked if he demanded that they should be
+haled back and given over to the college authorities he shook his head.
+
+"E'en let them go, so we have the monkey," he said.
+
+The knight administered a sharp rating, and bade them tie up their
+comrade's broken head and be off; a permission of which they were only
+too glad to avail themselves, the bear shuffling after them and causing
+a fresh panic among the horses.
+
+"Quiet, Saladin!" said Sir Thomas, irritably.  "Master Carver, somebody
+must suffer for this, and the boy who stole and sold the beast is the
+worst offender.  Thou--what is thy name--Hugo?  Hugh?--what sayest thou
+should be done to him?"
+
+"Your worship," said Hugh, tingling all over with eager thrill of hope,
+"your worship, I should like to fight him."
+
+"Trial by combat," said the knight, laughing.
+
+"Nay, nay, he's a false loon, and that were too honourable a punishment.
+Here, Dick-o'-the-Hill, thou knowest every knave for miles round, go to
+the watch, and bid them take the thievish young varlet to the
+whipping-post, and let him remember it.  Tell them I will answer for
+them to their masters."
+
+"Tell them," Matthew called after him, "that it is a case of flagrant
+delict."
+
+"Here, Master Carver," said Sir Thomas, moving his horse a few paces off
+and beckoning to Bassett, "that boy of thine is a gallant little urchin,
+and my babies have taken a fancy to him.  Wilt thou spare him to us?  He
+shall be well eared for; my lady has but too soft a heart, as I tell
+her, for the youngsters of the household."
+
+"I am deeply beholden to your worship," returned Stephen, hastily.  "It
+sounds ungracious to refuse so good an offer, but I cannot part with him
+while I live.  You may guess from my face that that will not be for
+long."
+
+At the first part of this speech Sir Thomas had frowned heavily, but he
+could not be wroth with the end.
+
+"The more reason," he said, "that the boy should have a protector."
+
+"True," Bassett answered.  "I have thought much of that.  But I hope to
+have time yet to place him somewhere where he can follow my craft and
+build his own fortunes."
+
+"And you would throw away his advancement for a dream?"
+
+"Is it a dream?" said the carver.  "Believe me, your worship, that,
+although you may find it hard to believe, we men of art have our
+ambitions as strong in us as in the proudest knight of King Edward's
+court.  Hugh has that in him which I have fostered and cherished, and
+which I believe will bear fruit hereafter and bring him, or his art,
+fame."
+
+"Small profits, I fear me," said Sir Thomas.
+
+"That is like enough.  It may be not even a name.  But something will he
+have done, as I believe, for the glory of God and the honour of his
+art."
+
+"Well," said the knight, half vexed, "I have made thee a fair offer, and
+the rest lies with thyself.  Where go you after the fair?"
+
+"By Friar Nicholas's advice, gentle sir, as far as to Exeter.  He thinks
+I may meet with work there and a softer air."
+
+"Since thy father will have nought better, I must find a gift for thee,
+boy," said the knight, reining back his horse.  He drew a richly-chased
+silver whistle from his breast and threw it to the boy.  "Take good care
+of Agrippa; my little Nell would have broken her heart if she had heard
+he was gone.  Good day, friend Matthew; good day, Master Carver."
+
+The next moment the little party had clattered away, leaving Hugh with
+thanks faltering on his tongue, and Matthew on tip-toe with pride at his
+own discernment.
+
+"Never would you have seen your monkey again if I had not collared the
+knave," he said.  "Now, there is my cousin Dick, an honest fellow as
+ever swung a flail, but with no thought beyond what he can do with fists
+and staff; no use of his eyes, no putting two and two together.  I'll
+warrant me by the time he reaches the watch he will have forgotten the
+words I put into his mouth; and yet they are the very pith of the
+matter.  I'll e'en go after him."
+
+He started off, while Bassett and his boy made their way back towards
+the church, Hugh ill at ease because, while the pommelling of Peter
+seemed a fine thing, his doom to the whipping-post, though no more than
+justice, gave him an uneasy feeling.  But his father would hear of no
+going to beg him off, and, indeed, it would have been bootless.  Peter's
+offence was one for which whipping might be held a merciful punishment--
+
+"And may save him from turning into a cut-purse later on," added
+Bassett.
+
+So Agrippa went back to his rafters and met with no more adventures.
+The fair ran its usual busy course; the friar came often to talk with
+Stephen Bassett and to give Hugh exercises in reading and writing;
+while, more rarely, Eleanor and Anne appeared with Mistress Judith--in
+great excitement the last time because the next day they were to set
+forth for their home.  September was drawing to an end, the weather was
+rainy, and Bassett began to make inquiries as to parties who would be
+travelling the same road as himself.  Dick-o'-the-Hill was certain that
+his cousin Mat would find the right people.  He had implicit faith in
+his sagacity, and came with him in triumph one day to announce success.
+It seemed that a mercer, his wife, and son were going back to London and
+would be glad of company.  And then it came out that Matthew himself was
+strongly drawn in the same direction.
+
+"A man," he explained, "is like to have all his wits dulled who sees and
+hears none but clodhoppers.  I feel at times as if I were no sharper
+than Dickon here.  Now in London the citizens are well to the front.
+There is the Alderman-burgh, with the Law Courts and the King's Bench,
+there is the Lord Mayor, there is the King's Palace at Westminster and
+the great church of St Paul's; much for a man of understanding to see
+and meditate upon, Master Bassett, and I have half a mind--"
+
+"Have a whole one, man," cried the carver, heartily; "and I would Dick
+would come too."
+
+"Nay, in London I should be no better than an ass between two bundles of
+hay," said honest Dick, shaking his head.  "But if Mat goes he will
+bring us back a pack of news, and maybe might see the king himself."
+
+It did not take much to give a final push to Matthew's inclination.  He
+had neither wife nor child, and, as he confided to Bassett, his bag of
+marks would bear a little dipping into.  He bought a horse--or rather
+Dick bought it for him--the carver agreeing to pay him a certain sum for
+its partial use during their journey to London, and they set out at
+last, leaving the fair shorn of its glory.
+
+Folk were travelling in all directions; but London was the goal of the
+greater number, and the little knots of traders with one consent, for
+fear of cut-purses, kept well within sight of each other.  The road was
+not bad, although a course of wet weather might quickly convert it into
+a quagmire; and it was easy enough to follow, for one of the king's
+precautions against footpads was the clearing away of all brushwood and
+undergrowth for a space of two hundred feet on each side of the highway
+as well as round the gates of towns.  A great deal of talk passed
+between the different groups, for fairs were the very centre of news,
+foreign and English, political and commercial, with a strong
+under-current of local gossip.  The Hansards, Easterlings, and Lombards
+had brought the latest information about the French claims to Gascony,
+as well as much trading information from Bruges, which was then the
+great seat of commerce; the English merchants discussed the king's wise
+and politic measures to promote the unity of the kingdom, a cause which
+Edward had much at heart, as necessary not only for the greatness but
+the safety of that England for whose good never king toiled more
+unselfishly.
+
+It was all deeply interesting to Stephen Bassett, who had left his own
+country many years before, and was amazed at the strides civil liberties
+had made since that time.  Before this the making and the keeping of
+laws had depended upon the fancies of the reigning king, checked or
+enlarged as they might be by the barons.  It was Edward the First who
+called his Commons to assist in the making of these laws, who summoned
+burgesses from the principal towns throughout the kingdom, who required
+the consent of the people for Acts proposed in Parliament, and enforced
+the keeping of these laws so powerfully that his greatest lords could no
+more break them with impunity than the meanest churl.  He set up a fixed
+standard of weights and measures.  Up to this time all attempts in this
+direction had been failures, and the inconvenience must have been great.
+He tried to encourage the growth of towns, freeing them from petty
+local restrictions and introducing staples or fixed markets.  Under him
+taxation became more general and more even.  He made a survey of the
+country yet more important than that of Domesday.  And if that
+honourable hold of plighted word was--at any rate until late years--the
+proud characteristic of an Englishman, this national virtue, which does
+not come by chance any more than does a personal virtue, is owing in no
+small degree to the steady and strong example of the great king, who on
+his tomb left that bidding to his people--"Pactum serva"--keep covenant.
+
+Hugh, for love of his father, listened as well as he could to the talk;
+but he had good play-times as well, for there were many boys and girls
+on the road, and, indeed, the mercer with whom they travelled had his
+lad of thirteen with him.  Agrippa, held by Dame Edith's silken cord,
+was an immense object of interest; the mercer's wife made him a new
+little coat of scarlet cloth, and, besides the black rye bread which he
+shared with his masters, the children were never tired of bringing him
+nuts, costard apples, and spice-nuts, so that he fared well.  He showed
+great affection for Hugh, and was never so happy as when on his
+shoulder; tolerating Stephen and detesting Matthew.
+
+The hostels were crowded, and the accommodation of the roughest; but it
+was always a matter of rejoicing to have got through the day's journey
+without encounter of outlaws.  Highway robbery was one of the evils with
+which the king had vigorously to contend, and at their last
+halting-place the host's wife had such a number of terrible stories at
+her fingers' ends as made the more timorous shake in their shoes.  She
+discoursed volubly as she brought in an excellent supper, which they ate
+with knives, forks being as yet a great luxury.
+
+"Alack-a-day, my masters!" she said.  "I wot that shameful things have
+happened on this very road not so long ago.  My lord Abbot from the
+neighbouring house, having but one brother with him, was seized and
+robbed, and left bound in the ditch.  The thief made off with his
+palfrey, and that led to his being taken and hung; but the abbot, holy
+man! has scarce recovered from the shock."
+
+One story brings another, and Matthew was seldom behindhand when
+anything had to be said.
+
+"Things be better, however, than they were ten years ago.  Then was a
+time of riot.  I mind me I had a cousin, living in Boston, when there
+came to the gates one night a party of monks wanting room in the
+monastery.  Fine monks were these, for, when all honest citizens were in
+bed, out they slipped, stripped off their gowns, appeared in doublet and
+hose of green, and never trust me, my masters, if these merry men did
+not take the town so completely by surprise that they sacked and set
+fire to it before they left."
+
+"There, see now!" cried the hostess, lifting up her hands; "and they
+might do the same by us now, and we sleeping in our beds like babes!"
+
+"I warrant that was what caused the king to ordain that town gates
+should be closed between sunset and sunrise, and makes him so strict in
+the matter," said a monk who was seated at table, with a good helping of
+a fish called cropling on his trencher.  "Nay, good mistress, look not
+mistrustfully on me.  I wear no cassock of green, only that which
+belongs to the habit of St Austin, of which I am an unworthy brother."
+
+"There be land pirates and sea pirates," said the little red-faced
+mercer, pompously; "both be enemies to an honest man's trade."
+
+"Alack, I know not how any can venture on the seas!" added his wife,
+putting her head as much on one side as her stiff gorget would allow.
+
+"There's terrible venturesome folk nowadays," put in the hostess,
+pouring out a tankard of ale.
+
+"They do say that ships be going so far as Spain; never will they come
+back again, that's certain."  Bassett listened, smiling, to these
+doleful conjectures; at the same time, hearing more of the dangers of
+the highways made him think with some anxiety of the long journey to
+Exeter which lay before them.  His strength had been tried by that now
+going on, and he wished it had been earlier in the year, when the days
+had been longer and roads better.  But he was naturally hopeful, and,
+comforting himself with the thought that on the next day, if all was
+well, they would reach London, he listened patiently to much which Hugh
+had to tell about his comrades on the road and Agrippa's cleverness
+before stretching themselves on the hard pallet which fell to their
+share in the common room.
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+GOD SAVE THE KING!
+
+The last day's journey was a heavy one, owing to the rain which fell
+persistently.  All the travellers wore their long pointed hoods, and
+carried tall, stout sticks, but their legs were not very well protected
+except by thick hose, and Bassett's cough was none the better for the
+journey.  He was glad enough when they came near the clusters of houses
+or villages which marked the outskirts of London, and saw the mist
+hanging over the city which, helped by the moisture from the marshes,
+the new use of coal was already beginning to produce.  Matthew was in a
+high state of delight.
+
+"Truly something of a city!" he exclaimed, rubbing his hands,
+"sheltering within its walls something like forty thousand souls.  A
+noble city!  I'll warrant a man of parts might make a name here.  There
+are the walls."
+
+The carver was almost too weary to bear Hugh's questionings as to the
+Franciscan monastery in Newgate Street where they were to lodge, and
+whether the prior might object to the presence of Agrippa.  When they
+reached the monastery, indeed, he was so sorely spent that the good
+friars at once called one of their number who had studied physic and
+consigned Bassett to his care, giving him, moreover, the best room in
+the guests' quarters.
+
+It must be said that the monkey was very doubtfully received, indeed he
+might probably have been altogether refused, for some of the brethren
+looked upon him as an actual imp of Satan, or perhaps Satan himself.
+But the prior was of a larger nature, so that Hugh was suffered to take
+Agrippa with him into the room he shared with his father.
+
+And here, in spite of his impatience, Bassett was forced to spend a
+week, Friar Luke altogether refusing to allow his patient to leave the
+room until the cough and pain in his side were subdued.  Had it not been
+for his strong longing to reach Exeter and see Hugh started as an
+apprentice this would have been a time of peace for the carver.  His
+quarters were sunny and cheerful; Friar Luke was a herbalist, and in his
+search for healing plants would bring him back what autumn flowers yet
+lingered, and talking of them would draw out stores of simple learning.
+Agrippa, moreover, somewhat to Friar Luke's discomfiture, had shown a
+strong attraction for his master's physician, and would come flying down
+from all manner of unexpected places to greet him.  Sometimes the prior
+would visit his guest, and, being a man of thought, his presence was a
+real delight to Stephen, while the prior was glad to hear the
+experiences of a man who had travelled largely and seen something of the
+world.  As Stephen grew stronger Friar Luke allowed him to attend the
+services in the chapel.
+
+Then Hugh would come in, rosy and excited with his walks with Matthew,
+who would see everything, even to the hangings on the Tyburn elms.  They
+went to mass at St Paul's, then surrounded by its own walls; they
+walked down the grassy spaces of Strand; they looked with some dread at
+the round church of the New Temple, and heard tales of the Templars fit
+to make the hair stand on end; they passed another day to the village of
+Westminster, where was the king's palace and the beautiful abbey,
+together with the great hall where Parliament, when it met in London,
+assembled.  It amused Hugh very well at first to see the crowds of
+suitors who poured up the stairs--those who had some complaints to make,
+grievances to be redressed, or petitions to be laid before the Triers.
+No hindrance was put in their way; everyone was free to come, each had a
+fair hearing.  Outlaws came to beg for pardon, when, if the Triers
+thought fit, they were recommended to the king's grace; men and women
+sought redress from wrongs inflicted perhaps by the lord of the manor;
+jurors who had perverted their office were brought up to receive
+judgment--all these lesser matters were as much the business of
+Parliament as granting aids to the king for carrying on the wars, and so
+fascinated was Matthew with the scene that Hugh was wearied to death of
+it before he could drag him away.
+
+He got him out at last, muttering to himself that had he but known how
+easy matters were made he would have looked up a case of his own against
+the University of Cambridge.  Hugh, stirred by ambition to have to do
+with an actual suitor, which was much more exciting than looking on and
+listening to matters he did not understand, was for his going back again
+at once.  Great was Matthew's indignation at the idea.
+
+"Thou silly oaf!" he said, angrily.  "To go without preparation!"
+
+"They but told a plain story," returned Hugh, sturdily.  "Anyone could
+do as much."
+
+"Seest thou not the difference?  They were ignorant men with whom the
+Council was wondrous patient, overlooking all their clipped words, and
+mercifully stooping to their simpleness.  But for a man of understanding
+to put a case matters must be very different.  Fit words must he use,
+and just pleadings must he make, and be ready to give good reason.
+Their worships know well with whom they have to do.  I will take thee to
+the Guildhall one day, and there thou shalt see the lawyers in their
+white coifs.  They are no longer monks, as once they were."
+
+"I would liefer go down the river and see the ships," said Hugh wearily.
+
+Matthew, who was really good-natured, yielded to this desire, and they
+picked their way along the swampy ground as best they could, and past
+the Tower.  The great trade of London, even at this time when commerce
+was ever made secondary to politics, was so large that a number of
+vessels were in the river.  Strange craft they were and of all shapes
+and sizes, the largest resembling nothing so much as a swollen
+half-circle, broadening at one end, and coming round so as to form a
+sort of shelter, and curving sharply to a point at the bow.  No such
+thing as sea charts as yet existed, so that a voyage was a perilous
+matter, and, in spite of the Crusades and of the trade with the
+Mediterranean, few vessels ventured through the Straits of Gibraltar.
+Edward was turning his attention to the navy, and was the first to
+appoint admirals, but, so far, England's strength lay altogether in her
+army and her famous bowmen, and the sea was no source of power, nor her
+sailors famous.
+
+Still, though Matthew professed the greatest contempt for his taste,
+Hugh found the river more delightful than the Council Hall, and was for
+lingering there as late as he could.  Some of the vessels were
+unloading, others embarking corn from the eastern counties, so that
+there was much stir and turmoil, and more vessels were in than was
+usual, because the time of the autumn equinox was dangerous for sailing.
+Children, too, were, as ever, playing about, and one group attracted
+Hugh, because in it was a little maid much about the size of little
+Eleanor, and with something of her spirited ways.  The boys, her
+companions, were rough, and at last one pushed her with such force that
+she fell, striking her head violently against a projecting plank.  Hugh
+flew to avenge her, but the boys, frightened at seeing her lie
+motionless, fled, and Matthew stood growling at the manners of the age.
+Hugh, used to sickness, ran to the water's brink, and scooped up a
+little water in his two hands.  By the time he had poured it on her face
+and raised her head on his knee she opened her brown eyes with a cry of
+"Mother!" and the next moment a man in a sailor's dress had leaped
+ashore from one of the vessels which were lading close by, had run to
+the group and taken her in his arms.
+
+"Art thou hurt, my Moll, and where?"
+
+"Father, 'twas Robin Bolton pushed me."
+
+"Ay, and I wot Robin Bolton shall have a clout on his head when he comes
+within my reach.  But there, thou wilt soon be well again.  Thank thee
+for thy help," he added, more roughly, to Hugh.
+
+"If you stand in need of a witness," began Matthew, but the sailor
+interrupted him--
+
+"Witnesses?  No!  What she stood in need of was water, which thy boy
+fetched.  He is quick enough to be a sailor," he added, with a laugh.
+
+"Wilt thou come on a voyage to Dartmouth?"
+
+"I should be frighted on the sea," said Hugh sturdily.
+
+"Nay, it's not so bad, so you fall not in with pirates, which are the
+pest of our coasts.  I've been lucky enough to escape them so far.  But
+then," he added with a wink, "they know me at Dartmouth, and folk
+sometimes tell evil tales of Dartmouth."
+
+He was of a talkative nature, or perhaps thought it well to keep his
+Moll quiet on his knee, for he went on to tell them that his wife and
+child lived near the spot where they were, while he went on trading
+voyages, bringing up Cornish ore from Dartmouth and carrying back other
+ladings.  He was very proud of his vessel, and yet prouder of his little
+maid, whom it was plain he did his best to spoil; and when he saw that
+she had taken a fancy to Hugh, he told him he might come on board his
+vessel one day before he sailed.
+
+"Which will be in a week," he said, confidently.  "The storms will be
+over by then."
+
+Hugh was glad enough of the bidding, for Matthew, with his love for the
+law courts and for all that concerned the State, was but a dry companion
+to an eager boy.  He went back to the monastery in high glee, to tell
+his father all that he had heard.
+
+Friar Luke was with Stephen, having brought his patient a decoction of
+coltsfoot, and also a little bunch of flowers which he was examining
+with enthusiastic patience.
+
+"See here," he said, with a sigh, "though in good sooth one needs eyes
+of more than human power to examine so minute a structure.  There is a
+talk that one of our order, Friar Bacon, who died not many years ago,
+could by means of a strange instrument so enlarge distant objects as to
+bring them into the range of a man's vision.  I know not.  Many strange
+things are told of him, and many of our brethren believe that he had
+dealings with the black art.  It might be he was only in advance of us
+all.  But while he was about it I would he had taught us how to enlarge
+what is near.  And, indeed, there is talk of a magic beryl--"
+
+"Father, father!" cried Hugh, rushing in breathless; "we have been to
+the river, and there was a ship, and a little maiden called Moll, and
+the master has bid me on board the ship before he sails for Dartmouth."
+
+He poured out the history of the day, standing by his father's knee,
+with Agrippa nestling in his arms.  Bassett heard him so thoughtfully
+that Hugh began to think he was displeased.
+
+"Mayn't I go?" he asked, tremulously.
+
+"Ay, ay," said his father, absently.  "Friar Luke, tell me truly, do you
+still dread for me this journey to Exeter?"
+
+"Rather more than less," answered the friar.
+
+"The fatigue?"
+
+"Ay, fatigue and exposure, but chiefly the fatigue."
+
+"Yet I must go."
+
+"Ay, ay, there is ever a must in the mouth of a wilful man," said the
+friar, testily.  "And then you fall sick, and it is the fault of the
+leech."
+
+"That it can never be in my case," said the carver, gratefully, "for
+never had man a kinder or more skilful.  But I will tell you why I ask.
+Hugh's encounter has put into my mind the thought that we might go to
+Dartmouth by ship."
+
+"The saints forbid!" said the friar, rapidly crossing himself.  "You
+must be mad to think of it, Master Bassett."
+
+"Nay, but why?"
+
+"The dangers, the discomforts!--shoals, rocks, pirates!"
+
+"Dangers there are in all journeys.  The discomforts will no doubt be
+great, but put on the other side the fatigue you warn me against."
+
+"You should not go at all," said Friar Luke.  "Remain here where you can
+be cared for.  Hugh shall be a serving-boy, and take the habit when he
+is old enough."
+
+"Wilt thou, Hugh?" demanded his father.
+
+A vehement shake of the head was his answer.
+
+"Nay, holy friar," said Bassett, with a smile; "I am bending the twig so
+far that the strain is great, but your proposal, I fear, would snap it
+altogether.  But about our voyage.  I am greatly inclined to Hugh's new
+friend.  When does he sail?"
+
+"In a week," said the boy, with some reluctance.  He had not liked the
+voyage from Flanders, and this promised to be worse.  Still he felt it
+incumbent upon him to show no fear.
+
+"That would do well.  I tell thee what, Hugh, thou shalt ask the master
+to come and see me here if he has a mind for another kind of cargo."
+
+With his usual hopefulness, the idea had taken hold of the wood-carver
+so strongly that he turned aside all remonstrances, though the prior
+himself came up to beg him not to be so foolhardy.  But it was true, as
+Bassett maintained, that each kind of travelling had its dangers, and,
+if the sea offered the most, he felt a sick man's longing to be spared
+trouble, and a feverish desire for the salt breezes.  Matthew, too,
+thought it philosophical to be above listening to the tales of
+sea-perils which the brethren related, it need hardly be said, at
+second-hand; but it must be owned that he showed no desire to extend his
+own travels so far as Exeter.  Hugh went down the next day and talked to
+the master, who at first shook his head.
+
+"Two landsmen on board?  Where could we stow ye?  And if we met with
+rough weather we should have you crying upon all the saints in the
+calendar.  A sick man, too!  How could he put up with our rough fare?"
+
+"My father does not get frighted," said Hugh, indignantly, though
+pleased to be counted a landsman.
+
+"Thou art a sturdy little varlet," said the master, looking at him
+approvingly.  "If my Moll had been a boy, I should have been content had
+he likened thee.  But I would not have her other than she is, and thou
+wast good to her the other day.  I'll come and see thy father, and if he
+is a good, honest man, and none of your dandy long-toed fops, he and
+thou shalt have a passage to Dartmouth."
+
+The next day was Sunday, and, to the scandal of the grey friars, Matthew
+insisted upon taking Hugh to St Bartholomew in Smithfield, the noble
+Norman church of the Augustinian friars.  There was a good deal of
+jealousy between the orders, and each was ready enough to listen to or
+to repeat tales which told to the discredit of the others; so that, as
+Matthew said, black, white, and grey, each held their colour to be the
+only one in which a friar might travel to heaven.  Mass being over at
+St Bartholomew's they went to great St Paul's.
+
+This was in that day a splendid Gothic church, twice as big as the
+present building, and with a dazzling high altar.  But, in spite of its
+magnificence, and perhaps partly on account of its size, it was a
+notorious haunt of cut-purses and brawlers, and all manner of crimes
+were committed in the church; so that a few years before the king had
+given the Chapter leave to surround it with walls and gates, treating it
+indeed as a town, and keeping out suspicious characters.
+
+By this means matters had mended a little, but there was still a great
+deal of unseemly conduct which caused scandal to the more devout.  Hugh
+came back to the monastery bursting with all he had to tell, and he was
+beyond measure delighted when his father said he would himself go out
+the next day.
+
+Before the sun had mounted high enough for Friar Luke to allow this the
+master of the _Queen Maud_ arrived, and Stephen saw a sturdy, sunburnt
+man, with an open countenance, blue-eyed, light-haired, wearing a
+garment of coarse cloth which reached to his knees, who looked as uneasy
+at finding himself in a monastery as a freshly-trapped pony from his own
+wilds of Dartmoor might have looked in a walled town.  His discomfort
+made him surly, so that he gave the carver no encouragement for the
+voyage.
+
+"Hard living and a perilous life, my master."
+
+"That does not affright me."
+
+"Because you know it not," said the other, impatiently.  "Here you sit
+in a drone's hive and hear the winds blow outside, and have no fear.
+With a plank for your wall you would tell a different tale."
+
+"I have tried the plank," said Bassett, with a smile.  "Though, as you
+say, Master Shipman, we know not other's lives till we try them, and
+maybe you, if you lived here, would think more kindly of what you call a
+drone's hive."
+
+"The Church and the Pope swallow up all a poor man's savings," said the
+sailor, less gruffly.  "'Tis nothing but fresh taxes, and these Lombard
+usurers are every whit as bad as the Jews.  I would the king could make
+as clean a sweep of them.  To make money without working for it is a sin
+and a shame."
+
+"The king does what he can."
+
+"Ay, does he," said the other, heartily.  "He is the poor man's friend."
+
+"Truly."
+
+The sailor looked at him.  "Why, then," he said, "if thou lovest King
+Edward--"
+
+"No question of that."
+
+"E'en come along with us.  I am but taking down some bales of cloth and
+of silk, and as thou mindest not a rough life, and I have a fancy for
+thy boy, we may perchance rub along together."
+
+So it was settled, and, in spite of the friar's forebodings, Stephen
+Bassett thought of his venture with an excellent heart.  Hugh was
+naturally fearless, and, though the sea was a great object of dread in
+those times, he believed his father knew best, and began to look forward
+also.  But first he would have Bassett come forth for his promised walk,
+and without Matthew.
+
+"He has been very good to thee," said the carver reproachfully.
+
+"Ay, but he has always something to say against everything.  This might
+be better, or that couldn't be worse.  I believe he would find fault
+with King Edward himself."
+
+"Poor Matthew!  He has the critical spirit," said Stephen, smiling.
+
+"Is that what makes him so thin?" demanded Hugh, innocently.
+
+"Ay.  It often works that way, and is bad for the owner.  Nevertheless,
+it has its advantages.  Look at that bowl.  If I listened to the good
+brothers I should deem it perfect; but when Matthew says, `Hum--I know
+not--is there not something lacking?'  I begin to search for a way of
+bettering it, and presently find that he was right.  So his
+fault-finding does me a better service than all their praise.  Keep that
+in mind, Hugh.  Now we will forth.  I will buy some cloth and take it to
+one of the tailors' guild, that you may have a cloak for rough weather
+like mine."
+
+This was a delightful errand, and when it was ended Stephen had not the
+heart to refuse Hugh when he begged that he would try to go towards St
+Paul's and see the noble church.  The boy was very happy in acting as
+showman, pointing out the beautiful spire while they were yet at some
+distance.  He had begged to bring Agrippa, promising to keep him covered
+by a piece of cloth, and the monkey was sufficiently alarmed by the
+strange noises and cries in the street to keep quiet.  Hugh found it a
+rare opportunity to ask questions which Matthew had been either unable
+or unwilling to answer.
+
+"Look, father, look quickly!  There is a woman with bread in her
+panniers!  What is she doing?"
+
+"I have heard of her," said Stephen, stopping.  "Friar Luke told me
+that, instead of folk being forced to fetch the daily bread from the
+bakers, there was now a woman who had got leave to take it round from
+house to house.  She has the thirteenth loaf for her pains.  Truly
+there's no knowing to what a pitch of luxury we may come!  Are we nearly
+at our journey's end, Hugh?  My legs have fallen out of the way of
+walking, and are true sluggards."
+
+He was in truth standing somewhat exhausted in the road under one of the
+black-timbered houses in Ludgate Hill, when a small cavalcade of knights
+and squires, some in armour, some in the scarlet cloaks of the
+Hospitallers, came sharply round the corner, so sharply, indeed, that in
+the narrow road one of the squires' horses struck Stephen and sent him
+staggering against the wall.
+
+The party reined up at once.  Hugh had uttered a cry and sprung to his
+father's side, dropping the monkey as he stretched out his arms.  Half a
+dozen men-at-arms crowded round; one of the red-cloaked knights leaped
+from his horse, but they all drew back before one who seemed the
+principal knight, a man of great stature, with brown hair and thick
+beard, and gravely searching blue eyes.
+
+"Is he hurt?" he demanded.  "That is your squire's rough riding, Sir
+John de Lacy."
+
+"My liege, 'twas but a touch," urged an older knight.  "I saw it all.
+He can scarce be hurt."  Stephen, indeed, had well-nigh recovered
+himself, though dizzy with the shock, and scarcely knowing what had
+happened or why he was surrounded by horsemen.  Hugh, seeing him
+revived, stared at the group with all his might, while the monkey,
+frightened to death at the horses, had run up a projection of the house
+and perched himself upon a carved wooden balcony, from which he scolded
+and chattered.
+
+"It is nothing, I am not hurt," faltered Stephen; and then the colour
+rushed back to his white face, and he bent his knee hastily.  "My Lord
+the King," he stammered, "is it not?"
+
+"Ay," said Edward, with one of his rare kindly smiles; "but it was not I
+who rode over thee.  Art thou not hurt?"
+
+"Nay, my liege, it is but that I have been ill.  It was no more than a
+touch."
+
+It had all passed quickly, but a knot of bystanders had by this time
+collected, kept off by the men-at-arms.
+
+"He speaks truly, my lord," said one of the Hospitallers who had
+dismounted.  "He has not been hurt by the horse, but--"
+
+He paused significantly, and Edward glanced at Hugh.  "Come hither,
+boy."
+
+So Hugh, crimson with wonder and delight, stood by the king's horse, and
+answered his questions as firmly as he could.  His father was a
+wood-carver.  They were going to Exeter to seek work--by ship, as he
+took care to state; and meanwhile, because father had been so ill, they
+were lodging at the Franciscan monastery in Newgate Street.
+
+"And is that thy beast?" asked the king, whose quick eye had caught
+sight of the monkey between the carved work of the balcony.  "How wilt
+thou catch him?  Let us see."
+
+Hugh promptly stood under the balcony, opened his arms, and uttered a
+call, to which Agrippa responded, though fearfully, by swinging down by
+tail and hands and dropping into his master's arms.
+
+"Well climbed indeed," said Edward; and seeing that Stephen was in some
+degree recovered, he bade one of the men-at-arms lend him his horse and
+go with him to the convent.  "And here is a gold piece for thee, boy--
+for remembrance," he added, tossing him the coin as he moved off.
+
+"And a silver one for the monkey," said a young knight, with a merry
+laugh, stooping to offer the mark to Agrippa, who cleverly clutched it,
+and then trotting after the king.
+
+All had passed so quickly that Hugh scarcely knew where he was or what
+had happened.  He stood staring at the gold noble in his hand, while the
+bystanders closed up curiously, and one rough fellow, who looked as if
+he had been drinking, made as though he would have snatched it from his
+hand.  A fat monk, with a red good-natured face, hit the fellow a sound
+buffet; the crowd laughed, and the man-at-arms made haste to get Bassett
+on his horse, and to hurry his charges away, the king being always
+roused to anger by any brawling in the streets.
+
+"Keep close to me," he said to Hugh; "and give thy money to thy father.
+Now, where are we bound?  The Grey Friars?  I warrant me they brew good
+ale there, and supper-time is nigh enough to make a tankard right
+welcome."
+
+"And that was the king," said Hugh, drawing a deep breath.
+
+"Ay, the king.  What thinkest thou of him?"
+
+"I would I could fight for him," burst out the boy.
+
+"Why, so thou shalt!" said Hob Trueman, with a laugh.  "Eat good beef,
+and drink good ale, and grow up a lusty yeoman.  The king's a good
+master, I have nought to say against him--saving that he is somewhat
+over strict," he added, with qualifying remembrance.  "We should be near
+by this time--"
+
+That night, before lying down in the wooden crib which served for bed,
+Stephen Bassett called his boy.
+
+"Hugh, thou hast not forgotten thy promise," he said anxiously.
+
+"No, father;" in a low voice.
+
+"Fight for the king thou must, or be ready to fight.  That is the law
+for all Englishmen.  Does not that content thee?"
+
+Silence.  Then--"I should like to be near him, to be one of the
+men-at-arms."
+
+Bassett sighed.
+
+"I cannot yield to thee, Hugh."
+
+"No, father."
+
+"And I have no breath for talking to-night.  We will speak of it again."
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+THE VOYAGE, AND WHAT CAME OF IT.
+
+Stephen Bassett was not the better for that day's work, though the
+accident was too slight to have harmed a man in fair health, and it made
+a sound reason for Friar Luke to urge upon him that he should give up
+his wild project of going west in the _Queen Maud_.  But the carver was,
+if possible, only the more bent upon the scheme.  He wanted to get Hugh
+out of London, where was more stir of arms and rumour of wars than in
+the shires, and have him safely bound apprentice where there should be
+no withdrawing.
+
+"He will not fail me, poor little lad," he said; "but were I to be taken
+from him here his task would be ten times harder.  Besides, I see no
+opening for him except what the good brothers offer, which he would hate
+worst of all."
+
+So he kept the tales of his aches and weakness to himself as much as he
+could, though it cost him not a little to avoid Friar Luke's reproachful
+eye when he came in from the garden with his herbs; and, armed with a
+letter from the prior--written in Latin on a strip of vellum--to the
+head of the Franciscans in Exeter, and accompanied to the water's edge
+by several of the brethren, and a hospitable store of provisions with
+which they insisted on supplying them, the little party and their gear
+got safely on board the vessel, and would go down the river by the next
+tide.  Little Moll and her mother were there, which made it seem more
+friendly to poor Hugh, who looked about him with dismay, and had had all
+possible mischances put before him by the friars, who thought Bassett's
+action nothing less than flying in the face of Providence.
+
+Still, when the farewells had all been spoken, the cumbersome anchor
+dragged out of the mud, and the great square sail with its sprawling
+centre device rigged up, they went merrily down the river.  It was
+getting towards the middle of October, and the great buildings of
+London, the Abbey of Westminster, the Church of the Templars, the Gothic
+spire of St Paul's, the Tower, and various beautiful conventual
+buildings, stood, mostly surrounded by fine trees, in all the glory of
+autumnal gold and red.  The lesser buildings--the very hovels--were
+picturesque, the river ran clear and strong, the vessels flaunted bright
+sails, colour was everywhere, and the soft blue mists but made a fair
+background for the scene.
+
+Stephen Bassett stood watching, with a feeling that it was for the last
+time, when Andrew the ship-master joined him.
+
+"A fair prospect," said the carver.
+
+"Ay, though I love my red Devon hills better.  But, tell me, master, is
+it true, as thy boy relates, that you met King Edward yesterday and
+spoke with him?"
+
+"I said not much, I had no breath left in my body," said Stephen,
+smiling; "but it is true that the king spoke to us, chiefly to Hugh, and
+was very gracious."
+
+"To think of that!" said the sailor, staring.  He walked away, but after
+this it was evident that his respect for his passengers was mightily
+increased, and he seldom came near Stephen without putting some question
+as to how the king looked and spoke, while Hugh had the same to answer
+from them all--more, indeed, since he never tired of the subject, and
+his pride in it was immense.  His father had sewn his gold piece into
+the lining of his vest; Hugh never intended to spend it, it was for
+"remembrance," as he was never tired of telling his father; and Stephen
+used laughingly to inquire whether Hugh had begun to persuade himself
+that he had been the hero of some courageous adventure, for reward of
+which the king had bestowed the token upon him?  The boy used to redden
+at this, for there was a certain truth in the jest, and finding himself
+listened to with such interest by the sailors was like to turn his head.
+
+Fortunately, as usual, there was a depreciating element.  The youngest
+on board was a round-shouldered somewhat misshapen lad of seventeen,
+ill-favoured in temper as well as face, unpopular among his mates,
+except for one gift, that of storytelling.  He could relate or invent
+tales with amazing ease, and on days when there was an idle calm the
+men, who at other times knocked him about roughly, would listen
+spell-bound for hours.  This was his moment of glory.
+
+But on this voyage his power seemed gone.  The real explanation was very
+simple: the wind had shifted so as to follow them favourably, they had
+got safely round the dangerous Goodwins, and swept down the Channel past
+Dover, its castle and old British church standing out sharply above the
+white cliffs, while the setting sun shone like fire on the great sail of
+the vessel.  They cast anchor in the first convenient creek; this
+required care and labour with the oars to avoid shoals, and the men were
+too sleepy afterwards to listen to stories.  So it went on; the breeze
+blew freshly from the east, Stephen, crouched under what shelter the
+stern could afford, shivered, but Andrew the master rubbed his hands,
+and there was no slackening sail or delay.
+
+This was really the reason why the sailors would not listen to the boy
+Jakes, but he chose to lay it to Hugh's charge.
+
+"Young fool," he muttered, "always boasting, and telling about the king,
+I wonder they hearken!"
+
+Such spite as he could work he was not slow to show.  Many rough
+practical jokes he played, which Stephen counselled his boy to receive
+good-humouredly.  But Hugh was set up with his Ludgate Hill adventure
+and the notice it had brought him, so that it made him mad to be jeered
+at for feeling sea-sick, or tripped up over ropes, or brought to the
+ground when he imagined himself to be sitting on something solid.  Jakes
+was afraid of Agrippa, never having seen a monkey before, and fully
+sharing the idea that here was something uncanny, which was quite able
+to revenge itself if any harm was attempted.  Jakes, therefore, let him
+alone, and even preferred to play his malicious jokes upon Hugh when the
+monkey had climbed the ropes and was out of reach and sight.
+
+The voyage had on the whole been a success, and the _Queen Maud_ was at
+length coasting along under the white cliffs of Dorsetshire, with the
+red ones of Devon lying rich and soft against a blue grey sky before
+them, and the sea leaping and whitening under the easterly wind.
+
+"Strange that it should blow so long at this season," said the master,
+standing by Bassett and looking forwards.
+
+"If it goes on, we may get in to-morrow night?"
+
+"Ay, if it doesn't freshen into a gale, which the saints forbid!  I mind
+not a gale in my teeth, but rocks before and the wind driving behind is
+what I mislike.  Methinks, master," he added, abruptly, "it will be well
+for you to get to your journey's end."
+
+"I have a longer before me," said Stephen, with a smile.
+
+"Ay, to Exeter," answered Andrew, misunderstanding, "and I have been
+thinking I would put you ashore at Teignmouth, and save you a piece of
+your journey.  I might try Exmouth, but--there are ill tales of Exmouth,
+as I told you there were of Dartmouth," he added, with a laugh; "at
+Dartmouth they know me, but at Exmouth--there might by chance be a
+mistake."
+
+Stephen thanked him heartily, saying, and truly, that the shortening of
+the road would be a great gain.  They put in that night at a small
+harbour formed for the convenience of coasting vessels, but though their
+start was made with the first glimmer of dawn, Jakes, who generally had
+to be aroused by a rope's end or a kick, had been on shore, and came
+back carrying a bag and grinning from ear to ear, so that Hugh was
+forced to ask him what he had got.
+
+"Apples," he said, still grinning; "rare fine apples.  Bide a bit, and
+shalt have one."
+
+Hugh, who loved apples as well as any boy with a wholesome appetite
+should do, kept an eye on Jakes and his promise without suspecting that
+there might be anything unfriendly in this sudden change of disposition.
+The wind had freshened, of that there could be no doubt, and the
+sailors were busy with the lumbering sail, when Jakes beckoned Hugh
+forward to the bow, where was the bag.
+
+"Put in thy hand and pull'm out, quick!" he said, running back to his
+work; and, thinking no harm, Hugh thrust in boldly, to have his fingers
+instantly seized in a nip which made him feel as if by the next moment
+they would be all left behind in the bag.
+
+He cried out lustily, and dragged out his hand, to which a fine
+blue-black lobster was hanging, a creature at least as strange to Hugh
+as the monkey was to Jakes.  The more he shook the tighter the lobster
+pinched, and when one of the sailors looked round the sail he could do
+nothing but split his sides with laughing.  Hugh, crimson with pain and
+fright, was dancing about, vainly trying to disengage his hand.  Jakes,
+the next to appear, broke into uproarious merriment.
+
+"Ha, ha, ha!" he yelled, "told him there were apples in the bag, and he
+went for to steal 'em!  Serve him right, serve him right!  How like you
+your apples, my master?"
+
+The buffeting of the wind in the sail and the rising noise of the sea
+had kept much of this from Stephen, but he at last became conscious that
+something unusual was going on, and made his way to the bows.
+
+"Father!" cried poor Hugh, flying to him.
+
+"Why, my little lad!" said Bassett, unable himself to avoid a smile,
+"what coil have you got into?"
+
+"What is it?" demanded the boy, in a shamefaced whisper, as his father
+proceeded quietly to loosen the great claws.
+
+"A lobster.  Didst never see his like?  He will be a dainty morsel for
+supper, and will change his blue coat for a scarlet.  There," he added,
+as he finished his task, "I counsel Agrippa not to let his curiosity
+jeopardise his tail.  But how did he fasten on you?"
+
+"It was that wicked Jakes!" cried Hugh, with flashing eyes.
+
+"Were a stealing my apples," Jakes retorted, defiantly.  "Told him there
+was apples in the bag, and he put in his hand and the lobster caught
+un."  And clapping his unshapely hands on his knees, he roared with
+laughter once more, until he bent himself double.  Hugh flew at him like
+a tiger, but the other sailor pulled him off.
+
+"Never heed the great lozel," he said.  "It was but an apple."
+
+"He told me--he told me to put in my hand and take one out," panted
+Hugh, struggling with his captor.  "He's a false liar!"
+
+"Softly, Hugh, softly," said his father gravely.
+
+Jakes was for telling his story again with fresh detail, when the
+master's voice was heard calling angrily.  Stephen got Hugh back into
+shelter, and Agrippa, frightened by the creaking of the mast and the
+straining of ropes, clambered down to take refuge in his master's arms.
+Hugh's face was like a thunder-cloud.  He burst out presently--
+
+"To call me a thief!"
+
+Stephen was silent.
+
+"If Dickon had left me alone, I would have made him own it was a false
+lie.  I would I were a man!"
+
+"Why?"
+
+"I should be strong and could fight," the boy said, surprised at the
+question.
+
+"I often think of that time," returned Bassett thoughtfully.  "I may not
+be here to see it, and I would fain know--" He paused.
+
+"What?" asked Hugh.
+
+"Who thou wilt fight?"
+
+"Who?  Mine enemies," said Hugh, lifting his head.
+
+"If you know them."
+
+"I shall know them, because they will try to do me a mischief.  Jakes--
+he is an enemy," fiercely.
+
+"Thou hast worse than Jakes, my poor little lad," Stephen said,
+tenderly, "and nearer at hand.  Thine own passions will truly do thee a
+mischief, except thou keep them under.  There's fighting ground for
+thee.  And, see here, I have long meant to say something to thee about
+King Edward, only I have an ill-trick of putting off.  Thou thinkest the
+only way of serving him is by hard blows.  He himself would tell thee
+that there be better ways.  Serve the State faithfully as a peaceful
+citizen, keep the laws, and work for the glory of God and the honour of
+England.  He would tell thee more.  That his hardest work of government
+has been the task of governing himself.  That is what has made him a
+great king.  It seems small to thee just now, but one day, my Hugh, my
+words may come back."
+
+A fit of coughing stopped him.  Hugh's ill-temper had had a little
+cooling time, but it had not by any means left him.  It was not the
+pain, perhaps it was not even so much the being called a thief, for no
+one on board was like to listen much to Jakes, and as for his father he
+had not even cared to allude to the absurd accusation.  What Hugh really
+so much hated was the being laughed at.  He had heard the men roaring
+with merriment after Dickon joined them, even his father had laughed; it
+would be for ever a sort of standing joke.  What turned his thoughts
+more than anything was the weather.  Anyone could see how much the wind
+had strengthened since they put out to sea.  The colours, which had been
+clear and distinct, now had become blurred; a wet mist, not yet rain,
+but near it, was driving up from the southeast; the waves had grown
+larger and rushed past them in wild hurly-burly; the air was full of
+noisy tumult; the clumsy vessel groaned and laboured on her way, and
+Stephen and Hugh could not find shelter enough to protect them from the
+clouds of spray which swept across the vessel.
+
+Andrew, the master, was too closely occupied with his work to come near
+them; he shouted directions to the man who was steering, but kept by the
+sail, and Bassett knew enough of the sea to suspect that they were in a
+position of some peril.  For himself he thought it mattered little.  He
+knew that he was even more ill than he outwardly appeared, and the
+wetting under which he was shivering was likely to quicken matters.  But
+for Hugh?  He could resign himself, it was a far harder matter to resign
+this young life, so full of vigorous promise--to give up with him all
+the hopes in which he had indulged of fame to come to his name, though
+not in his life.  He had dreamt of late much of this; had pictured Hugh
+leaping to eminence, leaving his mark as a stone-carver in some
+beautiful cathedral, where age after age his work should stand, and when
+men asked who had done this great thing, the answer would be--Hugh
+Bassett.  Was it all to end in an unknown grave under the grey waters
+which leaped so wildly round their prey?
+
+Every half-hour the storm seemed to increase in fury.  The shores on
+either side were now blotted out, and the steering was a matter of great
+difficulty.  Andrew took it himself for a time, but his quick eye and
+steady courage were needed for the look-out, and he went forward again
+until he gave orders to strike sail.  Then he once more came back and
+stood near Bassett and Hugh, looking as undaunted as ever.  But when he
+spoke they could scarce hear his voice for the turmoil of the sea.
+
+"Rough weather, goodman!"
+
+"Ay!  Will the boat hold?"
+
+Andrew, who had stooped down to catch the carver's words, straightened
+himself with a laugh.
+
+"Ay, ay, the boat will hold.  No fear of her failing.  But where she
+will carry us I would I could say so certainly.  Thou wouldst fain be
+back in the drones' hive hearkening to book and bell, eh?"
+
+"I am right glad to be remembered in the good brothers' prayers," said
+Stephen, quietly.
+
+"Well, it may be as you say.  Those I have known--I would not have given
+a base pollard for the pardon-mongers' prayers; but there are false
+loons in every craft."
+
+They were silent again, for their voices were pretty well stormed down,
+and the sea broke so fiercely over the vessel that two or three of the
+men had to be constantly baling it out.  Still she held her way
+gallantly.  The shipmen of that day were not without an imperfect form
+of compass, in which the needle was laid upon a couple of straws in a
+vessel of water, but these contrivances were apt to get out of gear at
+the very time when they were most needed, such as a storm like that now
+raging round the _Queen Maud_, and hardy sailors trusted rather to their
+own skill and courage or their knowledge of the coast.  Nothing was,
+therefore, so dangerous as fog or mist.
+
+To Hugh, however, what seemed most terrible was the wild driving storm
+and the rush of the waves against the boat, which shivered under each
+stroke as if she had received a mortal blow.  Agrippa, wet and
+miserable, cowered in his master's arms, and turned up a piteous little
+wrinkled face full of inquiry.  Hugh crept closer to his father, and at
+last put his question--
+
+"Shall we be drowned?"
+
+Stephen turned and caught his hands in his.
+
+"Nay, my little lad, I know not, I know not!  I should not have brought
+thee!"
+
+The boy looked in his face gallantly.
+
+"I am not frightened," he said, "only I wish poor Agrippa were safe."
+
+They were silent again after this.  Andrew was evidently uneasy; he
+shouted orders to the sailors, and strained his eyes through the
+baffling mist as if he feared what might be in advance of him.  His
+hope, and it was a feeble one, consisted in the chance that he might
+strike the estuary of the Teign, avoiding the bar, and, as the tide
+would be full, getting into the shelter of the river.  He was one of the
+most skilful of the sailors of the west, knowing all the currents and
+dangers thoroughly; but navigation was then in its infancy, and vessels
+were clumsy, lumbering things, suited but to calm weather, when they
+would coast along from creek to creek.  The bolder craft chiefly
+belonged to pirates.  Still, England was beginning to awake to her sea
+powers, and Henry the Third had taken the title of Ruler of the Seas in
+honour of a victory gained over the Spaniards.  Andrew himself had been
+down as far as Spain, and was held to be over-daring; moreover, he
+wanted to hasten his voyage and get back to his wife and to Moll,
+otherwise he would hardly have put out that morning in the teeth of a
+possible gale.
+
+And now, although nothing was to be seen except perhaps what seemed like
+a thickening of the mist, Stephen knew from the master's face that the
+danger was worse.  He was so numb and cold himself as to feel
+indifferent to his own fate--besides, as he reflected, at the most it
+was but shortening his life by a month or two--but his love for Hugh
+went up in a yearning cry that he might be saved.  He touched him, and
+made the boy put his ear close to his mouth.
+
+"See here, Hugh," he said, with labouring breath, "if you are spared out
+of this coil thou must make thy way to Exeter.  The Franciscans will
+take thee in at first, but thou must seek out James Alwyn.  I mind me
+that was the name of thy mother's cousin.  Get him to apprentice thee
+where thou canst learn thy trade.  Thou hast it in thee--do not forget."
+
+"No, father," said poor little Hugh, glancing fearfully round.
+
+It was but a minute after that, or so it seemed, that they heard a cry
+from one of the sailors.  The wall of mist had suddenly become solid; it
+loomed before them in unmistakable cliffs, so near that the man who was
+steering dropped the rudder and fell upon his knees.  With a cry of rage
+Andrew leaped back from the bows, seized the rudder, and using all his
+strength forced her head somewhat round.  It was a strange sight, this
+struggle of the man with the elements.  The man standing undaunted in
+the midst of a hurly-burly which threatened quick death, facing his
+danger without flinching, resolute, bent upon snatching every advantage
+which skill could give him.  That the vessel was drifting against the
+wall of red rock before them was plain; Stephen, clutching Hugh in his
+arms, wondered that the master should hope to avert it.  Suddenly he saw
+Andrew's face change.  He set his teeth, and slackening the rudder drove
+straight for the cliffs.
+
+There was a breathless pause; the next minute the vessel struck a small
+sandy beach, driven up it and wedged there by the uplifting force of the
+waves.  The master's keen eye had noted the one comparative chance of
+safety, and had tried for it.  Almost as the ship touched the sailors
+sprang forward and leaped into the sea.  Only Andrew, Bassett, Hugh and
+Agrippa remained on board.
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+A WEARY JOURNEY.
+
+The first sensation had been one of deliverance.  The second was more
+like despair.
+
+The waves breaking against rocks and shore looked more terrible than out
+in the open sea, and this sudden rush for safety on the part of the men
+had something about it so cowardly that it produced in Stephen a
+wretched sense of desolation.  He supposed that in another moment Andrew
+would have followed his fellow sailors, and they would be left alone.
+Andrew had in fact rushed to the bows as the men leaped over, and
+Stephen, bitter in spirit at such a cruel desertion, strained his boy in
+his arms so that, if he could do no more, he might at least hide death
+from him.
+
+He almost started when he heard a voice.  The master was standing over
+him with a face full of rage.
+
+"The cowardly loons!" he cried; "I would the waves had choked them!  No
+Devon man would have played such a trick.  I knew they were helpless
+oafs, but to save their skins like that!  If they had stopped it would
+have been easy enough, but now we must think how to get thee on shore."
+Stephen sprang up.
+
+"Think not on me.  My life is nothing.  Save Hugh, and I ask no more."
+
+Andrew stared at him and began to laugh.
+
+"Prithee, dost thou suppose I should leave thee here to drown?  Why one
+of thy precious drones' hive would scarce be so unmanly, though, in
+truth, I can say nought against them after those base knaves of mine.
+But now, see here, if I fasten a rope round the mast--which will hold
+yet awhile--and go ashore with the other end, canst thou find thy way?"
+
+"The boy first."
+
+"Ay, the boy first, and the monkey with him, if the beast has the sense
+to hold on.  Thou wilt want both hands for thyself, Hugh."
+
+"I will tie him to me," cried the boy, hopefully.  His hopes had risen
+with Andrew's cheerfulness, and as for Bassett, with the revulsion of
+feeling, a new and extraordinary strength seemed to have come to him; he
+helped the master to fasten the rope securely, and stood, unheeding the
+buffet of wind and waves, watching the sailor when he had cast himself
+into the sea, and was fighting his way towards the shore.  Once or twice
+he was sucked back by the retreating water and nigh overwhelmed, and the
+time seemed endless before they made out that he had gained a footing,
+and was with the other men on the beach.  His shout only faintly touched
+their ears.
+
+"Now, Hugh," said Bassett firmly.
+
+They had bound poor Agrippa as closely to him as they could, while round
+his own neck the carver had disposed a bag with money and such small
+specimens of his workmanship as were portable.  His tools he was
+reluctantly obliged to leave behind him; his breathing could bear no
+further weight.
+
+"Thou wilt be sorely scratched by Agrippa," he said.  He was so hopeful
+he could smile.  But the monkey was so cowed that he only clung closely,
+turning his head piteously from side to side, and realising that
+something terrible was about to happen.  Hugh bore himself manfully.
+
+One or two of the sailors who had escaped, finding themselves safe, were
+ready to help Andrew with the rope, and though the boy was half choked
+and sorely beaten by the waves, he held on, reaching the shore after a
+tremendous tussle, by the end of which he was so spent that he fancied
+he must drop, when he felt himself clutched by Andrew and drawn through
+the remaining waves.  He lay for a time exhausted on the beach; but life
+was young and strong in him, and he staggered to his feet, tried to
+comfort and warm the poor monkey, and to watch for his father's coming.
+
+Andrew had scarcely thought that Bassett would have the strength to bear
+the passage through the surf.  It relieved him greatly to find that the
+carver was slowly nearing the shore.  Now and then he disappeared under
+the crest of a great wave, but he always reappeared, holding on with a
+tenacity which was little less than miraculous.  Andrew, though even his
+strength was pretty well spent, again cast himself into the sea to help
+him in his last struggle, and the carver by his aid managed to reach the
+shore, but in so terrible a plight that Hugh cried out and flung himself
+by his side.
+
+And now a very dreadful thing happened, for, as Stephen lay there like a
+log and Hugh knelt calling on him to look up, the waves, which had but
+just had their prey snatched from them, as if they meant to show that in
+another case they had had their way, brought up something large and dark
+and motionless, and flung it at their very feet; and while Hugh,
+scarcely recognising what it was, yet shrank from it as from some
+fearful thing, two of the men ran hastily down and seized and dragged it
+beyond the water's reach.  Hugh caught the face then, and gave a cry of
+horror; it was the boy Jakes--dead.
+
+He must have swooned after this, for when he came to himself again he
+was lying higher up, at the mouth of a small natural cave formed in the
+sandstone rock.  His father sat by him, and in the cave a fire of
+brushwood had been lit, close to which crouched Agrippa, munching black
+rye bread soaked in sea water, and jabbering with satisfaction.
+
+"Father," said the boy, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, "are we safe?"
+
+"Saved by a miracle, my little lad."
+
+"But Jakes--his face--what was it!"
+
+"He was drowned," said Bassett, gravely; "he never got to land with the
+others.  Eat some of this bread; I had it in my pocket."
+
+"Is anyone else drowned?" asked Hugh, shuddering.
+
+"No, thank Heaven!  And the master has gone off to see if perchance
+there might be some hut or cottage near where we can get lodging for the
+night and means of reaching Exeter."
+
+"Father, you must be spent.  Think no more of me.  Sit by the fire, and
+take off your clothes to dry."
+
+Hugh was almost himself again, although evidently deeply shocked at the
+death of Jakes, and with the burden on him of remorse for unkind
+thoughts which is hard to bear.  But fire and food comforted them all in
+some measure, and Andrew came back before long to tell them that he had
+been lucky enough to reach a serf's hut not far away, where they could
+at least find shelter, with hope of a horse.
+
+"You have done everything for us, and have lost more than any," said
+Bassett, gratefully.
+
+"Nay, I know not what I have lost yet," returned the sailor.  "The bales
+of silk and woollen are spoiled; no hope for them.  But maybe, if the
+gale goes down, I may have my boat again.  I can put up with the rest."
+
+When they had rested awhile they made their way up through a sort of
+gully piercing the red cliffs.  This same redstone amazed Hugh, for the
+pools of rain were crimson to look at, and he had never seen anything
+like it before.  But glad enough he was to turn his back on the wild
+sea.
+
+"I hate it!  I would I might never see it again."
+
+"Thou wouldst be a poor crusader," panted Stephen, whose breath was
+sorely tried by the ascent.
+
+They stumbled on through tussocks of grass until they reached the top,
+where trees grew thickly, though somewhat one-sided and windblown with
+south-west gales.  Andrew was not with them, but he had directed them
+fully, and they soon came upon a rough hovel, built of a mixture of mud
+and straw called cob, and coarsely thatched.  A wild-looking herd and a
+wilder-looking woman stared at them from the doorway; but though uncouth
+they were not unkindly, and had got a fire of logs burning, together
+with bread and bacon and a large tankard of cider on the table.
+
+As usual, the monkey caused the greatest astonishment, and Hugh dared
+not loosen his hold of him because of a sheep-dog, who growled angrily
+at the strange party.  The other sailors were already there, eating and
+drinking and drying their clothes, and presently Andrew came in.  He was
+very short and surly with the men, though, as he told Stephen
+afterwards, unable to cast them off altogether, as he would willingly
+have done, because, if there were a chance of saving the boat, he would
+need their help in getting her off and in sailing her.  All depended
+upon the abatement of the gale.  If the wind went down with the tide
+there was a chance of floating her in calmer weather and of repairing
+damages.  She was strongly built, and, so far, showed no signs of
+breaking up.
+
+To Hugh's eyes his father seemed scarcely worse or more feeble than he
+had often been before.  He was very pale it is true, his breathing was
+laboured, and he had a short, sharp cough, which scarcely ceased; but he
+was keen to push on, and would not rest until he had urged the herd to
+go that evening to the sheep-farm where he worked, and where he thought
+a horse might be bought.  They were, as Stephen ascertained, not more
+than fifteen or sixteen miles from Exeter, the spot where they were
+wrecked being a little north of the mouth of the Teign; and this he was
+feverishly anxious to declare they could ride in a day.  A strong horse
+could easily carry two; it was madness for him to think of remaining
+where he was for rest, since if he became worse there was no means of
+procuring a leech.
+
+"E'en go thy way," said Andrew, half angrily, half sadly, for he had
+done enough for his passengers to feel a sincere liking for them.
+
+The hut, as usual, consisted of but one smoky room, in which they all
+bestowed themselves for the night.  Andrew saw that Stephen had the best
+of the miserable accommodation; but little rest came to him owing to the
+constant torment of his cough, and he was up as soon as the sailor and
+out in the air, though not strong enough to go down to the cove.  But
+what a change was there since the former night!  The wind had shifted to
+the south-west, and blew as softly as if it had never known violence.
+The sun, though not yet showing much face through misty grey clouds,
+filled the air with delightful promise.  All the land colouring was rich
+and varied, for the trees, though shaken by the past storm, were in
+their fullest and most gorgeous autumnal colouring, and the deep red of
+the soil, the vivid green of the grass, and the brown of the bracken
+made a splendid harmony of tint.
+
+The sailors followed the master to the cove; the herd went off to his
+work, promising that the horse should come when the morning was a little
+advanced, after the nine o'clock dinner; the wife made much of Hugh; and
+Stephen, looking and feeling wretchedly ill, tried to wear off his
+restlessness by wandering towards the edge of the cliff, but his
+strength giving out he was forced to crawl back and sit quiet.  The
+horse arrived, and proved a strong, serviceable beast.
+
+Stephen could scarce touch the coarse food, being too feverish.  Andrew
+came up quite hopeful, and laden with the carver's tools and other
+possessions, which, though somewhat marred by the salt water, he was
+thankful to see again.  The woman of the house dried the clothes; all
+the gear was securely strapped on the horse, and then came the
+farewells.  The master would not consent to receive a penny for the cost
+of the voyage.
+
+"Nay," he said, "we feasted on the grey brothers' good cheer, and, by my
+troth, I shall never have the heart to call it a drones' hive again.
+One of these days Moll and I will go and have speech with Friar Luke,
+and let him know what befell.  Nay, I tell you, I can be obstinate too,
+though with no hope of evening thy powers in that matter.  Wonderful it
+is that so little mischief has been done with all that turmoil; if the
+poor fool Jakes had but stayed on board he would have saved his skin."
+
+"Have a mass said for his soul," said Stephen, pressing a little money
+into his hand.  "Nay, thou must not refuse, it is conscience money."
+
+"Well, it shall go to the grey brothers," said Andrew, who seemed to
+limit his new-born tolerance to the one monastery.  "Hearken, Hugh, if
+thy father is spent, get him to stop for a night on the road.  Some day
+I shall come to see thee at Exeter."
+
+The kind-hearted sailor stood watching the pair when they had started,
+Stephen riding, Hugh stepping manfully through the bracken, and both
+turning back and waving their hands until they were lost in the thicket
+of underwood through which they had to pass before reaching the road.
+
+Road, indeed, it could scarce be called, for at this season the best
+were in some places nigh impassable, and Devonshire mud when it is left
+to follow its own will cannot easily be beaten.  In sortie parts the
+road was little more than a channel worn by constant running of water,
+and leaving banks on either side; and, owing to the rain of the day
+before, the water flowed down these banks in little runnels, and rushed
+cheerfully along the course at the foot.  Hugh, however, found it
+amusing enough to splash through these streams, or to leap from bank to
+bank, and clamber along through ivy and long grasses and briars and
+nut-bushes; such a thicket of greenery as he had never seen before.
+When he was tired he would scramble up behind his father, the stout grey
+making light of his double burden; and he was untroubled by Stephen's
+anxiety lest these narrow lanes should offer opportunity for thieves and
+outlaws.
+
+They met no such dangerous folk.  A ploughman passed and looked
+curiously at them, and a priest carrying a staff, and on his way to a
+sick parishioner, stopped and inquired whither they were bound.
+Bassett's evident illness made the good man uneasy, and he would have
+had him rest at his house until better able to go on; indeed, pressed it
+on him.  The carver shook his head.
+
+"I thank you heartily, sir priest, but I must push on, having, as you
+may judge, but little time before me.  If, of your courtesy, you will
+point out the shortest and safest road, you will be doing us a
+kindness."
+
+The old man, who had a very pleasant and earnest face, assured him that,
+so far as he could tell, the country for some miles round was tolerably
+free from rogues, though he could not answer for the neighbourhood of
+Exeter.  He himself went a little way with them, and directed them the
+shortest path along the rocks, where the sea stretched on one side,
+softly grey, and only a little stirred with remembrance of yesterday's
+gale, and pointed out Exmouth, which he said had an ill character for
+pirates, and then showed them the Exe stretching away, and told them how
+they should leave it on their right and take the inland road, and so
+left them with his blessing.
+
+It was all that Stephen could do to hide his increasing weakness from
+Hugh.  There were times when he felt that he must give it all up, drop
+from the horse, and let himself die by the road-side.  Only a will
+strong for his boy's sake could have given him strength to sit upright.
+When they paused at a little hostelry for some food he did not dare get
+off his horse, fearing that he might lack the resolution to mount again.
+His suffering became so acute that he could not hide it from Hugh, and
+though the boy dreaded nothing worse than one of those sharp fits of
+illness which his father had weathered before, he did his best to induce
+him to seek a night's lodging on the road.  But Stephen refused almost
+irritably.
+
+Nor could he bear to follow where Hugh's remorse would have led him--
+into talk of Jakes.  It seemed as if he would put aside all that was
+harsh and painful, and he was either silent or--as the boy afterwards
+remembered--let fall words which showed that his thoughts were with the
+wife he had lost, or dwelling upon some of the talks he had had with
+Friar Luke.  Once or twice Hugh was sorely perplexed by what he said,
+fancying that he could not have heard rightly; but Stephen seemed unable
+or unwilling to repeat the sentence, and murmured something else.  Once
+they fell in with a gay party going to a neighbouring castle; there was
+a minstrel, and two or three glee maidens were of the company.  When
+they overtook Stephen and Hugh they were making a great noise and
+merriment, and the boy wondered why, on seeing them, all their jests
+died away and they looked almost frightened.  They made haste, too, to
+part company, saying they had no time to spare; and Hugh saw them
+looking back and pointing as at some strange sight.
+
+He was beginning to be alarmed himself, though not knowing why, perhaps
+chiefly because his father seemed to heed him so little, no longer
+asking if he were not tired, or noticing Agrippa's merry pranks, but
+riding bent upon the horse's neck, and seeming only to keep his seat
+with difficulty.  Hugh called gladly to him when he saw before him a
+town which he guessed to be Exeter, lying on a hill above the river,
+with the fair cathedral standing in a very beautiful position about
+half-way up, and Stephen so far roused himself as to clasp his hands and
+to murmur, "God be thanked!" but with that fell back into silence.
+
+It was well that the road was plain enough to need no consultation; and
+poor little Hugh, wearied out, for he had ridden but little of late,
+thinking it oppressed his father, struggled manfully on, hoping to get
+in before sunset.  It was well, too, that the last mile or two was of a
+tolerable flatness, and the road wider and less heavy, though always
+bad; for Stephen grew more and more bowed, and Hugh became so fearful
+lest he should fall that he had to steady him as he walked by his side.
+
+Thankful he felt when he came upon a few scattered hovels while the sun
+was yet some quarter of an hour from setting, at which time the town
+gates would be shut, and presently he saw the river running swiftly,
+swelled by the autumn rains, and spanning it a brave new bridge of
+stone, with houses and a chapel upon it.
+
+"Father, father, here is Exeter!" cried Hugh, with anxious longing for
+some reassuring word.
+
+But he got no answer, and not daring to pause lest the gates might be
+shut, he joined the throng of citizens who were pressing in for the same
+good reason, and passed through the gate before setting himself to ask
+any questions.  The first person he addressed gave him a shove and told
+him to get out of his way; but the second, who by his dress and bearing
+might have been some kind of trader, stopped at once, and having
+satisfied his own curiosity as to who they were and where they came
+from, showed himself of a most friendly nature.
+
+"We are in the Western or High Street," he said; "we have come through
+the West Gate, and the Franciscans have their house between this and the
+North Gate.  But thou art a little varlet to have so much on thy hands,
+and thy father looks in a sore plight.  A monkey, too!  How far have you
+come?"
+
+"Some sixteen miles, noble sir."
+
+"Nay, I am no noble; only plain Elyas Gervase.  Sixteen miles, and a
+dy--a sick man who can scarce keep on his horse!  What doth he work at?"
+
+"He is a wood-carver, sir."
+
+"Why, that is somewhat my own craft, since I am a stone-cutter.  Have
+you friends in this fair town?"
+
+"Father has a letter to the prior, and I am to seek out a cousin of my
+mother's, Master James Alwyn," said poor Hugh wearily.
+
+"The child himself is almost spent," muttered the good citizen to
+himself.  "Prothasy would make them welcome, and we are surely bidden to
+entertain strangers.  Thou and thy father shall come home with me," he
+added aloud, laying his hand kindly on Hugh's shoulder.  "My house is
+nigher than the monastery, and I will speak to a learned leech as we
+pass.  Both of ye need a woman's care."
+
+If the boy was a little bewildered at this change of plan he could not
+oppose it, nor had he any desire to do so.  There was something in
+Master Gervase's honest face which instinctively inspired confidence.
+He was a man of about forty-five, somewhat light as to complexion and
+hair, his beard was forked, his eyebrows were straight, marking a kindly
+temper, and his eye was clear and open.  He wore an under tunic of blue
+cloth, with buttons closely set from the wrist to the elbow of the tight
+sleeve, tight pantaloons, and low boots with long pointed toes.  His
+hair hung a little below his ears, and was covered by a cap.  He walked
+up the steep Western Street by the side of the horse, passing his strong
+arm round poor Stephen's bowed form so as in some measure to support
+him, and he paused presently before a door, and sent in a boy to say
+that Master Gervase prayed Master Miles to come without delay.  A few
+minutes after this they stopped again before a timbered house projecting
+far into the narrow street.  Without a moment's delay Gervase had lifted
+Stephen from the horse, and rather carried than led him in.
+
+"Prothasy!" he called, the moment he was in the passage.
+
+"I am coming!" answered a voice, and, following the sound, a young woman
+ran in, small, dark, bright-eyed, and scarcely more than a girl in
+appearance.  "How late thou art, Elyas!  And whom have we here?"
+starting back.
+
+"A sick man for thee to nurse.  Nay, thou shalt hear more later, when we
+have got him to bed.  Wat!  Where's Wat?  Wat," as a lad hastily
+appeared, "go out to the door and take the horse, and see that he has
+good food and litter.  Send the boy that is there in here."
+
+It was evident that Prothasy Gervase was a capable woman.  She asked no
+questions, made no difficulties, but ran to see that all was right, and
+Stephen, too much exhausted to be aware of what was happening, was got
+into his crib-like bed in a little room overlooking the street, and
+Mistress Gervase had brought up some hot spiced wine and bidden Hugh
+take a drink of it before the doctor came.  Then Elyas took the boy down
+to the common room, and asked him a number of questions.  He was one of
+the burgesses who, by a recent law, was responsible for the good conduct
+of twelve--some say ten--citizens, and would have to furnish an account
+of the strangers, so that besides the call of natural curiosity, to
+which he was not insensible, it was necessary that he should know
+something of their history.  He listened attentively to the story of the
+shipwreck.
+
+"And what brought thy father here?" he asked at last.
+
+"He thought," faltered Hugh, for his spirits had sunk low, never having
+seen his father in such sore plight before, "that our cousin, Master
+Alwyn, might help him to get work in the great church of St Peter's."
+
+"James Alwyn is dead," said Gervase, gravely.  Hugh's face quivered.  He
+seemed more lonely than ever.
+
+"He died a year ago, come Martinmas.  What was thy mother's name?"
+
+"Alice Alwyn."
+
+"I mind me there was one of that name lived out by Clyst.  And--but I
+warrant me thou wilt say, ay--is thy father a good craftsman?"
+
+"There is no better work," said Hugh, proudly.  "He will show it you,
+gentle sir, and you will see."
+
+"Ay," said Gervase, hesitatingly, "and thou wilt follow his craft?"
+
+"I would carve in stone," muttered Hugh, turning away that his
+questioner might not see the tears which sprang into his eyes.  He was
+tired, and his heart seemed strangely heavy.
+
+"Sayest thou so!" eagerly.  "Thou art right, there is nought like it.
+We must see what can be done for thee, perchance--" he checked himself.
+
+"I must talk with Prothasy," he added, under his breath.
+
+He was very good to the boy, leaving him to make a good meal while he
+went out to meet the doctor, a gaunt, melancholy man, dressed in bluish
+grey lined with thin silk, who spoke with bent head and joined
+finger-tips.
+
+"By virtue of the drugs I administered," he began, "my patient hath
+revived a little, but Is in evil case."
+
+"How long will he live, sir leech?" demanded Elyas bluntly.
+
+"Scarce more than a few days.  I am going home to prepare a cordial, and
+I shall cast his horoscope to-night, when I doubt not to find evil
+influences in the ascendent."
+
+"You may take that for granted without seeking to find out whether it is
+so," said the other, with a short laugh.  "However, let him want no
+care.  Will you be back before curfew?"
+
+The doctor promised and kept his word.  By eight o'clock all lights were
+out; Hugh was stretched on a rough pallet in his father's room with
+Agrippa, at whom Mistress Prothasy looked askance, by his side, and all
+was silent, indoors and out, save for the quick laboured breathing of
+the sick man.
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+IN THE WARDEN'S HOUSEHOLD.
+
+It was doubtless a satisfaction to the leech's astrological mind to
+ascertain that, beyond a question, malignant conjunctions were
+threatening Stephen Bassett.  But without this profound knowledge it was
+evident to the watchers that Master Gervase had brought home a dying
+man, who would not long be spared.  He rallied a little, it is true, and
+though at times light-headed, and always taking young Mistress Prothasy
+to be his lost Alice, could understand and be grateful for the kindness
+shown him, and speak feebly to Hugh about his work.  The prior's letter
+had been taken to the Franciscan monastery, but no sign was given by
+that house of the kindly hospitality shown in London.
+
+"I knew it," said Elyas, with some triumph to his wife.  "When the boy
+told me whither they were bound, I could not bear they should have no
+more comfort than they would get from that fat prior.  Now, the poor man
+shall want nothing."
+
+"Truly, no," said Prothasy, quite as heartily.  "But it were best that
+our little Joan remained away a little longer with thy mother."
+
+"I suppose so," answered her husband, with a sigh.  "The house seems
+strangely silent without Joan."
+
+"We must have sent her away had she been here," she said decidedly.
+
+He went to the door and came back.
+
+"Prothasy," he said, with something like appeal in his voice, "that is a
+comely little lad."
+
+"Ay, Elyas."
+
+"What will become of him when his father is dead?"
+
+"Thou hadst best seek out some of his kin."
+
+It was not the answer he wished for, yet, as always, it carried sense
+with it; he hesitated before he spoke again.
+
+"If he would be a stone-cutter?"
+
+"Thou hast two apprentices already."
+
+"Ay, but a fatherless child--"
+
+"Elyas, thou wilt never learn prudence.  All would come upon thee."
+
+"The guild would help in case of need."
+
+"So thou sayest, but never wouldst thou apply."
+
+He made no answer, only seemed to be reflecting as he left the room.
+She walked quickly up and down, once or twice dropping her long dress
+and stumbling in it.
+
+"Was ever anyone so good as he, or so provoking!" she exclaimed, half
+crying.  "A fine dowry will come to Joan, when her father spends his all
+upon strangers!  And yet he makes me cry shame upon myself for
+close-fistedness, and wonder at the sweetness with which he bears my
+sourness.  If he will, he shall have the boy as prentice, I'll e'en put
+up with the monkey; but, do what I will, it is certain I shall season
+any kindness with sharp words, and Elyas will feel that all the while I
+am grudging.  I would I had a better heart, or he a worse!"
+
+Elyas, meanwhile, all unknowing of these stormy signs of relenting, went
+slowly up to the little bare room where the carver lay, while Hugh,
+looking out of the small unglazed window, was telling him as much as he
+could see to be going on in the street.  Stephen, however, was paying
+little attention, and when Gervase came in his eyes brightened at once.
+
+"Leave Agrippa here," he said to Hugh, "and do thou run out and look at
+the Cathedral, and bring me back word what it is like."
+
+His interview with his host was long, the more so as he could speak but
+slowly, and at times had to stop altogether from exhaustion.  Then it
+was necessary that Elyas should see the carving, which took him
+altogether by surprise.
+
+"Truly," he said, "this will make our good bishop's mouth water!  He is
+ever seeking for beautiful work for St Peter's, and thou mightest have
+made thy fortune with misereres and stalls.  Perchance--" he said,
+looking hesitatingly at the carver.  Stephen shook his head.
+
+"Never again," he said.  "But Hugh, young as he is, has it in him.  If--
+if he could be thy apprentice?"
+
+Elyas almost started at having his thought so quickly presented to him
+from the other side, but he did not answer at once, and Stephen went on,
+his words broken by painful breathing--
+
+"There is a little money put by for him--in yonder bag--I meant it for
+this purpose--the horse may be sold--if I thought he could be with thee
+I should--die happy."
+
+Gervase was not the man to resist such an appeal.  He stooped down and
+clasped the sick man's wasted hand in his.
+
+"The boy shall remain with me," he said.  "Rest content.  I am warden of
+my guild.  He shall learn his craft honestly and truly, shall be brought
+up in the holy Faith, and shall be to me as a son.  There is my hand."
+
+With one look of unutterable thankfulness the carver closed his eyes,
+and murmured something, which Elyas, bending over him, recognised as the
+thanksgiving of the _Nunc Dimittis_.  He said no more, but lay
+peacefully content until he roused himself to ask that a priest might be
+sent for; and when Hugh came in Elyas left him in charge, while he went
+to seek the parish priest, "and no monk," as he muttered.
+
+Hugh was full of the glories of the Cathedral, to which he had made his
+way.  It had remained unfinished longer than most of the others in the
+kingdom, but the last bishop, Quivil, and the present, Bitton, had
+pushed on the work with most earnest zeal, and Hugh described the rising
+roof and the beautiful clustered pillars of soft grey Purbeck marble
+with an enthusiasm which brought a smile of content upon the face of the
+dying man.
+
+"Would I could work there!" said the boy, with a sigh.
+
+"One day," whispered his father, "Master Gervase will take thee as
+apprentice; thou wilt serve faithfully, my Hugh?"
+
+The boy pressed against him, and laid his cheek on the pillow.
+
+"Ay, to make thy name famous."
+
+"No, no," gasped Stephen, eagerly.  "That dream is past--not mine nor
+thine--not for thyself but for the glory of God.  Say that."
+
+"For the glory of God," Hugh repeated, gravely.  "Father?"
+
+"Ay."
+
+"Where wilt thou live?"
+
+There was a silence.  Then the carver turned his eyes on the boy.
+
+"I am going on--a journey--a long journey."  Hugh shrank away a little.
+He began to understand and to tremble; and he dared not ask more
+questions.  The priest came and he was sent from the room, and wandered
+miserably into a sort of yard with sheds at the back of the house, where
+the stone-cutting was going on, and journeymen and two apprentices were
+at work.
+
+One of these latter--the younger--was the boy called Wat, whom Hugh had
+already seen.  He was a large-limbed, untidy-looking, moon-faced lad,
+the butt of many jibes and jests from the others, careless in his work,
+and yet so good-natured that his master had not the heart to rate him as
+he deserved.  The other apprentice, Roger Brewer, was sixteen, and had
+been for six years with Gervase, who was very proud of his talents, and
+foretold great things for his future.  He was a grave sallow youth,
+noticing everything and saying little, and with a perseverance which
+absolutely never failed.  The journeymen, of whom there were three, were
+stone-workers who had been Gervase's apprentices; their seven or eight
+years ended, they now worked by the day, and hoped in time to become
+masters.  They wore the dress and hood of their guild, and one, William
+Franklyn, had the principal direction of the apprentices.  Much of the
+stonework of the cathedral was being executed under Gervase's orders.
+
+When Hugh appeared in the yard, Agrippa produced an immediate sensation,
+Wat and the men crowding round him, Roger alone going on with his work
+of carving the crockets of a delicate pinnacle.  The boy's eyes
+glistened as he glanced about at the fragments which were scattered here
+and there, while the others, on their part, were curiously examining the
+monkey.
+
+"Saw you ever the like!" cried Wat, planting himself before him, all
+agape, with legs outspread and hands on his knees.  "Why, he hath a face
+like a man!"
+
+"Ay, Wat, now we know thy kin," said one of the men, winking to the
+others, who answered by a loud laugh.
+
+"Where got ye the beast?" asked William, laying his hand on Hugh's
+shoulder.
+
+"At Stourbridge fair," answered the boy.  He had to give an account of
+their adventures after this, and they stared at him the more to hear of
+London and the shipwreck.
+
+"And so thy father is sick to death in there?" said another man,
+pointing over his shoulder with his thumb.  The tears rushed into Hugh's
+eyes, and Franklyn interposed.
+
+"His craft is wood-carving, they say.  Hast thou learnt aught of the
+trick of it?"
+
+"Nay, I shall be a stone-carver," faltered the boy.  "I am to be
+prenticed here."
+
+"With Master Gervase?"
+
+"Ay."
+
+William Franklyn looked black.  He had a nephew of his own whom he had
+long tried to persuade the master to take into his house.  That hope was
+now altogether at an end.  He turned away angrily and went back to his
+work.
+
+"What wilt thou do with thy monkey?" cried Wat, hopping round in high
+delight.
+
+"No foreigners may work in the yard.  That were against the guild laws,"
+said one of the men.  "Down with all Easterlings!"
+
+They were a jesting, light-hearted set, who laughed loudly, lived
+rudely, had plenty of holidays, yet did excellent work.  At another time
+the boy would have had his answer ready, but now was sick at heart, and
+wanting nothing so much as a woman's comforting, and the men thought him
+sullen.  He got back to his father as quickly as he could, leaving many
+remarks behind him.
+
+"An ungracious little varlet!" said one.
+
+"Tut, man, he could scarce keep back his tears," said another who saw
+further.
+
+"What makes the master take another prentice?  I thought Mistress
+Prothasy would never abide more than two.  And there was thy nephew,
+William, if a third must be."
+
+"The master will do what pleases him," said Franklyn stiffly.
+
+"Or what pleases Mistress Prothasy, and most likely this is her fancy.
+She would have another Wat in the house."
+
+This was followed by a loud laugh, for Wat's awkwardnesses were
+well-known to bring him into sore disfavour with the mistress of the
+house.
+
+The day went by, and the night came on again.  Elyas proposed sitting up
+himself, but Stephen refused, saying that he wanted no one but Hugh.
+
+"And I think I shall sleep well," he added, with a feeble smile.
+
+Afterwards, Gervase thought he meant more than his words conveyed.
+
+Before Hugh lay down his father made him put back the shutter from the
+little window, and look out upon the night.  All was quiet, lights were
+extinguished, every now and then the watchmen came up and down the
+street, but no other noises were abroad; the opposite houses rose up so
+closely that from the balconies it looked as if it were possible to
+touch hands, and over head, though it was late autumn, the moon shone in
+a serene sky, sending her silver rays into the narrow street and
+intensifying all the shadows.  Stephen listened, while Hugh told him
+just what he could see.
+
+The boy closed the shutter and would have lain down, but Stephen called
+him feebly to his side.
+
+"Remember," he whispered, with difficulty.  "For the glory of God."
+
+"Ay, father."
+
+"And the--enemies.  Fight the right enemies."
+
+"Ay, father."
+
+Something the carver murmured, it might have been a blessing, but Hugh
+caught only the word, "Alice."
+
+"Shall I get thee aught, father?"
+
+"Nay.  Lie down--I will call if I need aught."
+
+It was his last self-denial for his child.  The boy was soon asleep, but
+through the long hours, Stephen lay, fighting for breath, until the
+struggle ended in unconsciousness, and that, too, passed into death.
+When Elyas came in the early morning, and saw what had happened, he
+lifted Hugh in his strong arms and carried him into the room where the
+other boys slept.  Wat was snoring peacefully with open mouth, but Roger
+was awake, and the master hastily whispered how it was to him.
+
+"Keep the boy here.  Tell him his father must not be disturbed," he
+said.
+
+It was Prothasy who, after all, broke the tidings.  She shrank from it
+at first, saying that Elyas was tenderer in words and less strange to
+Hugh, but her husband looked so grieved that, as usual, she repented,
+and did his bidding.  And she was really kind, leading him in herself to
+look upon the peaceful face of the dead, and soothing his burst of tears
+with great patience and gentleness.
+
+The days that followed were strange and miserable to poor Hugh.  He had
+never been without his father, who had been father and mother both to
+him, and had made him so close a companion that in many ways he was much
+older than his years.  And, in spite of all kindness, the sense of
+solitude and loneliness that swept over him when the funeral--which the
+guild of which Elyas was warden attended--was over, and he was back in
+the house, with a new life before him, to be lived among those who were,
+in good truth, strangers, was something which all his life long he could
+not forget.
+
+The good master had him rightly enrolled as his apprentice, and then
+judged it well to leave him alone for a day or two, telling him he might
+go where he liked until his work began.  No place seemed so comforting
+to Hugh as the Cathedral.  He would go and watch the workers, and feed
+his keen sense of beauty with gazing on the fair upspringing lines and
+the noble sheaves of pillars, and wonder whether the day would come when
+work of his should find a place there, and his father's dream be
+fulfilled.
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+DIFFICULTIES.
+
+It was about a week after this that Master Gervase in working dress went
+out into his yard.  Dinner was over at an early hour, and the two meals
+of the day were long and plentiful as to cheer; so long and so
+plentiful, indeed, that there is a record in the preceding reign of
+thirty thousand dishes being served at one feast, and the sumptuary laws
+which regulated excesses in dress and food do not seem to have been
+uncalled for.
+
+In Master Gervase's household there was no excess, but abundance in
+every kind, and hearty partaking of beef and cider, Mistress Prothasy
+being famous for her housekeeping and capable ways, so that Elyas went
+into his yard with all the contentment of a well-fed man.
+
+Men and prentices were hard at work in their different ways.  Franklyn
+and Roger had the finest cutting, and Elyas paused before Roger's
+crocket to examine his progress.
+
+"It is excellent," he said, heartily, so that the lad's sallow face
+flushed; "the cutting deep and clean--naught can be much better in good
+sooth than the workmanship.  Thy design is not so good."
+
+"No," said Roger, quickly.
+
+"No.  It wants freedom, boldness, it smacks too much of the yard and too
+little of the artist.  There is thy stumbling-block, Roger.  I can give
+thee the means of execution, but I cannot put this into thee.  See!"
+
+He seized a piece of burnt stick which lay by, and on a rough plank
+hastily sketched a crocket similar in form to that on which Roger was
+working.  But what a difference!  What strength in the up-curved lines!
+What possibilities seemed to blossom out of the rapid outline!  As Roger
+watched a look of bitter mortification gathered in his face; the ease
+and vigour of the drawing were, as he recognised, quite beyond his
+grasp.  When the master moved on he drew the board close to him, yet so
+that it was concealed from other eyes, and tried with all his skill to
+bring his carving into better harmony with its spirit.
+
+Gervase glanced at all the work in the yard, giving a word to each, and
+special praise to a canopy which Franklyn and another man were engaged
+upon, and which was an order from a neighbouring abbey.  To a fourth
+worker, Peter Sim, he pointed out that his moulding was thin and wanted
+richness.
+
+"Ay," muttered his neighbour, "he is so thin himself he can see no
+beauty save in leanness."
+
+"That will scarce be thy failing, Hal," said Gervase, good-humouredly.
+"Now, Wat, what tool is that thou art using?"
+
+"It is broken, but it cuts well enough, sir," said Wat, regarding his
+half chisel with affection.
+
+"Cuts well enough," repeated the master, angrily, throwing the tool on
+one side; "and what thinkest thou, prithee, the guild would say if I
+suffered such a tool to be used in my yard?  And how came it broken?"
+
+"There never was such a one for breaking his tools," grumbled Franklyn,
+who had picked up the chisel and was examining it; "it is my belief he
+uses them to dig the ground with."
+
+"Nay," said Wat, scratching his head, "but the stone is hard."
+
+"Thou shalt spend thy next holiday in finding out whether it be hard or
+not," said Elyas, angrily, "an thou be not more careful.  How now, Hugh,
+what work have they set thee to?"
+
+The good man's heart melted as he looked at the boy, who seemed a sad
+little figure among the others.  He had got into a far corner, and
+Agrippa peered down from a rafter in the shed.
+
+"Why art thou in this dark corner by thyself?" demanded Elyas.
+
+"They like not Agrippa, sir," said Hugh, listlessly.
+
+Elyas looked vexed.  His wife was also sorely set against the monkey,
+and he would gladly have had it away, yet he could not find it in his
+heart to deprive the boy of his only friend.  He stood awhile watching
+Hugh work, and presently went across to Franklyn.
+
+"See that no harm comes to the monkey," he said in a tone which all
+might hear; then, in a much lower voice, "that is hard work thou hast
+set him to do."
+
+"He must learn his craft," said Franklyn, gruffly.
+
+"But he is a little urchin."
+
+"The more need he should begin at the beginning."
+
+"His father told me he had a wonderful talent for his age."
+
+"Fathers ever think their children wonders.  Is it your pleasure, Master
+Gervase, that I treat him differently from any other prentice?"
+
+"Nay, nay," said Elyas, hastily, and, knowing that the idea of
+favouritism would make Hugh very unpopular, he pushed the matter no
+further.
+
+The time that followed was full of bitterness to Hugh.  Franklyn, though
+not a bad-hearted man, was sore and disappointed to have his nephew, as
+he thought, supplanted, and, since he could not visit it upon the master
+himself, he visited it upon Hugh.  The other men sided with Franklyn,
+and Hugh made no efforts to gain their good-will; pride grows quickly,
+and he had been a good deal set-up on board the ship, although Jakes's
+death had shocked him into a temporary shame.  His self-importance was
+sorely wounded by finding himself treated as absolutely of no
+consequence, he, who had spoken, as he reflected with swelling heart,
+with King Edward himself.  Mistress Prothasy was sincerely desirous to
+pleasure her husband, but she loved not boys, classing them all as
+untidy and unmannerly.  It had been by her wish that Elyas had hitherto
+abstained from taking more than two apprentices, and, as she was proud
+of her influence over him, she had made it a matter of boasting when
+talking to gossips whose husbands were more wilful.  She hated having to
+put up with what she now took to be their pitying smiles, and, without
+meaning to be unjust, her feelings towards Hugh were not friendly.  It
+provoked her, moreover, to have the monkey, which she both feared and
+disliked, in the house, and she was constantly urging Elyas to send it
+away.
+
+But what Hugh felt sharply was Franklyn's treatment of him as of one who
+must be taught the very beginning of his craft.  He had learned much
+from his father, and had been made to use his tools when he was scarce
+six years old, so that in point of fact he was advanced already beyond
+Wat, who had gone through three years' apprenticeship.  But of all this,
+and in spite of the master's hints, Franklyn was doggedly unheeding.  He
+allowed the boy nothing but the roughest and simplest work.  He
+explained with provoking carefulness each morning how this was to be
+carried out, and if, as frequently happened, the boy was inattentive, he
+rated him sharply.  The discipline might have been good, but injustice
+is never wholesome, and feeling himself to be unfairly treated, Hugh set
+up his back more and more, took no pains to please, and moped in
+solitary corners.
+
+Elyas saw that things were moving wrongly, and was vexed, but he never
+willingly interfered with Franklyn's rule, and having an easy-going
+genial nature was disposed to believe that with time and patience things
+would right themselves.  He had ever a kindly word for Hugh, though not
+realising how the boy clung to him as to a link with that past which
+already seemed so far away and so happy.
+
+The weeks passed and November was well advanced.  There was no lack of
+holidays and feastings, which Hugh in his present mood found almost more
+irksome than work.  Agrippa was his chief companion, and yet his
+greatest care, as the monkey, if he took it with him, was ever likely to
+call a crowd together, and perhaps get pelted, until one day Elyas,
+coming upon him in one of these frays, advised him to have a basket and
+carry him thus, by which means he was able to take him to the cathedral
+itself.
+
+Wat was not unfriendly.  He was awkward and ungainly, and ever falling
+into disgrace himself, but this afflicted him scarcely at all.  He had a
+huge appetite, and stores of apples, nuts, and cakes, which he was ready
+enough to share, and could not understand that anything more was wanted
+for happiness.  Hugh, caring little for these joys, despised Wat's
+advances, and would not be beguiled into friendship.  He was very
+miserable, poor boy, and inclined to wish that he had stayed with the
+Franciscans in London, as Friar Luke counselled, or to long--oh, how
+earnestly!--that his father had suffered him to accept Sir Thomas de
+Trafford's offer and be brought up in the good knight's household.  As
+for learning his craft, that, he said bitterly to himself, was hopeless;
+he was more like to forget what his father had taught, and to sink into
+such coarse work as Wat's.  In fact he made up his mind to the worst,
+and would scarce have been contented with easier measure.
+
+Towards the end of November a new personage came into the family, small
+in size but of immense importance, Mistress Joan Gervase, aged five, who
+had been for some time staying with her grandmother, and had remained so
+long, owing to an attack of measles, or some such childish complaint.
+Great preparations were made for her home coming; Mistress Prothasy had
+the rooms furbished, and made all manner of spice-cakes, and Elyas rode
+off one day in high spirits, to sleep at his mothers and to bring back
+his little daughter on the morrow.
+
+It was a bad day for Hugh.  He was sick of his work, and, instead of
+setting himself to do it as well as he could, all went the other way;
+careless chippings brought down Franklyn's wrath upon him; he would take
+no pains, idled and played with Agrippa, and was altogether
+unsatisfactory.  Franklyn had good reason for anger, though rather too
+ready to jump at it, and he was rating the boy loudly when Mistress
+Prothasy came into the yard to deliver some message with which she was
+charged from her husband.
+
+It was an expressed wish of his that she should never interfere with the
+conduct of the prentices at their work.  Indoors she might say what she
+liked, and nothing displeased him more than a sign of disrespect on
+their part, but in the yard it was understood that she was silent.
+Nevertheless, on this occasion she asked Franklyn what Hugh had done,
+and hearing that Agrippa was in the matter burst out with her own
+grievances.
+
+"The hateful little beast, I would he were strangled!  I am frighted out
+of my life to think of what he may do to Joan!  But I will not bear it.
+Hark ye, Hugh, thou wilt have to dispose of him.  I have threatened it
+before, and now I mean it, and I shall tell thy master that it makes
+thee idle over thy work.  He or I go out of the house!"
+
+She swept away, leaving Hugh in a whirlwind of grief, bewilderment, and
+anger.  Part with Agrippa, his one friend?  Never!  And yet--he knew
+from experience, and the men often spoke of it--Master Gervase never
+gainsaid his wife.  He dashed down his tools, caught Agrippa in his
+arms, and faced Franklyn in a fury.
+
+"You have done nothing but spite me, and I hate you!" he cried.  "You
+may kill me if you like, but I will never part with my monkey!"
+
+In his heart of hearts Franklyn was sorry that things had gone so far,
+but such rebellion could not be overlooked, and he fetched Hugh a sound
+buffet which made him tingle all over, told him the master should hear
+of it, and that he should have no supper but bread and water.  Hugh
+sullenly picked up his chisel and went on with his work, paying no heed
+to Wat's uncouth attempts at comfort.  Work was to be put away some
+hours earlier than usual, and a feast provided for supper in honour of
+Mistress Joan's return; but Hugh would go no farther than the balcony
+which ran outside the prentices' room, supported by wooden posts, and
+here he crouched in a corner, hugging Agrippa, weeping hot tears of rage
+and turning over in his mind possible means of escape.
+
+He had heard tales of prentices running away from harsh masters,
+although he had an idea that dreadful penalties were due for such an
+offence; but he thought he might manage to avoid being re-taken, and
+cared not what risks he ran.  Where should he go?  If he could get to
+Dartmouth someone might keep him till Andrew the shipman came again and
+took him back to London, and the boundless hope of childhood made the
+wild plan seem possible as soon as it came into his mind.  He had the
+king's gold noble sewn into his clothes, and though he never intended to
+spend it, the feeling that it was about him gave him a sensation of
+riches.  He had received his first month's pay, as apprentice; this
+amounted, it is true, to no more than threepence, but Elyas had given
+him two groats from his father's store, and he hoped that people would
+be willing to pay something when he had got far enough to let the monkey
+display his tricks without fear of detection.
+
+All these plans he made hastily, for the more he thought over the matter
+the more determined he was to run away at once.  He must slip out of the
+gates before sunset, and while Elyas was absent; there would be so much
+excitement in the house with Joan's return that he would not be missed
+until it was too late to follow him.  Wat had gone off to see some men
+in the pillory; Hugh hastily rolled his father's things in a bundle,
+slipped Agrippa into his basket, and was out of the house without
+meeting a soul.
+
+He could not help pausing at Broad Gate to look through it once more at
+the Cathedral, but something in the beautiful building, some memories of
+his father's hopes, brought such a choking lump into his throat that he
+turned hastily away, hurrying down the Western Street and out at the
+West Gate, and flattering himself that he had passed unnoticed by the
+keeper of the gate.
+
+From one cause or another he had not gone that way since the evening
+they entered a month ago.  Here was the new stone bridge; there in its
+midst stood the fair chapel where lay the good citizen who had given the
+bridge to the town, a little light burning ever before the altar.  How
+well Hugh remembered touching his father's arm to show it to him, and
+how he got no sign in return, and was frightened.  And then but a minute
+or two later Master Gervase had come to their help like a good
+Samaritan, and he no longer felt so lonely.
+
+It was an inconvenient recollection, because he could not help recalling
+with a rush how thankful his father had seemed when he came to himself,
+and knew in whose house they were.  Also with what earnestness he had
+prayed Master Gervase to take Hugh, telling him that he was a good boy
+and would be a credit to him.
+
+"But father never knew!" cried Hugh, stifling uneasy thoughts; "he never
+thought I should be set to fool's work, and flouted at, and Agrippa
+taken away."
+
+He pushed on with the thought.  He fancied that he remembered a house
+some five or six miles away, where the woman had been kind, and would
+have had them come in and rest.  This was the place where he meant to
+spend the night.
+
+But travelling in November was harder work than a month earlier.  The
+road soon became a quagmire, lain began to fall, darkness set in, and
+there was no moon.  He trudged on as bravely as he could, but he began
+to be very much frightened with the loneliness and the darkness, and the
+uneasy sense that, unlike the time when he passed before, he was not
+going the way in which he could expect the overshadowing Care in which
+his father had rested so confidently.  Then more than once side roads
+branched off; he was not sure that he was keeping to that which was
+right, and little as he seemed to have to steal, there was the king's
+gold noble which would be excellent booty for any cut-purse.  The house
+seemed so long in coming that he began to think he must have passed it
+in the dark, and when at last he made it out, his heart sank to think
+that after all his efforts he had got no further; besides, there was not
+a light or sign of life about it, it looked so gloomy and forbidding
+that he was scarcely less terrified at it than at the lonely road.  He
+ventured at last, however, to knock timidly at the door, but was
+answered by such a fierce growling that he clasped Agrippa the closer
+and fled.
+
+Fled--but where to flee?  Wet to the skin, hungry, miserable, before he
+had got six miles on his way, what could he do?  Creeping back to the
+house to see if there were no outside shelter under which he might
+crawl, he at last found a small stack of fuel piled close to the mud
+walls, and by pulling this out a little formed a small hole where he
+made shift to lie, shivering, and in a miserable plight.
+
+He slept, however, and forgot his misery until he awoke, cramped, aching
+all over, and hungrier than ever.  He was too much afraid of the dog to
+venture to wait till the people were up and about, and set off again on
+his weary tramp, hoping he might reach some other hut where he could get
+food for himself and the monkey.  Rain still fell, though not so
+heavily, and he could not understand why he got on so slowly, and found
+himself scarcely able to drag one leg after the other.  Agrippa, too,
+also wet, cold, and hungry, shivered and chattered piteously.
+
+At last he reached a hut where the man had gone to work, and the woman
+gave him black bread and cider.  But she had an evil face, and took more
+from him than the food was worth, casting greedy looks at the remainder,
+and the children ran after him and pelted him and Agrippa with stones;
+so that Hugh was forced to hurry on as fast as his aching limbs could
+carry him, and by the time he had gone up a little hill, felt as if all
+the breath were out of his body, and he must drop by the road-side.  He
+knew now that he must be ill, it seemed to him, indeed, that he was
+dying, and it was horrible to picture himself lying unheeded among the
+piles of dead leaves, the dank and rotting vegetation, the deep red
+mud--no one would know, and his only friend, poor Agrippa, would die of
+cold and hunger by his side.
+
+It was no wonder that his thoughts went back with longing to Master
+Gervase's house in Exeter, where food and shelter were never lacking.
+
+After this he still struggled on, but in a dazed, mechanical sort of
+way, until he was quite sure that he had been walking all day, and that
+night must be near at hand.  And with this conviction, and all the
+horror of coming darkness sweeping over him, he felt he could go no
+farther, and flung himself down upon the wet bank, under a thick growth
+of nut-bushes.
+
+There Master Gervase found him.
+
+When Elyas reached home close on sunset the day before, there was so
+much welcoming and hugging of Joan, so many messages to give, so many
+things to be spoken about, that he did not at first miss Hugh,
+especially as Wat was also absent.  By-and-by when Wat returned,
+open-mouthed with sights at the pillory, Elyas asked for the little boy,
+and Prothasy poured out her grievances.  The monkey made him idle, and
+she had said it should not stay in the house, and then he had flown into
+a rage with William, and had been told he should have nought but bread
+and water.
+
+"And that is better than he deserves," she ended.  "Look you, husband, I
+am resolved.  That evil beast shall not remain here with Joan.  Thou
+knowest that my nay is ever nay."
+
+Elyas looked very grave, but made no answer.  Hugh was idle, and no
+rebellion against Franklyn could be permitted, yet his kind heart ached
+for the fatherless little fellow who had taken his fancy from the first.
+He would not interfere with the punishment, but he resolved that when
+supper was over, he would go upstairs and see whether he could not mend
+matters.  And he was a little distraught throughout the long supper,
+whereat Joan reigned like a veritable queen, and, it must be owned,
+tyrannised in some degree over her subjects.  She rather vexed her
+mother by demanding the new boy.  Father had talked to her of him, and
+had told her of a wonderful little beast with a face like an old man's,
+and hands to hold things by; she would love to see him--where was he,
+why didn't he come to supper?
+
+"Think not of him, Joan," said her mother quickly at last.  "He is no
+playfellow for thee.  He would bite and terrify thee."
+
+This caused an interval of pondering, and Prothasy fondly hoped of
+impression, but presently Mistress Joan lifted her little golden head.
+
+"I want him," she said.  "I would kiss him."  Prothasy looked
+reproachfully at her husband, who was smiling.
+
+The supper, as has been said, was long, and before it was finished Joan,
+tired out with excitement, was leaning against her father's arm, asleep.
+He lifted her tenderly and carried her to their room, where she slept,
+and where she was soon lying in her little crib, looking fairer than
+ever.  Husband and wife stood gazing at her with overfull hearts, and
+Elyas, ever large in sympathies, let his thoughts go out to the
+wood-carver who had cared so much for his boy, and wished he could have
+taken Hugh with him that day, or that he could talk him into readier
+obedience to Franklyn.  He was very desirous to temper justice with
+mercy when he left Joan and went to seek Hugh.
+
+It surprised him exceedingly to get no answer to his call.  He lifted
+the light and looked round the room in vain, nor was Agrippa to be seen
+overhead among the rafters.  It was possible that Hugh had slipped out
+and stayed thus late, but he had never done it before, and it was seven
+o'clock, dark and raining.  Elyas began to feel very uneasy.  He sought
+his wife, called Franklyn, who had not left the house, and questioned
+the other apprentices.  Roger never paid any attention to Hugh, treating
+him as a little boy, whom it would be waste of time to notice; Wat
+reported that he had invited him to go out with him, but got no answer.
+
+"He had never seen a man in the pillory, either, and here were three,"
+added Wat cheerfully.
+
+Quick compunction seized Prothasy, though rather for her husband's sake
+than Hugh's; she said little, but ran hastily about the house, and even
+out into the wet yard, where, however, Franklyn had been before her, and
+then she stood in the doorway, looking up and down the street.  Her
+husband's voice behind startled her.
+
+"He hath run away," he said gravely.
+
+"Thinkest thou so?" she said turning quickly.  "Elyas, it was not much
+that I said, and it was not he but the monkey which provoked me."
+
+"Nay, I am not blaming thee, I blame myself.  He is but a little lad to
+be left friendless in the world, and I might have been more tender with
+him, and kept him more by mine own side.  Then this would not have
+happened."
+
+"Where will he go?"
+
+"That I must find out at the gates, which I will do presently, though it
+is too late to pass out to-night.  Most likely he has taken the road he
+knew best."
+
+He came back before long, saying it was as he thought, for the keeper of
+the West Gate had seen the boy go out.  At sunrise Elyas said he would
+mount his good grey and follow.  There was nothing else to be done, and
+he made as light of it as he could to Prothasy, saying the dreariness of
+the night might give a useful lesson.
+
+And so it was that early the next day, when poor Hugh had got no further
+than a bare two miles from the place where he had slept, although he
+felt as if he had been walking all day, Master Gervase came upon a
+little figure lying under a clump of nut-bushes, and with a pang in his
+heart, sprang off his horse, and gathering Hugh and Agrippa into his
+arms, mounted again, and rode back as quickly as he could to Exeter.
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+BISHOP BITTON IN HIS CATHEDRAL.
+
+Hugh's illness was severe and painful, for he was racked with feverish
+rheumatism, and could scarcely bear to be touched or even looked at.
+Often he was light-headed and talked persistently of his father,
+imploring him not to leave him, and at other times would cry so bitterly
+that it was impossible to soothe him.  Prothasy had been terribly
+shocked when her husband rode up to the door, carrying his unconscious
+burden, and had spared neither care nor attendance upon him, rigidly
+carrying out the directions of the leech, which to us would sound
+hopelessly fantastical, and listening patiently to his long
+disquisitions upon Aesculapius and Galen.  But her presence seemed to
+disturb the boy, and she often drew back wounded.  Strange to say, he
+endured Wat's awkward though good-hearted ministrations, but the only
+person to whom he clung, to please whom he would take his medicine, and
+who seemed to have the power of causing him to sleep, was Elyas.  One
+possible reason was that Master Gervase had a strange quickness in
+finding out what troubled him.  Once or twice he had soothed him by
+putting before him his father's carvings, and more often by placing
+Agrippa on the bed.  The monkey had been ill himself after the exposure
+of that night, and it was Prothasy who--mightily it must be owned
+against her inclination--wrapped him in woollen, and though she could
+never be brought to take him on her lap, saw that he was not neglected.
+
+But one day, when Hugh was really better and less feverish, though still
+in pain which made him fretful and peevish, he opened his eyes upon a
+new sight.  A little girl, with golden hair and brown eyes, stood about
+a yard away from the crib, gazing with deep interest and her finger in
+her mouth, from him to Agrippa, who sat on the bed in his scarlet coat,
+and stared back at her.  For a short time all three were silent,
+contemplating each other curiously.  It was Joan who broke the silence,
+pointing to Agrippa.
+
+"Doth he bite?"
+
+Hitherto everyone who came near Hugh had asked how he felt or what they
+could do.  Here was a change indeed!
+
+"No."  Then with an effort--"You may stroke him, mistress."
+
+Upon this invitation Joan advanced, stretching out two rosy fingers.
+But they hesitated so long on the way that Hugh put forth his own wasted
+little hand, and conducted them to Agrippa's head.  Joan coloured
+crimson but would not show fear.
+
+When she had got over the wonder of this courageous deed, she began to
+smile, bringing two dimples into her cheeks, and dancing a little up and
+down for joy.
+
+"Art thou the new boy?  Why doesn't thou get up?"
+
+This was too much; besides, the pain of stretching his hand had hold of
+him.  Hugh shut his eyes and groaned.  The next thing he felt was a
+dreadful shake of the crib, and a soft kiss planted upon his closed eye.
+
+"Poor boy!  Make haste and get well!"
+
+She trotted away, but the next day appeared again, and her mother,
+arriving in haste, found to her horror Joan sitting upon the edge of the
+crib, with Agrippa in her arms.  Prothasy would have snatched him from
+her, but Joan put up her small hand lest she should come too near.  She
+was actually trembling with ecstasy.
+
+"He doesn't bite, and he likes me.  Isn't he beautiful?"
+
+Agrippa had conquered.
+
+After this Hugh began to improve more rapidly Joan's visits brought
+something into his life which had been wanting before, and he could not
+but be conscious of the kindness with which he had been nursed and cared
+for, when he might have expected very different treatment.  He still
+watched Mistress Prothasy with anxiety, but his eyes followed Gervase
+with devotion which touched the good warden's heart.  Nothing had been
+said about Hugh's flight during the worst part of his illness, but one
+afternoon in December, when Elyas had come in from consultation with the
+bishop at the Cathedral, he sat down on the boy's bed.
+
+"We shall have thee up and about by Christmas," he said, cheerfully;
+"out by the New Year, and at work by Twelfth Day."
+
+"Ay, master," said Hugh faintly.
+
+Elyas turned and looked at him.  "It were best for thee," he said, "to
+tell me what ailed thee that day.  I have heard nothing from thee."
+
+In a faltering voice Hugh would have murmured something scarce
+distinguishable, but Gervase made him put all into words.  It is often
+hard so to describe one's wrongs; things which had seemed of infinite
+importance lose dignity in the process, and there is an uncomfortable
+conviction that our hearers are not so greatly impressed as we desired.
+After all, except the threat about Agrippa, it looked trifling seen from
+a distance, and even for Agrippa--
+
+"Hadst thou met with so much unkindness here, that thou couldst not
+trust us to do what was best?" asked Gervase gravely.
+
+"I thought--" began Hugh, and stopped.
+
+"And how came you idle?"  Elyas demanded more sternly.
+
+"He ever gave me such foolish work!  He would not hearken when I said I
+could do better!" burst out Hugh.  "Master, only let me try, and you
+will see."
+
+"Perhaps," returned Elyas.  "But there are things that I value more, ay,
+and thy father would have valued more, than fair carving.  Thou hast got
+thy life to shape, Hugh, rough stone to hew and carve into such a temple
+as the Master loves.  All the best work that we can do with our tools is
+but a type of this.  And what sort of carving was this rebellion of
+thine?"
+
+He would say no more, being one of those who leave their words to sink
+in.  But after, when he came up to see the boy, he would choose for his
+talk tales of men who had become great through mastery of themselves.
+And when he found how Hugh's thoughts ran upon King Edward, he spoke of
+him, and how he had tamed that strong nature of his which might have led
+him into tyrannical acts, so that at whatever cost to himself he
+followed faithfully that which was right and just.  And he told the
+story of how once, when he had been unjust towards an attendant, he
+punished his own hasty temper by fining himself twenty marks.
+
+"This it is which makes him great," added Elyas.
+
+"And thou hast seen and spoken with him?  The more need to follow him."
+
+"Saw you ever the king, goodman?"
+
+"Ay, truly; ten or eleven years ago he and the queen held Parliament
+here at Christmas.  Great doings were there, and it was then the bishop
+got leave to fence the close with walls.  I like them not myself, they
+shut out the fair view of the western front; but after the precentors
+murder the chapter sought greater security.  There is talk of the king
+coming again next month.  If he does I warrant he will bring a sore
+heart, remembering who was with him last time."
+
+"And the queen was fair, goodman?"
+
+"Fair and sweet beyond telling.  All that looked at her loved her."
+
+Hugh never got worse reproach for his conduct, but by listening to these
+tales of Master Gervase's with talk of men who took not their own wild
+wills, but a high ideal of duty for their standard, he grew to be
+ashamed of it, and to have a longing for the time when he might go to
+work again in a different spirit.  And he changed in his conduct to Wat,
+who was ever full of awkward good-will.
+
+It was much as Elyas had foretold.  By Christmas time Hugh was up,
+though too feeble to enter into all the merry-making and holiday-keeping
+of the time; nor, indeed, could he so much as go out with the others
+when, at two of the morning, the moonlight shining, the rime hanging to
+the elms and just whitening the roof of the Cathedral, they all set
+forth for the parish church of St Martin's.  Wat came back blowing his
+blue fingers and stamping on the ground, but radiant with the promise
+that next year in the mumming he should be St George himself.
+
+"Rob the ostler says so, and he knows."
+
+"Thou wast the hobby-horse last night," said Hugh with a laugh.
+
+"Ay, and I am weary of the hobby-horse, of prancing up and down, and
+being hit with no chance of hitting back again.  But, St George! what
+wouldst thou give, Hugh, to be a knight all in shining armour, and to
+slay the Dragon?"
+
+New Year's Eve was the great day for gifts; Joan had a number of toys
+and sweetmeats, and Hugh gave her a kind of cup and ball, which he had
+managed to carve for her, though with trembling fingers, after the
+recollection of one which had been shown to his father by a merchant
+travelling from China, or Cathay, as it was then called.  It was a
+dainty little toy, and Gervase examined it closely, feeling that Hugh
+had some reason for fretting against the monotonous work to which
+Franklyn condemned him.  But Elyas had no thought of interfering.  He
+believed it would be wholesome discipline for the boy to have to work
+his way upward by force of perseverance and obedience, each step so
+taken would be a double gain; he had time enough before him, and should
+prove his powers to Franklyn by his own efforts.  Meanwhile he kept him
+with him a good deal, and took him one day to the Cathedral to see the
+progress which had been made.
+
+Hugh could not rest without going everywhere, and then was so tired
+that, while Gervase went off to inspect some of the masons' work, he
+curled himself up upon one of the misereres and fell asleep.  He awoke
+with a start to find himself looked down upon by a kindly-faced man in
+an ecclesiastical dress, though this last was not of the sumptuous
+character at that time worn.  Other ecclesiastics were moving about the
+building.  Hugh started to his feet, but the priest, whoever he was,
+seemed in no way displeased at his presence.
+
+"Thou art a pale-faced urchin," he said good-humouredly; "have thy
+friends left thee behind and forgotten thee?"
+
+"Nay, reverend sir," said Hugh, "I am Master Gervase's apprentice."
+
+"I always heard he was an easy man, and so he suffers his apprentices to
+sleep in working hours?  But it is he for whom we were searching, and if
+thou wilt go forth and find him for me, thou mayest earn a silver
+penny."
+
+Hugh had some little difficulty in discovering Elyas, who had climbed a
+scaffolding to examine the work close at hand.  He hurried down when he
+had heard Hugh's report, saying that it was doubtless the bishop, and
+bidding the boy follow him.
+
+The three bishops who succeeded each other in the see of Exeter, Quivil,
+Bitton, and Stapledon, have each left their mark upon the Cathedral.
+Quivil's share was the most important; it was he who by the insertion of
+large windows formed the transepts, and to whom we owe the beautiful and
+unbroken line of vaulting.  Bitton was only fifteen years at Exeter, but
+he carried on the designs of his predecessor with enthusiastic loyalty,
+and completed the eastern end of the choir.  It was this on which he
+constantly desired to consult Gervase.
+
+"The work goes on well," he said cheerfully, rubbing his hands.  "You
+have caught the true spirit.  We shall never see our glorious Church
+finished, goodman, yet it is something to feel that we shall have left
+behind us something towards it.  _Quam dilecta tabernacula tua, Domine
+virtutum_!  I like the lightness of that stonework, and mine eye is
+never weary of following the noble lines of vaulting.  Only I shall not
+rest until something has been designed to unite it with the pillars.
+There is a blank look which offends me."
+
+"I see it, too, my lord.  Is it not the very place for a richly carved
+_surs_ (corbel)?"
+
+"Ay, that is it, that is it!  A corbel which should spring from the
+pillar, and follow the line of the arch.  We must reflect on this,
+Master Gervase, and they shall be of finest cutting, and each varying
+from the other.  But we may not think of this yet awhile, for truly
+there is enough on hand to call for all thy skill and industry.  How
+fair it looks, with the winter sunshine striking on the fair stonework!
+_Non nobis, Domine_!"
+
+One or two of the canons had by this time closed up, and began to speak
+of what had been done.
+
+"When the western end is brought to equal the eastern," said one of
+them, William Pontington by name, "there will be no church in our land
+more fair.  What will the king say?"
+
+"The king is not in the best of humours with his clergy," said the
+chaunter or precentor, a little dried-up man, with a sour face.  "What
+think you, my lord, of the archbishop's mandate?"
+
+The good bishop looked uneasy.  Winchilsey, Archbishop of Canterbury,
+was a turbulent and ambitious prelate, and the king, though sincerely
+religious, was forced to be ever on the watch against encroachments made
+by Pope Boniface, and supported by the archbishop, which threatened the
+royal supremacy.  The strongest attempt of all had just been put forth
+in a bull from the pope, "forbidding the clergy to grant to laymen any
+part of the revenues of their benefices without the permission of the
+Holy See."  Now as the kings of England had ever the right of taxing the
+clergy with the rest of their subjects, as the possessions of the Church
+were enormous, and papal taxation of the whole kingdom far exceeded the
+taxation by the State, so that in a few years the pope is said to have
+received money from England equal to nine millions of our present money,
+Edward promptly resisted this fresh and unheard-of claim.  He did so by
+a simple and effectual counter-stroke.  It was announced at Westminster
+that whatever complaint was brought to the court by the archbishops,
+bishops, or clergy, "no justice should be done them," and this
+withdrawal of State protection speedily led the clergy to offer their
+submission to the king, in spite of the anger of pope and archbishop.
+
+But the dissension had placed them on the horns of a dilemma, and Bishop
+Bitton had no liking for speech on the subject.  He muttered something
+in answer to the precentor's injudicious question, and turned to Hugh,
+who was standing a short way from the group.
+
+"There is thy penny for thee," said the bishop, beckoning to him, "and
+now tell me, sir apprentice, whether thou art a good lad, and learning
+thy craft fairly and truly, so that in time thou mayest have thy share
+in this great work of ours?"
+
+Hugh coloured crimson, and looked down, and Elyas came to his rescue.
+
+"He hath not been with me yet three months, my lord, so please you, and
+half that time hath been ill; but he is the child of the wood-carver of
+whom I spoke, and, if he is industrious, I have good hope he will credit
+his father."
+
+"And what part wilt thou choose for thy share?" asked the bishop, with a
+wave of his gloved hand towards roof and walls.
+
+"The corbels, my lord," answered Hugh, boldly.  Bitton looked delighted.
+
+"So thou hast caught our words, and wilt bespeak the work thyself?
+Well, I shall not forget.  Learn with all thy might, and, who knows,
+some day thy carving may help to decorate this our Church of St
+Peter's?"
+
+After this, when the bishop caught sight of Hugh, he never failed to
+speak to him and ask how his learning fared.  And hearing from Elyas
+that the boy could read and write, he arranged that on Sundays he should
+come to the Kalendarhay, where one of the Kalendar brothers instructed
+him.
+
+When Twelfth-Night was over, Hugh went back to the yard, where work was
+expected to go on vigorously after the feasting and mirth of that
+season, which was loud and boisterous.  On the eve the town was full of
+minstrels, who carried huge bowls of wassail--ale, sugar, nutmegs, and
+roasted apples--to the houses of the well-to-do inhabitants, and Wat, as
+it may be conceived, had his full share in these doings.  In the country
+there was a curious pagan ceremony kept up in Devonshire on this night,
+for at the farms the farmer and his men would carry a great pitcher of
+cider into the orchard, and choosing the best bearing tree, walk
+solemnly round it, and drink its health three times.
+
+Master Gervase grew somewhat red and shamefaced when his wife reminded
+him that he had often been the pitcher-bearer on his father's farm.
+
+"It was there I first saw thee," she said, "and my mother pointed thee
+out, and said thou wast as strong as Edulf."
+
+"Who was Edulf?" asked Hugh of Wat, under his breath.
+
+"The strongest man that ever lived.  He came to Exeter in a rage, and
+broke the iron gate with his two hands," expounded Wat, stuffing a large
+piece of pasty into his mouth.
+
+"The strongest man that ever lived was Samson," said Hugh, dogmatically.
+
+"Samson!  Nobody ever heard of him, and I tell thee Edulf was the
+strongest."
+
+The quarrel might have grown, but that Franklyn growled at them to hush
+their unmannerly prating; and Joan announced in her clear, decided voice
+that Agrippa should have his special Twelfth-night spice-cake.  For in
+spite of her mother's loud remonstrances, the monkey had been taken into
+Joan's heart of hearts, and, it was certain, was secure from any
+sentence of banishment.
+
+Franklyn had been a good deal shocked by Hugh's flight and illness, but,
+as was natural, the impression passed away as the little apprentice
+regained his health, and Elyas saw that he was not inclined to change
+his treatment.  For the reasons already given, the master had no thought
+of interfering, it was for the boy now to prove what stuff he had in
+him.  It was a sort of ordeal through which he had to pass; an ordeal
+which might develop patience, resolution, and the humility of a true
+artist, and though Gervase told himself that he would be on the watch,
+ready with words of encouragement when they were needed, he held back
+from more.  Hugh had the same rough, uninteresting work to toil upon--
+indeed the stone had been set aside for his return; the same careful
+explanations of how to handle his tools and make his strokes, which he
+took to be a reflection on his father's teaching; the same lack of
+praise.  But now he brought to it a more cheerful spirit, hope was
+astir; he felt sure that the master was watching his efforts, and that
+it rested with himself and his own perseverance to make his way.  It was
+not easy.  Often he grew hot and angry; often he was tempted into
+careless work; but he would not give up trying, and upon the whole held
+on very fairly.
+
+Then, in spite of his awkwardnesses and a dense stupidity about his
+work, Wat was a good-natured companion, ready to take any trouble and to
+carry any blame.  He had been so often told by Franklyn that he would
+never rise to more than a mason, that he had grown to accept the verdict
+against which Hugh was always trying to make him rebel.
+
+"He knows best," he would say, hammering loosely at the stone.
+
+"What an oaf thou art, Wat!  It all rests with thyself.  Franklyn should
+never make me a mason."
+
+"Because--there, I have chipped it!" scratching his head in dismay.
+
+"And small wonder!  Give me thy tool, which thou holdest as the goodwife
+holds her knife--so!"
+
+"If I thought it were any use--" began the disconsolate Wat.
+
+"Try and see."
+
+"And thou thinkest I might catch the trick of it?"
+
+"Try.  There, now go on.  Thou knowest as well as any how to hold the
+tools."
+
+So far as impatience and calling of names went Hugh was a harder
+taskmaster than Franklyn, but he put more energy into his teaching, and
+dragged the reluctant Wat along by sheer force of will, the result being
+that, though he got no praise for himself, some fell to his pupil, which
+really pleased him as much as if it had been the other way.
+
+Wat was the great purveyor of news; no one knew how he picked up his
+information, but nothing happened in the city but it somehow reached his
+ears before it was half an hour old.  He knew of all the quarrels
+between the bishop and chapter and the mayor and his twenty-four
+councillors or aldermen, and how two of the canons fell upon two of the
+bailiffs and pommelled them vigorously, before even the mayor's wife had
+been informed of the scandal.  He it was who reported the falling out
+between Sir Baldwin de Fulford and his wife, because she wanted an
+extravagantly fine chaplet of gold, the cost of which displeased him.
+It seemed that there were great expenses she led him into, for they had
+glass over from France for their windows, and forks for dinner, and many
+such luxuries, and each one Wat knew quite well--though how, no one ever
+knew.  And at last, one day in January, when there had been a fall of
+snow which whitened all the roofs, and gave great joy to the prentice
+lads, Wat rushed in, powdered over with snow, so full of news that he
+could scarce keep from shouting it out as he ran, and so intent upon
+that and nothing else that he rushed up against Mistress Prothasy, and
+sent the dish of roasted apples she was carrying out of her hand.  She
+gave him a sound box in his ear, and told him he should have no apples
+for supper.  But even this threat could not compose Wat, well as he
+loved roasted apples.
+
+"Truly, good wife," he said, breathlessly, as he picked them up, "thou
+must forgive me this time for my news."
+
+"What news?" said Prothasy crossly.  "Thou hast ever some foolish tale
+in thy idle head."
+
+"This is no foolish news," cried Wat, triumphantly.  "King Edward is on
+his way!"
+
+"Nay!"
+
+"Ay, mistress, it is true.  He is at Bristol, and comes here in four
+days' time, and the mayor is almost out of his wits, and there will be a
+banquet at the Guildhall, and the Baron of Dartington and Lord Montacute
+and Sir Richard de Alwis and my Lord of Devon are making ready to ride
+to meet the king, and all the saddlers and armourers are rushing from
+one end of the city to the other, and there will be feasting and
+bonfires, and we prentices are to stand in the Crollditch to shout when
+he comes in at the East Gate, and I warrant you none will shout lustier
+than I!"
+
+"Mercy on us, thou wilt deafen me with thy chatter!" said Prothasy,
+clapping her hands on her ears; "but there is an apple for thee, since
+thy head had some reason for its turning to-day.  The king so near!  I
+must go and pull out my green kirtle."
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+SWORD OR CHISEL?
+
+Wat's enthusiasm found hearty echo in the house.  Roger, indeed, ever
+self-absorbed and eagerly bent upon his own advancement, muttered
+something that such shows were fit only for fools and jackanapes, but he
+dared say nothing of the sort aloud, when even Master Gervase himself
+was like a boy in his delight over the occasion.  Great consultations
+took place between the different guilds.  These guilds had flourished in
+Exeter from a very early period, and were founded and preserved on
+strong religious lines.  Chief and earliest among them were the merchant
+guilds.  Craft guilds grew up later, not, as in other countries, opposed
+to the merchants, but under their authority, formed merely to promote
+and regulate matters belonging to their own crafts.  Master and wardens
+met regularly in the common hall, and every full craftsman worth twenty
+shillings might be a brother.  Generally there was a distinctive dress,
+or, at any rate, hood.  The guilds took care that their members bore
+good characters, and there were heavy penalties for bad words, or what
+was called "misquoting."  No one might work without leave of the
+wardens.  No one might undersell a craft brother.  The guilds arranged
+that all goods received a fair price, and that they were of the best
+quality.  An excellent technical education was provided, and the tools
+that were used were closely inspected.  Women might have part in the
+guilds, widows being allowed to carry on their business under their
+protection.  There were also craft courts to which all complaints were
+brought, and it will be easily understood how much guilds had to do with
+the local government of a town.
+
+It was now necessary to organise a banquet to be given to the king, and
+a day of feasting and rejoicing for the poor, and Gervase was very busy
+over the arrangements.  Frost and snow still continued, but flags and
+gay hangings were profusely used, and nothing could have been more
+picturesque than the narrow streets with their beautiful black-timbered
+houses, snow on the steep roofs, and all manner of bright colours
+hanging from windows and carved balconies.  The only thing there was
+doubt about was the sun, but after an hour or two of hesitation in the
+morning, it broke out in full brilliancy, giving the final touch to a
+gay pageant of moving colour, of which we in England now have little
+conception.
+
+Rougemont Castle, of course, put on its gayest face, but the chief
+preparations were at the East Gate, to which the road from Bristol led
+direct, passing by St Sidwell's Church.  Here the king would enter, and
+here in Crollditch, the present Southernhay, where the Lammas fair was
+annually held, the apprentices intended to muster, and to see as much as
+they could, the greater number of the burgesses being within the gate,
+so as to welcome the king to the city.  If it had not been for Wat,
+Hugh's chance of seeing would have been small, for as the king and his
+knights rode up, the bigger apprentices closed tumultuously nearer,
+shouting with all the force of their lungs, and the lesser boys were
+pushed back without mercy.  But Wat was a faithful friend.  He held fast
+by Hugh, and used his own strong limbs to good effect.  Opposite to them
+was a crowd of the poorest of the city.
+
+"Keep thy legs, gammer--good folk, press not so closely!  Here they
+come!"
+
+"Alack, alack, I can see nothing!"
+
+"There is the king on a black horse!"
+
+"Nay, that is my Lord of Albemarle."
+
+"Ay, there's the king!"
+
+"Where?  Where?"
+
+"He rides a white horse, with the bishop by his side."
+
+"The saints preserve him!  How he towers above them all!  A proper man,
+indeed!"
+
+The sight was very striking as the gallant cavalcade swept slowly into
+the grim shadows of the East Gate, with its walls stretching away on
+either side, and out into the keen sunshine beyond, where
+representatives from the guilds, the mayor, bailiffs, and councilmen
+were drawn up with every mark of pageantry.  Loud shouts broke from the
+crowd, many cries of blessing were raised, and some appeals for
+"Justice, my Lord King!" were heard.  All the way down the High Street
+the narrow way was so thronged with citizens that Edward and his train
+could scarcely make way, and there was time enough for Wat and Hugh to
+rush down a side way and get round to their master's house before the
+king reached it.  Joan was in the balcony with her mother craning her
+little neck to see the show, and beckoning to Hugh, but the boy had a
+design in his head; rushing up to catch Agrippa, and, when he had got
+him, determinedly squeezing his way to the front.  In this he might not
+have succeeded but for the good nature of my Lord of Devon's jester, who
+was a favourite in the town, and now in his motley suit had taken up his
+position before Master Gervase's house.  He pathetically implored the
+crowd to make room for his grandfather, and the roar of laughter which
+followed when this turned out to be the monkey secured Agrippa's
+position.
+
+Hugh's heart beat fast as he saw the men-at-arms clearing the way with
+no little difficulty.
+
+"Hold thou on to my sleeve," whispered the good-humoured jester, "and
+we'll not budge."
+
+He was as good as his word, and as the king passed with a smile on his
+grave face, for he was touched by the fervour of his welcome, Hugh and
+his monkey were so close that Edward's eye fell upon him.  He was
+certain that he was recognised, for the king's smile deepened, and he
+said something to the bishop, who raised himself in his stirrups to get
+sight of the boy.  Nor was this all.  The monkey attracted the attention
+of the _suite_, and a knight suddenly reined up his horse and bent down.
+
+"Why, thou art the little varlet that was at Stourbridge Fair!  I mind
+me now thy father spoke of Exeter.  How goes it with him?  Has he a
+choice bit of his work that I can take back to my lady?  What, dead!
+Nay, that is sad, but he looked scarce like to live.  Thou mayest come
+to the bishop's palace, where we lie, and ask for my squire, John
+Wakefield, if thou wilt."
+
+He nodded and rode on, and Hugh was besieged by inquiries of who he was,
+and what had led him to speak.
+
+"Sir Thomas de Trafford," repeated the jester.  "A fair name and an
+honourable.  Prithee forget not a poor cousin, if there be preferment to
+be had.  I would almost renounce my cap and bells to be dubbed a
+knight."
+
+But Joan overhead was clamouring for Hugh, and Prothasy's curiosity was
+getting past bearing.  She had never quite believed the boy's story of
+the gold noble, but all had seen the king's amused smile of recognition,
+and now she questioned Hugh sharply, while he was longing to be off with
+Wat, who was in the thick of the crowd which had closed up on the heels
+of the men-at-arms, and was following the king down the High Street, for
+to pleasure them he rode as far as the Carfax or conduit, the central
+point of the city, which stood at the junction of North and South
+Street, where much business was transacted, before going to the quarters
+prepared for him in the bishop's palace.  Hugh got away at last, but he
+was in the rear of things, and could get no nearer than the tail of the
+procession, every now and then catching the gleam of armour in the
+distance as some corner was turned, while the people were cheering and
+pushing with all their might, and gathering the largesse freely
+distributed.
+
+Gervase came home in high good humour, for the king had received the
+guild officers very cordially, and promised a hearing for the next day,
+the townspeople having certain matters to plead against the clergy with
+reference to the walls of the close--a very fruitful source of dispute.
+
+"'Tis a pity though, goodman, that the king is lodged in the palace
+where the bishop will have his ear," said Franklyn.
+
+"Pish!" answered Elyas.  "Little thou knowest of Edward if thou thinkest
+him to be so easily turned!  He will look into the affair and judge
+according to right.  No favour beyond that need bishop nor mayor look
+for.  But there is no doubt that the ecclesiastics are pushing their
+privileges as to right of way too far, and I wish there were as good a
+chance of getting Countess Weir removed, and restoring the navigation of
+the river."
+
+"Father," said Joan solemnly, "I saw the king, and I kissed him my
+hand."
+
+"Didst thou so, my popinjay?  And I warrant that pleased him.  He hath a
+Joan of his own, what thinkest thou of that?"
+
+"Little, like me?  Father, there was a beautiful shining knight that
+spoke to Hugh and Agrippa, and Hugh is to go to the palace to-morrow."
+
+So Gervase had to hear this story.  He looked grave over it, for he knew
+what were the boy's secret longings, and Stephen had told him of Sir
+Thomas de Trafford's offer, and how it had fallen in with them.  And
+though Hugh was his sworn apprentice, and could not be removed, yet the
+king, who had a high respect and liking for Sir Thomas, might ask for
+his release as a personal favour which the stone-cutter could not
+refuse.  Elyas felt, moreover, that the boy's first days of
+apprenticeship had not been of a kind to lead him to care overmuch for
+his craft.  Franklyn had succeeded in making them full of
+discouragement, and though of late Hugh had worked steadily and well, he
+had been given no opportunity of getting on, and might well be out of
+heart.  Elyas felt very doubtful as to the result of this visit, and was
+grieved not only because his promise to Stephen had been to do his
+utmost to teach him his craft, but because he really loved the boy.  In
+those days apprentices were not treated as "hands," they were actual
+members of the family.  Roger was too self-absorbed to have won his
+master's affection, and Wat, though he had excellent qualities, was for
+ever vexing Prothasy, and committing some clumsy awkwardness.  Elyas was
+sure that Hugh had that in him which by-and-by would make his work
+excellent, and had set his heart upon bringing it out.  Was all this
+hope to end?
+
+Hugh himself was not without thoughts on the subject.  The sight of the
+king, the half smile with which he had been recognised, had stirred up
+his old desires into ardent longing.  Once again nothing in the world
+seemed so grand as to have the power of fighting, and, if needs were,
+dying for him.  The grave earnest face, saddened by troubles which would
+have overwhelmed a weaker soul, fired the boy's enthusiasm, where others
+complained of want of geniality.  Then Sir Thomas de Trafford's notice
+had crimsoned him with pleasure and brought back Dame Edith's sweet
+face, with which it must be owned Prothasy's could not compare.  He was
+sick of mouldings and ratings, and though the Cathedral always raised a
+longing in him to be one of the great brotherhood of workers who were
+making it glorious, he felt at times a dreary conviction that the day
+would never come, and then the old longing to fling down hammer and
+chisel grew strong, and he thought that had his father but been there he
+would surely have yielded to his longing.
+
+Wat was even more excited than he on the matter of this visit, begging
+hard to be allowed to go with him as far as the palace, and quite
+content with the prospect of a chance of seeing a squire, or a
+man-at-arms, or perhaps one of the pages who swaggered about with much
+contempt for sober citizens.  With this hope he stayed outside the
+palace gate, where a crowd was collected to see the king.
+
+Hugh's heart beat fast, but he went boldly in and asked for John
+Wakefield.  A sturdy, fatherly-looking squire came out, who smiled when
+he saw so young a visitor, and reported that the knight was in the
+garden where he had gone to look at the towers of the Cathedral.  In
+parts of the garden the snow lay deep, and the pages had been amusing
+themselves this morning with building a snow man in one corner, but now
+were gone off to attend the king, and only Sir Thomas and a chaplain
+paced the walks.  Hugh waited until they turned towards him.
+
+"Who's this?" said the knight stopping.  "Beshrew me, but it is the
+monkey boy, as my little Nell persists in calling him!  Knowest thou
+aught of him, holy father?"
+
+"Naught, gentle sir, more than that by his dress he should be
+apprenticed to the Masons' Guild--yes, and I have seen him in the
+Cathedral with Master Gervase."
+
+Beckoned to come nearer, Hugh made his reverence and stood bare-headed,
+while Sir Thomas questioned him upon what had befallen them: the
+shipwreck, his father's death, and his present position.
+
+"And thou wouldst sooner chip stones than be in my household?  By my
+faith it seems a strange choice!"
+
+Poor Hugh!  It was all he could do to keep the tears back from his eyes.
+
+"I would rather be in your household, sir, than anywhere in the world,"
+he said in a choked voice.
+
+"Sayest thou so?" returned Sir Thomas loudly.  "Then, wherefore not?
+Thy master would do me a favour, I make no doubt, and cancel thy bond,
+and it would pleasure my little Nell if I took thee and the monkey back
+with me, though I know not how Wolf would behave.  Speak up, without
+fear, and tell me if thou art willing."
+
+Willing!  Every longing in his heart leapt up and cried out to be
+satisfied.  Willing!  What would he not give for such a life!  It danced
+up and down before him decked in brightest colours, while on the other
+side he seemed to hear Franklyn's ceaseless rebukes, and to feel all the
+weariness of unsuccessful toil.  Willing!
+
+But then at that moment his eye fell upon the towers of the Cathedral,
+and from the building, faint but sweet, there came the sound of young
+voices chanting the praises of the Lord.  And with the sound rushed upon
+him the remembrance of his father's words, of the promise he had made,
+of all the wood-carver's hopes, and fears, and longings!  Could he
+disappoint him?  He covered his face with his hands and sobbed out,
+"Noble sir, I would, I would, but I can not!"
+
+"Wherefore?"
+
+"My father--he would have me a carver."
+
+Sir Thomas was silent, but perhaps thinking to pleasure him, the
+chaplain pushed the matter.
+
+"But thou mayest choose for thyself now that thy father is dead."
+
+"Nay, holy sir," said Hugh, keeping his head down, "but I promised."
+
+"Nevertheless--" began the chaplain, when the knight interrupted.
+
+"Prithee no more, father; a promise is a sacred thing, and the urchin is
+in the right.  Keep covenant is ever the king's word.  What was thy
+promise, boy?"
+
+"That I would learn the craft, and he hoped that in time I might work
+there," pointing to the Cathedral.  "But William Franklyn says I never
+shall."
+
+"Pay no heed to his croaking," said Sir Thomas heartily.  "Work there,
+ay, that shalt thou, and when I ride here again with the king, thou
+shalt show me what thou hast done."
+
+He kept the boy longer, speaking kindly, and sending him away at length
+with the gift of a mark, as he said, to buy a remembrance of Mistress
+Nell.  And when he had gone he turned to the chaplain.
+
+"That was a struggle gallantly got through," he said.  "I would I could
+be sure mine own Edgar would keep as loyally to my words when I am gone.
+But the boy prince's example and influence are of the worst."
+
+And Hugh?
+
+He had done what was right, but right doing does not always bring
+immediate satisfaction--very often it is the other way, and we think
+with regret upon what we have given up, and something within us suggests
+that we have been too hasty, and that there were ways by which we might
+have done what was almost right and yet had what we wanted.  If Master
+Gervase could have been brought to consent, knowing all Stephen
+Bassett's wishes, why, then, surely Hugh might have gone his way,
+feeling that he had tried to follow his father's road, and only given up
+when he found he could not get on.  And yet twist it as he would, this
+reasoning would not come fair and smooth, and there was always something
+which he had to pass over in a hurry.  Sir Thomas, too, had said he was
+right.
+
+Wat pounced upon him before he had gone far, evidently expecting that he
+would have a great deal to tell--perhaps have seen the king in his
+crown.  At any other time Hugh might have held his peace, but just now
+there was a hungry longing in his heart, so that he poured all out to
+Wat--Sir Thomas's offer and his own refusal.  It must be owned that he
+was disappointed that Wat took it as a matter of course, while agreeing
+that it would have been very fine to have ridden away from Exeter in the
+king's train.
+
+"Then with Agrippa in thy arms thou might'st have passed for the
+jester."
+
+"Gramercy for thy fancy," said Hugh offended.
+
+"That would become thee better."
+
+"Ay, it would be rare," answered Wat with a sigh.  "I am such an oaf at
+this stone-cutting that sometimes I could wish myself at the bottom of
+the sea."
+
+"What made thee take to the craft?"
+
+"To pleasure my old mother.  She is a cousin of Franklyn's, and thought
+I was a made man when she had stinted herself sufficiently to pay the
+premium.  But I shall never be more than a mason," added Wat dolefully.
+"Now thou hast it in thee."
+
+"I know not.  Franklyn has never a good word for aught I do."
+
+"Never heed old Franklyn.  He is as sour as a crab, because he wanted
+the master to take his little jackanapes of a nephew as prentice.  He
+would like to keep thee back, but do thou hold on and all will come
+right.  Why, even I can see what thy work is like, and so does he, and
+so does the master, only the master will do nothing to touch Franklyn's
+authority, and so he holds his peace."
+
+"But you think he knows?" asked Hugh eagerly.
+
+"Think?  How should he not know?  He can measure us all better than
+Franklyn, and he knows, too, that I am more fitted for a life in the
+greenwood than to be chopping away with mallet and chisel."
+
+It was very unusual for Wat to talk with so much shrewdness and common
+sense.  Usually he was addle-pated enough, caring little for ratings,
+and plunging into trouble with the most good-natured tactlessness, so
+that friends and foes alike showered abuse upon him.  Hugh had taken it
+for granted that he would be the same wherever he was, never realising
+that his present life was especially distasteful to him, and yet that he
+accepted it without gainsaying.  It gave his words now a weight which
+was quite unusual, for he seemed never to suppose it possible that Hugh
+could go against his promise to his father, while he quite acknowledged
+that the other life would have been delightful.  All seemed to arrange
+itself simply into two sides, right and wrong, so that Hugh began to
+wonder how he could ever have doubted when it was so clear to Wat.
+
+In the house he found Joan shrieking because her father could not take
+her forth, and he was glad enough to make her over to Hugh, telling him
+that the king was to ride down the High Street to see the new bridge
+before returning to the banquet at the Guildhall, and warning him to
+take care not to allow Joan to be over-much entangled in the crowd.
+Then he put his hands on the boy's shoulders and looked into his face.
+
+"What said the knight to thee?"
+
+"He offered, if thou wouldst consent, sir, to take me back with him, and
+to bring me up in his household."
+
+"As I expected," said Elyas, gravely.  "And that would content thee?"
+
+"It is what I ever longed for," said poor Hugh.
+
+There was a pause.  Gervase seemed to find it difficult to put the next
+question.
+
+"Does the knight come here then to see me?"
+
+"Nay," said the boy wearily, "it were no use, goodman.  I told him that
+I was bound by my promise to my father."
+
+"Ay, didst thou so?  And what said he?"
+
+"There was a holy father there who would have urged me, but the knight
+stopped him, and said a promise was binding, and that the king's word
+was ever `Keep covenant.'"
+
+Gervase's eyes glistened.  "It was well, it was well.  Hadst thou been
+set upon it, Hugh, I had not withstood thee, but I should have grieved.
+No blessing comes from self-seeking.  And hast thou," he added more
+cheerily, "hast thou forgotten the corbels thou hast to do for the
+bishop?"
+
+His words put fresh heart into the boy, and he felt that even had he
+followed his own longings it would have cost him much to leave Master
+Gervase.  Then Joan ran in, warmly and daintily dressed, gathering up
+her little skirts to show Hugh her new long pointed shoes, all her tears
+forgotten, and her mind running upon the king and his knights.  Her
+mother, though sharp with Hugh, would trust her little maid anywhere
+with him, and the two set forth down the narrow streets where was a
+throng of villeins, of country people who had poured in for miles round,
+of guild-brothers in their distinctive dresses, of monks from the
+monasteries of Saint Nicholas and Saint James, grey and black friars,
+Kalendar sisters, while mingling with these graver dresses were the more
+brilliantly clad retainers of the nobles who had accompanied or come to
+meet the king, most gorgeous among whom were those of the household of
+Dame Alicia de Mohun, who had journeyed in great state from Tor Mohun,
+near Torbay, and the trappings of whose palfrey caused the citizens much
+amazement.  As many minstrels, dancing girls, and jongleurs had
+collected as if it had been fair time, and the bakers who sold bread by
+the Carfax were so pressed upon that they were forced to gather up their
+goods and remove them hastily.
+
+Joan did not find it as delightful as she expected.  Not all Hugh's
+efforts could keep the crowd from pressing upon her, and he looked
+anxiously about for some safer means of letting her see the show.  He
+spied at last a projection from one of the houses where he thought she
+might stand, and from whence she could look over the shoulders of the
+crowd, and there with much difficulty and pushing he managed to place
+her, standing himself so that he could both shield and hold her.  There
+was no chance of seeing anything himself, for he was hedged in by a
+moving crowd, and more than one looked rather angrily upon him for
+having secured this standing-point before they had discovered its
+advantages.  But Joan was mightily pleased.  She was out of the press,
+and could see all that was to be seen, upon which she chattered volubly
+to her faithful guard below.
+
+They had long to wait, but there was enough amusement for her not to
+weary, and when at last she became a little silent and Hugh wondered
+whether she would be content much longer, a cry of "The king!" was
+raised, and heads were eagerly stretched to see him turn out from Broad
+Gate.  Down came the gay train, larger than that of the day before,
+owing to the many nobles and knights, Champernownes, Chudleighs,
+Fulfords, Pomeroys, Courtenays, and others, who had come into the city,
+and very noble they looked turning down the steep hill between the old
+houses.
+
+But Hugh could neither see nor think of them, he was in so much dread
+that Joan would be swept or dragged off her standing place.  The people
+were wild to have sight of the king, and those who were behind looked
+covetously at the projection.  One or two pressed violently by Hugh,
+muttering that children were best left at home, and at last, as the
+cavalcade drew nearer and the excitement heightened, a wizened little
+man pushed the girl off and would have clambered into the place if a
+stronger fellow had not collared him and climbed there himself.  Joan
+meanwhile was in danger of being trampled under foot, though Hugh fought
+and kicked with all the vigour in the world, shielding her at the cost
+of many hard blows on himself from those who were bent only upon pushing
+forward without heeding what was in their way.  Joan, however, was not
+one to be maltreated without protest, and the instant she realised what
+had happened, she uttered a series of piercing shrieks, which caused the
+king and his train to look in her direction.  Edward pulled up, and two
+or three of the men-at-arms, hastily parting the crowd, disclosed Joan
+clinging to Hugh, uttering woeful cries and prayers to be taken home.
+One of them would have raised her in his arms, but this was fresh
+terror, and whispering to Hugh, "Bring her thyself," he pushed them
+gently along towards the royal party.
+
+"Is the child hurt?" asked Edward hastily, and then recognising Hugh,
+who was red with shame at his own plight, and to have Joan hanging round
+his neck, the king smiled, and beckoned to him.  Hugh bent on his knee
+as well as he could for Joan, and answered the king's brief questions
+clearly.  Someone had pulled the little maid down, and she was afraid of
+being trampled upon, and Joan, convinced now that she was in safety,
+relaxed her hold and gazed from one to the other with eyes full of
+innocent awe.
+
+"She is a fair little maiden," said Edward, kindly, "and thou art a
+brave prentice.  Ever keep on the side of the weak.  Now, my lords," he
+added, "as the matter is not serious, we will ride to the bridge."
+
+The people cheered lustily as he passed on, and Hugh and Joan were the
+hero and heroine of the hour.
+
+"What said he?  What said he?"
+
+"Blessings on him, he hath a kindly heart!  There's many a proud baron
+would have paid no heed to a babe's cries, but I warrant me he thinks of
+his lady."
+
+"Where's the churl that pushed her off?  A good ducking should he have."
+
+But, fearing this turn of the tide, the man had slunk away, and Joan,
+pleased as she was with the admiring epithets bestowed upon her, desired
+to be taken home, and made a discovery which moved her to tears, in the
+fact that the long toes of her new shoes, subjects of much pride, were
+hopelessly-ruined.
+
+She reached the house weeping, and her mother, flying out, rated Hugh
+soundly before hearing anything of what had happened, whereupon Joan
+flung her arms round his neck, said that Hugh was good, the king had
+said so, and the people were naughty.  Prothasy listening in amazement
+could scarce believe her ears, making Hugh tell his story over and over
+again, and pouring it out to Elyas when he came back from the banquet.
+
+"The king called her a fair maiden, what thinkest thou of that,
+goodman?" she asked proudly.
+
+"And Hugh a brave prentice, what thinkest thou of that, goodwife?"
+returned her husband, with a smile.
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+AGRIPPA BRINGS PROMOTION.
+
+The king's visit was short, for the next day he departed, and Hugh with
+a swelling heart saw Sir Thomas ride away, and with him all chance of
+changing his condition.  Still, he had got over the first pangs, was
+more content, and resolved that, whatever Franklyn might do, he would
+not be discouraged.  He made another resolve.  As has been said, the
+apprentices had plenty of holidays, and Hugh cared nothing for the
+cock-fighting, which was a favourite amusement.  He liked football
+better, but he made up his mind that some of his holiday time should be
+spent in a stone carving of Agrippa.  If it pleased Master Gervase,--
+why, then, his hopes flew high.
+
+He worked hard at his design, keeping it jealously hid from all but Wat,
+whom he would have found it difficult to shut out, and who was
+profoundly impressed by his ambition.  Agrippa was not the easiest of
+models, since to keep still was an impossibility, but Hugh managed to
+get him into clay very fairly, and in a good position.  He was
+dreadfully disheartened when he tried to reproduce it in stone; it fell
+far short of his conception, and appeared to him to be lifeless.
+Indeed, had it not been for Wat, he might have given up his attempt in
+despair; but Wat's interest was intense, and he was never weary of
+foretelling what Master Gervase would say of it, and how even Franklyn
+might be compelled to admire in spite of grudging.  How this might have
+been, it is impossible to say; Hugh was spared from making the trial,
+for, as it happened, just when Lent began Franklyn was seized with
+severe rheumatic pains, which made it impossible for him to work, or
+even come to the yard.  Generally one of the other journeymen on such an
+emergency stepped into his place, but this time, for some reason or
+other, Master Gervase overlooked things himself.  He made a very careful
+examination, and, for almost the first time in his life, Wat received
+actual praise.
+
+"Thou hast got a notion into thy head at last."
+
+Wat could not resist making a face expressive of his amazement.
+
+"'Twas thou hammered it there," he whispered to Hugh.  "If I tell the
+gammer she will think all her prophecies are coming true.  Now where's
+thy work?  Hast stuck it where he must needs see?"
+
+"Ay, see a failure," said Hugh, dolefully.
+
+But Wat was too intent upon watching Elyas to have an ear for these
+misgivings of the artist.  He fidgeted about instead of working, and got
+a sharp rebuke from the master for wasting his time; indeed, Gervase was
+so much taken up with seeing that the right vein of the Purbeck quarry
+was being used for carrying on the delicate arcades of the triforium,
+that it was long before he left the men engaged upon it and came to
+Hugh.  His eye fell immediately upon the little figure.
+
+"When didst thou this?" he demanded, taking it up.
+
+"In holiday time, goodman."
+
+Long and silently the master examined it, and every moment Hugh's
+fluttering hopes sank lower.  He was sure it had never looked so ill
+before.  At last Elyas raised his head.
+
+"It doth credit to thine age," he said, warmly.  "Faults there are, no
+doubt: the head a little larger than it should be except in fashioning
+the grotesque; the space across the forehead too broad.  But what
+pleases me is that thou heist caught the character of the creature,
+thine eye having reported it to thee faithfully.  If Franklyn saw it he
+would own," he added, raising his voice so that all might hear, "that
+thou hadst earned advancement.  Finish this moulding, and I will set
+thee on some small bosses which Dame Alicia de Mohun hath commanded for
+her private chapel, and if thou wilt thou mayest work Agrippa into one
+of them."
+
+If Hugh were pleased, Elyas was hardly less so.  He had been greatly
+desirous to find some excuse by which, without seeming to set aside
+Franklyn's rule, he might give the boy a chance which he considered he
+well deserved.  He had understood something of Hugh's feelings when the
+hopes he had given up were once more dangled before his longing eyes,
+and the kindly master longed for an opportunity of encouraging him in
+his present work.  The carving of the monkey was clever enough to have
+really surprised him.  Franklyn's illness came at an excellent time, and
+no one could complain of favouritism.  So he thought Oddly enough, the
+only one who did was Roger, the elder prentice, who had hitherto seemed
+quite indifferent.  He was manifestly out of temper, muttering that it
+was enough to have the beast jabbering at you in life, without having
+him stuck up in stone, and for the first time doing his best in the
+small room the three apprentices shared to make things bad for Hugh.
+But Hugh was much too proud and happy to care for this, and he had Wat
+on his side, so that Roger's enmity could not do much.  Wat's great
+desire was to be himself perpetuated as a grinning mask in the centre of
+a boss.  He was for ever making horrible faces in order that Hugh might
+judge whether they were not grotesque enough, and poor little Joan,
+coming upon him one day with a mouth as it seemed to her stretching from
+ear to ear, and goggle saucer eyes, was so frightened that it was all
+the boys could do to quiet her.
+
+"If only I could round my eyes and yet frown fearfully!" cried Wat,
+making ineffectual struggles to carry out his aspiration.  "There, is
+that better?  What do I look like now?"
+
+"Like a grinning cat," said Hugh, bursting into a laugh.
+
+"Not a demon?  Perchance if I squinted?"
+
+"Hearken, Wat, I will not spoil my bosses by such an ill-favoured
+countenance, but the very first gargoyle the master sets me to make,
+thou shalt be my model.  That is a pact."
+
+"I shall?"
+
+"Ay, truly."
+
+"I will practise the most fearsome faces," cried Wat, joyfully.  "There
+shall be no such gargoyle for miles around!  Where do you think it will
+be placed?  There is a talk of a new Guildhall in the High Street, and
+it would be fine to stare down and grin at the citizens.  Then, whenever
+he saw it, it would remind the master of Prentice Wat.  Art thou coming
+out on Refreshment Sunday?"
+
+"Where?"
+
+"I never saw such a boy as thou, thou knowest naught!  Why, we make a
+figure of straw--Hugh, you could make it finely!"
+
+"What to represent?"
+
+"Nay, I know not--oh, ay, I remember me, it is Winter, only the country
+people will have it 'tis Death, 'tis so gruesome and grisly, and they
+hate to have us bring it to their houses, and give us cakes to keep it
+away.  A party of us are going as far as Topsham and Clyst this time.
+Wilt come?"
+
+"'Tis naught but mumming!"
+
+Nevertheless Hugh consented to shape the figure, which represented
+Winter in the last stage of decrepitude, and Wat begged an old tattered
+cloak and hood, so that it really gave not a bad idea of a tottering old
+man, when about twenty apprentices, sinking their constant rivalries,
+set out in high glee to visit the neighbouring hamlets, and, when all
+was done, burn Winter in the meadows outside the walls, Agrippa, by
+common consent, of the party.
+
+They had great merriment, though not by any means universal welcome, for
+some of the country folk were so frightened that they closed the doors
+of their huts, and stuffed up the window lest the hateful thing should
+be thrust in that way.  Others, seeing them in the distance, ran out
+with cakes and spiced ale, and even pennies, begging them to come no
+nearer.  The boys were very scornful of such fears.
+
+"What harm could it bring thee, goody?"
+
+"Alack, alack, young sirs, I know not, but this I know, that come last
+March Snell the smith would have it into his house, and before the year
+was out, the goodwife, who had been ailing for years, and never died
+before, was a corpse.  Here's as good a simnel cake as you will find for
+miles round, and welcome, but, prithee, bring the thing no nearer."
+
+Others there were, however, who made the boys welcome, and feasted them
+so bountifully that Hugh vowed he had never eaten so much in his life,
+and Agrippa grew to treat his dainties with scorn.  They took their way
+at length back to the meadows, bestowed the cloak and hood upon a blind
+beggar, who, guessing what was going on, besought the charity of a few
+rags, and built a grand bonfire, on the top of which Winter was seated,
+in order, as they said, that he might be warm for once.  There were
+other groups of the same sort scattered about the fields, and many
+elders had ridden out to see the fun, which reminded them of their own
+boyish days.  Joan was perched in front of her father on the
+broad-backed grey, insisting upon keeping as near to Hugh's bonfire as
+the grey could be induced to go, and crying out with delight as the
+tongues of fire leapt up, and the brushwood crackled, and at last, old
+Winter's straw being reached, a tall and glorious pyramid of fire rushed
+upwards; the lads shouted, and the reign of Winter was held to be ended.
+
+Before Lent finished, Franklyn hobbled back to the yard.  Hugh expected
+that he would have been very angry at finding him put to really advanced
+work, but it is possible that Franklyn was himself not sorry that things
+had changed without his having had to give way.  He muttered gruffly
+that the boy was no wonder, but had improved with teaching; and he
+showed no spite, for though always strict with Hugh, he took pains to
+correct his faults carefully, so that his training was thoroughly good,
+and Gervase was well satisfied with the two bosses which were Hugh's
+share of Dame Alicia's work.  Agrippa peeped from one, half concealed by
+foliage, and the other was formed of ivy and holly.  When summer came he
+was resolved to follow the master's advice and study different plants
+and leaves, so as to catch the beautiful free natural curves.  He had
+grown to love his work dearly, and to have high hopes about it, but
+perhaps it was the recollection of his father's last words, at a time
+when visions of earthly fame seemed dim and worthless, which kept him
+from thinking only, as Roger thought, of his own advancement and glory,
+and ever held before him, as the crown of his work, the hope some day to
+give of his best for the House of the Lord.
+
+The bishop had not forgotten him, often asking Master Gervase for the
+little prentice who meant to carve one of the corbels.
+
+"_Ay_, my lord, and it would not greatly surprise me if he carried out
+his thought," said Elyas, with a smile.  And he told the bishop of his
+work for Dame Alicia's chantry.  "He hath a marvellous fancy for his
+age," he added.
+
+"Brother Ambrose at the Kalendarhay complains that he is idle, but says
+he can do anything with his fingers," remarked the bishop.  "He would
+fain he were a monk, that he might paint in the missals, but thou and I
+would have him do nobler work.  Not that I would say aught against the
+good brothers," he added, rapidly crossing himself.  "Everyone to his
+calling, and the boy's lies not between their walls.  Keep him to it,
+keep him to it, goodman; give him a thorough training, for which none is
+better fitted than thyself.  It is my earnest desire that proper workers
+may be trained to give their best in this building, as of old the best
+was given for the Temple.  Thou and I may never see the fruit of our
+labours--what of that?  One soweth and another reapeth, and so it is for
+the glory of God, let that suffice.  The walls of the choir go on well,
+methinks, and in another year or two we shall have reached the Lady
+Chapel."
+
+"Ay, my lord."
+
+"And then there must be no more work done by thee for town or country.
+I claim it all.  So thou hadst best finish off Dame Alicia's chantry."
+
+"No fear, my lord.  The lady is impatient, and will not tarry till then.
+I shall have to go down in the summer to see after the fixing of these
+bosses, and of some other work which she hath confided to me, and that
+will end it."
+
+The good bishop, indeed, was inclined to be jealous over anything which
+took away Gervase's time and attention, and the stone mason had some
+difficulty in keeping his own hands free, his skill being of great
+repute among all the gentlemen round, and some of them being of fiery
+dispositions, ill-disposed to brook waiting.  There was plenty doing in
+the yard, and often visitors to see how the work got on or to give
+orders, and, as Hugh was the only one in the house who could write or
+read, his master frequently called him to his aid when a scroll was
+brought from some neighbouring abbot or prior.
+
+At Easter they had, as usual, the gammon of bacon, to show widespread
+hatred of the Jews, and the tansy pudding in remembrance of the bitter
+herbs.  Also another old custom there was, the expectation of which kept
+Gervase on the watch with a comical look on his face, and set Joan
+quivering with excitement for, as she confided to Hugh in a very loud
+whisper, mother had promised that she should be by "to see father
+heaved."
+
+She was terribly disappointed when he went out, and scarcely consoled by
+his taking her with him, and when at last he brought her home, clasping
+a great bunch of primroses in her little hot hands, she was not to be
+separated from him.
+
+"Why dost thou not go and look for thy friend Hugh?"
+
+"They might come and do it."
+
+"Perhaps I shall slip away and not let them find me at all."
+
+But the bare idea of this produced so much dismay, that Elyas was
+obliged to hasten to assure her that he would not resort to any such
+underhand proceeding.  He turned to Prothasy with a smile.
+
+"An I am to endure it, I would the silly play were over."
+
+"Thou wilt not escape, goodman.  Master Allen, the new warden of the
+Tuckers' Guild, has had such a lifting that he was fain to give twelve
+pennies to be set down again."
+
+"They'll not get twelve pennies from me.  Richard Allen is an atomy of a
+man."
+
+"Ay, thy broad shoulders will make it a different matter," said
+Prothasy, looking proudly at him; "but be not over-confident, goodman,
+for King Edward is a bigger man than thou, and they heaved him one
+Easter till he cried for mercy and offered ransom."
+
+Nothing more was heard till supper-time, when, as Elyas sat at the head
+of his table, four stout girls rushed into the room, and, amid loud
+laughter from everyone and ecstatic shrieks and clappings from Joan,
+lifted the rough stool on which he was seated into the air, and swung
+him backwards and forwards.
+
+"There, there, ye foolish wenches!  I'm too heavy a load.  Put me down,
+and the goodwife shall give ye your cakes."
+
+"Twelve pennies, goodman!  Thou, a new warden, wouldst not pay less than
+Richard Allen of the Tuckers?"
+
+"Ay, would I though."
+
+Whereupon he was screamed at and rocked as unmercifully as any boat in a
+storm, until between laughter and vexation he promised all that they
+asked, and the four girls went away declaring their arms would ache for
+a week.
+
+"Ye will not be able to make the dumb cake on Saint Mark's Eve," Gervase
+called after them, "and then, no chance for you to see your sweethearts
+at midnight."
+
+"No need for that, goodman," answered the eldest and prettiest, "we know
+who they are already."
+
+So many holidays fell at that fair time of the year that the master
+grumbled his work would ne'er be done.
+
+"May Day come and gone, ye shall have no more."
+
+But May Day itself could not be slighted, for long before sunrise the
+lads and lasses were out to gather May, or any greenery that might be
+got, and the prentices tramped through mud and mire, and charged the
+thickets of dense brushwood valiantly.  Wat was covered with scratches,
+and a sorry object as they trudged home by sunrise, in order to decorate
+the house door with branches, and all the other boys and girls were at
+the same work, so that in a short time the street looked a very bower of
+May.
+
+And now the days growing longer and the country drier, there was less
+danger from travelling, and a general desire in everyone's heart to be
+doing something or going somewhere, or otherwise proving themselves to
+have some part in this world, which never looks so fair or so hopeful as
+at the beautiful spring season.  Many of the neighbouring gentry rode
+into the city, and the ladies were glad to wear their whimsically
+scalloped garments, and their fine mantles, and to display their tight
+lacing in the streets instead of country lanes, as well as to visit the
+clothiers and drapers for a fresh supply; while their lords took the
+opportunity of looking at horses, playing at tennis, and some times,
+when much in want of ready money, disposing of a charter of liberties,
+to gain which the citizens were ready to pay a heavy fine.
+
+Master Gervase had many visits from these lords and knights, and more
+work pressed upon him than he would undertake.  My Lord of Devon had
+pretty well insisted upon his carrying out some change in his house at
+Exminster, where some forty years later was born William Courtenay, the
+future Archbishop of Canterbury, and Gervase was one day cutting the
+notches in a wooden tally, made of a slip of willow--which was the
+manner of giving a receipt--and handing it to the bailiff, when a tall
+man holding a little girl by the hand strode into the yard.
+
+"It is Sir Hereward Hamlin," Wat whispered to Hugh.
+
+Sir Hereward Hamlin, it appeared, had a commission which he would
+entrust to none but Elyas, and very wroth he became when he found it
+could not be undertaken.  It was evident that he was not used to be
+gainsaid, for he stormed and tried to browbeat the stonemason, who
+showed no signs of disturbance.  The little girl also listened quite
+unmoved.
+
+"They say she is as proud as he is," Wat the gossip commented under his
+breath, "for all her name is Dulcia; and the poor lady her mother scarce
+can call her soul her own between them."
+
+"I hope the master will not yield," muttered Hugh indignantly.
+
+There was small fear of that.  Sir Hereward's fiery temper and
+passionate outbreaks had caused him to be much disliked in the city, and
+Gervase would at no time have been disposed to work for him even had
+time been at his disposal.
+
+"It is impossible, your worship," he said coldly, nor could anything
+turn his resolution, so that Sir Hereward had to leave, muttering angry
+maledictions upon upstart knaves who know not how to order themselves to
+their betters.
+
+"I would he knew how to order himself to his own," said Gervase to
+Franklyn, "but he has never been friendly to the king since he was
+forced to restore the crown lands and divers of our rights which his
+fathers had illegally seized.  If I had yielded and done his work he
+would have thought the honour sufficient payment."
+
+When the week of rogations was at an end, with its processions and
+singing of litanies all about the streets from gate to gate, Gervase
+told Hugh of a plan which mightily delighted him, for it was none other
+but to take him with him on his journey to Tor Brewer, or Tor Mohun,
+where he had to go on this business of the Dame Alicia's chantry.  She
+had already sent serfs and horses to fetch the carved work, and with
+them an urgent message for Master Gervase to come; and as Hugh had done
+his work well--marvellously well, Elyas privately thought--he determined
+to give him the delight of seeing it fixed in its place, and the two set
+off together one morning in early June, with Joan kissing her hand from
+the balcony.  The only pang to Hugh was the leaving Agrippa, but Wat was
+his devoted slave, and solemnly vowed not to neglect him, and, moreover,
+to protect him from Roger, who had developed a keen dislike for the
+creature, while Mistress Prothasy had quite forgotten hers.
+
+It was a fair morning, and the country, then far more thickly wooded
+than now, was in its loveliest dress of dainty green.  The brushwood was
+full of birds, thrushes and blackbirds drowning the smaller notes by the
+jubilance of their whistling, while, high up, the larks were pouring out
+a rapturous flood of song.  It was the same road along which Hugh had
+journeyed twice before, but how different it looked now, and how strange
+it seemed to him that he should ever have run away from the home where
+he was so happy!  Something of the same thought may have been in
+Gervase's mind, for when they were not very far from Exminster, riding
+between banks, and under oaks, of which the yellow leaf was not yet
+fully out, he pointed to a spot in the hedge, and said with a smile:
+
+"'Twas there I found thee, Hugh, and a woe begone object thou wast!"
+Then, as he saw the boy redden, he went on kindly, "But that is all over
+and done with long ago, and now thou art content, if I mistake not."
+
+"More than content, good sir."
+
+"That is well, that is well.  A little patience will often carry us
+through the darkest days.  By-and-by show me about where thou wast
+wrecked.  Ay, the sea is a terrible place for mischances, and for myself
+I cannot think how men can be found willing to encounter such risks.
+There is talk of building larger vessels and adventuring longer voyages,
+but 'tis a rash idea.  What know we of the awful regions that they might
+light upon, or whether the vessels might not be carried too close to the
+edge of the world?  Nay, nay, keep to land, say I.  Those who must
+explore may travel there as Marco Polo hath done, and indeed there are
+many tales going about the wonders of the Court of the great Khan of
+Tartary."
+
+The road, as they journeyed on, became very beautiful, so wooded was it
+and broken, and with ever-widening views of water to the left, while on
+the right after a time they saw the ridges of Dartmoor, a very bleak and
+barren country, as Elyas told the boy, but now looking softly grey and
+delicate in colour.  By this time they had reached the Teign, and here
+at Kingsteignton stopped to rest their horses, at a house belonging to
+the Burdons of that place, Elyas having done some work for them, and
+requiring to see it in its finished condition.  Plain country people
+they were, and awkward and uncouth in manners, two or three boys on
+bare-backed colts riding up as Gervase and Hugh arrived, and pointing at
+them with bursts of laughter.  The girls, Hugh thought, were little
+better, and the fashion of their garments curiously odd and slatternly.
+When supper--which was very plentifully provided--was over, they set
+forth again on their journey, getting into a most vile road, which
+lasted for some miles, but took them without adventure to Tor Mohun,
+although it led them through an extraordinary number of rocks and tors,
+and also between exceedingly thick woods.
+
+Gervase had never been there before, and was no more prepared than Hugh
+for the view which met their eyes when they came out of the circle of
+these woods.  For there lay a very noble bay, well shut in, and with
+very beautiful and thickly wooded cliffs rising up on the eastern side.
+In a hollow of these cliffs and hills there clustered a few miserable
+hovels, otherwise it was a wild solitude, only so tempered by a kindly
+climate and the softness of the sea breezes that there was nothing rough
+or savage about it; and just now, towards sunset, with the sea like opal
+glass, and the colours all most bright and yet delicate, and the thorns
+yet in blossom, it was exceedingly pleasant to the eye, and Dame
+Alicia's house, though standing back, had it well in view.
+
+It was plain that she was a great lady by the size of the building and
+the number of retainers about, but they heard afterwards that these were
+not all hers, Sir William de Sandridge from Stoke Gabriel, and Sir
+Robert le Denys of Blagdon in the moor, having ridden over to spend two
+or three nights.  An elderly squire took charge of Gervase and his
+apprentice, showing them the little room that was to be theirs, and
+telling the warden that his lady had been eagerly expecting his coming,
+and would see him the next day.
+
+Elyas asked whether he should find workmen in the chapel early in the
+morning.
+
+"No fear, goodman," said the squire with a laugh; "Dame Alicia is not
+one to let the grass grow under her feet, and I would not answer but
+what she may keep them there all night.  Go as early as thou wilt;
+follow this passage, turn down another to the right, and thou wilt come
+to a door with steps, which will take thee there."
+
+The next few days were days of both wonder and amusement to Hugh.  Dame
+Alicia was a fiery and impetuous little lady, using such strong language
+as would have brought her a heavy fine had she been an apprentice;
+ruling her household and serfs with much sharpness, disposed to
+domineer, yet with a kind heart which prevented any serious tyranny, and
+sometimes moved her to shame for too hasty acts.  She was at times very
+impatient with Elyas, expecting her wishes to be carried out in an
+unreasonably short time, and that all other work should give way to
+hers; but the stonemason had a dignity of his own, which never failed
+him, and kept him quietly resolute in spite of sudden storms.  He would
+not consent to undertake the carving of the pulpit, or ambo, which she
+wanted set about, declaring that he had too much already on hand, nor
+would he yield to Sir Robert le Denys and go to Blagdon to advise on
+alterations there.  All, however, that he had to do at Tor Mohun he did
+admirably.  It was a proud day to Hugh when he saw the bosses he had
+carved fixed in the vaulted roof.  He worked all day in the chantry with
+delight, and would scarcely have left it had not Gervase insisted on his
+going forth into the air.  Then sometimes he would go out in one of the
+rude fishing-boats, and was delighted to find a man who knew Andrew of
+Dartmouth, and promised to convey tidings of Hugh to him.
+
+At the end of a week, in spite of Dame Alicia's reluctance, Elyas and
+Hugh went back to Exeter again, and to the old life, which had become so
+familiar.
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+WITH THE PRENTICES IN THE MEADOWS.
+
+Time passed on, weeks, months, years: slowly, though happily, for the
+children; ever faster and faster for the elders.  Joan was still the
+only child, the darling of the house, but with a sweet, frank nature
+which was proof against spoiling.  Roger had long finished his seven
+years' apprenticeship, and now worked by the day as journeyman; even Wat
+was close on the end of his term, but nobody seemed to think he could
+ever be anything except Prentice Wat, whom everybody laughed at and
+everybody liked, even better than they knew.  Nevertheless, by dint of
+hard belabouring of brains, and a most impatient patience, for he was
+ever rating him for his dulness, and yet never giving up the teaching,
+Hugh had managed to hammer more out of Wat than had been supposed
+possible in the beginning of things.  It was very hard to get him to
+take in an idea, but once in his head, he sometimes showed an aptitude
+for working it out which surprised the others, and caused Hugh
+delightful moments of triumph.
+
+As for Hugh himself, his progress was astonishing.  If he still lacked
+something of the technical skill of Franklyn, there was no one, except
+Gervase himself, who could come near his power of design.  The boy had
+an intense love of nature, nothing was lost upon him.  When he was in
+the fields or woods, he would note the exquisite curve of branches, the
+uncurling of ferns, the spring of grass or rushes, and was for ever
+trying to reproduce them.  By this means his eye and hand were trained
+in the very best school, and his designs had an extraordinary beauty and
+freedom of line, devoid of all stiffness and conventionality.  He could
+never be induced to delight in the grinning masks and monsters which
+were the joy of Wat's soul, but when any delicate and dainty work was
+called for, it was always Hugh who was set to do it.
+
+His pride and delight in the Cathedral was scarcely less than the
+bishop's.  Bishop Bitton was steadily carrying out his work in the
+choir, so as to complete the design of his predecessors.  The choir was
+now entirely rebuilt, and united to the Lady Chapel, left standing at
+the end.  The beautiful vaulting of the roof was in course of
+construction, and pushed on with all the speed that good work would
+allow.  For one characteristic of the work of those days was that it was
+of the best.  There was no competition, which we are accustomed to look
+upon as an actual necessity, but in place of this the guilds, which
+controlled labour and held it in their own hands, exercised a very
+strict oversight upon materials and execution, so that nothing which was
+bad or indifferent was allowed to pass; there was no possibility of
+underselling, nor of the workman being underpaid.
+
+The bishop had by no means forgotten his idea about the corbels.  As the
+beautiful clustered shafts of the columns--of soft grey unpolished
+Purbeck marble--were raised to support the arches, above each one was
+built in the long shapeless block, waiting to be some day carved into
+shape.  Gervase, also, was fired into enthusiasm when he spoke of them,
+and if Gervase, then yet more Hugh.  Much of his handiwork was already
+to be found in the Cathedral, but this was of more importance, and there
+was even talk of the guild admitting into their number a skilled workman
+from France, famous for his skill in stone carving.
+
+One day, in the June of 1302, master and apprentice were standing in the
+choir, Hugh having just come down from work on the triforium.
+
+"I find my eye ever running over those blocks," said Elyas with a smile,
+"and picturing them as they might look, finished.  To-day, at any rate,
+I have brought one question to an end."
+
+"What, goodman?"
+
+"I shall be offered my choice of which to work upon myself."
+
+"Ay?" said Hugh eagerly.
+
+"I shall choose that," he said, pointing to one about half-way between
+the entrance of the choir and the spot where it was designed that the
+bishop's seat should be.  "There is something friendly and inviting in
+that pillar, it fits in with my design.  Thou, Hugh, must take whichever
+they offer thee."
+
+"If they will accept me at all!"
+
+"I think so," said Elyas gravely.  "'Tis true thy lack of years is
+against thee, but there is no other hindrance, and I believe they will
+trust me in the matter.  How old art thou now, Hugh?"
+
+"Just seventeen, sir."
+
+"Already?  But, yes, it must be so.  It is all but six years since I
+stumbled upon thee in the street, a little fellow, no older than our
+Joan is now.  Much has happened in the kingdom since then, but here the
+time has flown peacefully."
+
+Much, indeed, had happened to weight the last years of the reign of the
+great king.  The second war in Scotland was over; Edward had married
+again, the Princess Margaret of France being his chosen wife.
+Parliaments had by his efforts become more frequent and more important,
+and the parliament of Lincoln, in 1301, marked an era in representative
+government, when one hundred and thirty seven cities and boroughs sent
+up representatives.  Archbishop Winchelsey was still trying to enforce
+the papal supremacy, which Edward ever resisted, and certain disaffected
+nobles joined the archbishop.  The king dealt with the two principal
+conspirators, Norfolk and Hereford, both firmly and leniently.
+Winchelsey he would not himself judge, but his ambassador placed the
+matter in the hands of the pontiff, who immediately cited the archbishop
+to Rome, to answer for his conduct.  William Thorn, a monk of
+Canterbury, thus describes the next scene: "When the archbishop knew
+that he was thus cited, he went to the king to ask for permission to
+cross the sea.  And when the king heard of his coming, he ordered the
+doors of his presence chamber to be thrown open, that all who wished
+might enter, and hear the words which he should address to him.  And
+having heard the archbishop, he thus replied to him:--`The permission to
+cross the sea which you ask of us we willingly grant you--but permission
+to return grant we none:--bearing in mind your treachery, and the
+treason which at our parliament at Lincoln you plotted against us;--
+whereof a letter under your seal is witness, and plainly testifies
+against you.  We leave it to the pope to avenge our wrongs; and as you
+have deserved, so shall he recompense you.  But from our favour and
+mercy, which you ask, we utterly exclude you; because merciless you have
+yourself been, and therefore deserve not to obtain mercy.'  And so we
+part with Winchelsey."  [_The Greatest of all the Plantagenets_.]
+
+At Exeter, however, as Gervase said, the time had passed peaceably.  Two
+burgesses had indeed with much pain and trouble journeyed all the way to
+Lincoln, and came back with marvellous stories of the magnificence of
+the barons, the crowds of retainers, the quantity of provisions
+supplied, and the deliciousness of sea-wolves, now tasted for the first
+time.
+
+And, greatly to Hugh's delight, it appeared that Sir Thomas de Trafford,
+being there with his lady and children, applied to one of the Exeter
+burgesses for news of Hugh, and sent word he was glad to hear that he
+was a good lad, and doing credit to his craft.  And Dame Edith
+despatched him a token, a rosary from the Holy Land, and the two sisters
+a gift of a mark to Agrippa, to buy him cakes.
+
+On poor Agrippa the years had, perhaps, told the most hardly.  He
+suffered much from the cold winters, and had lost a good deal of his
+activity.  But on the whole he had a very happy life, with no fear of
+ill-usage from boy or man, for he was as well-known to all the citizens
+as any other dweller in the High Street, and was held to be under the
+special protection of the guild of which Elyas was warden.
+
+That June in which Gervase and Hugh talked in the Cathedral found Wat in
+low spirits.  He had been out of his apprenticeship for nearly a year,
+but this was the first midsummer that had fallen since he had been
+promoted to what might be called man's estate, which promised to require
+more sacrifices to its dignity than he was at all willing to make.  On
+one point he had besought Master Gervase so piteously that the master
+had yielded, and allowed him to remain in the house.  Another
+apprentice, one Hal Crocker, had been admitted, and of him Wat was
+absurdly jealous, so that Hugh sometimes had to interfere, though Hal
+was a malapert boy, very well able to take care of himself.
+
+But Midsummer Eve had ever been a time of high revel for the prentices.
+
+"And this year the bonfires will be bigger than ever," cried Wat in a
+tragic voice.  "Alack, why couldn't the master keep me on as a
+prentice?"
+
+"What an oaf thou art!"
+
+"I care not for being an oaf, but I hate to be a journeyman, and have no
+merriment."
+
+Poor Wat!  He did not so much mind giving up what Hugh liked best in all
+the day, the wreathing the doorways with fennel, green birch, and
+lilies, but to lose the joy of collecting the brushwood and piling it in
+great heaps, with much rivalry among the lads as to which was the
+highest and best built--this was indeed doleful.  The meadows were
+thronged with crowds, among which he wandered disconsolate, giving sly
+help when he could do so without loss of dignity, until to his great joy
+he espied Gervase himself dragging a great bush to one of the heaps,
+upon which, with a shout of delight, Wat flung himself into a thorny
+thicket, and emerged with as much as his arms could clasp.
+
+Meanwhile other things besides fuel were being brought into the field by
+goodwives and serving maids.  Round each bonfire were placed tables on
+which supper was bountifully spread, and when it grew dusk and the fires
+were lighted, all passers-by were invited to eat, besides the friends of
+the providers.  The whole scene was extremely gay and brilliant, and
+between crackling of green things and chatter of many voices, the noise
+was prodigious.  Wat was by this time as happy as a king, running here
+and there as freely as ever in prentice days, helping the smaller boys,
+seeing that there was no lack of provisions, and inexhaustible in his
+good humour.
+
+Several of Master Gervase's friends were seated at his tables, and among
+them one Master Tirell, a member of the Goldsmiths' Guild, with his wife
+and daughters.  Hugh had noticed one of these as a very fair and dainty
+little damsel in a pale blue kirtle, who seemed somewhat shy and
+frightened, and kept very close to her mother's side.  The merriment,
+indeed, grew somewhat boisterous as the darkness crept on, and the
+bonfires were constantly fed with fresh fuel, and certain of the younger
+of the prentices amused themselves by dragging out burning brands, and
+pursuing each other with shrieks of excitement about the meadows.
+Foremost among these was Hal Crocker, who managed more than once to slip
+by Wat before the elder lad could seize him, and whose wild spirits led
+him to fling about the burning sticks which he pulled out, to the danger
+of the bystanders.  Suddenly, after one of these wild rushes there was a
+cry of terror.  Thomasin Tirell, the fair-haired girl already mentioned,
+started up and ran wildly forwards, stretching out her hands, and
+screaming for help.  Almost before the others could realise what had
+happened, Wat had sprung towards her, thrown her on the grass, and
+pressed out the fire with his hands.  She was scarcely hurt at all,
+though sorely frightened, bursting into sobs and hiding her face on her
+mother's shoulder as soon as she was on her feet again, and trembling
+like a terrified bird.  Her mother soothed her, while Master Tirell
+heartily thanked Wat, and Gervase looked angrily round in search of the
+culprit.
+
+"Beshrew me, but it was bravely done, and thou art a gallant lad," said
+Master Tirell, a portly, red-faced man; "St Loys shall have a silver
+chain for this, for the poor silly maid might have been in a sorry
+plight had she run much farther, and the fire been fanned into flame.
+Shake hands--what, are thy hands so burned?  See here, goodwife, here is
+room for thy leechcraft."
+
+It was in vain that Wat protested, he was forced to display his hands,
+at which Thomasin gazed, horror-struck, with tears running over her blue
+eyes, and hands clasped on her breast.  In fact, Wat was suddenly
+elevated into quite a new position, that of a hero, for the citizens
+pressed to the spot from all sides and heaped praises upon him.
+
+"'Twas nothing!" he kept saying awkwardly, turning redder and redder at
+each congratulation, and looking from side to side for a loophole of
+escape.  Then, as Hugh came rushing up with an eager "What is
+it?"--"That mischievous loon Hal!  If I can but lay hands on him!"
+
+"Hath he set anyone on fire?"
+
+"Ay, young Mistress Tirell.  Nay, mistress, prithee think not of it--my
+hands will be well to-morrow--'tis nothing, Mistress Thomasin--Hugh,"
+(aside), "get me out of this, for I never felt such a fool!"
+
+But there was no escape for Wat.  Hal, having been caught, and received
+summary punishment from his master, was sent home, and the party sat
+down again, some to go on with Prothasy's good things, and Thomasin to
+recover a little from her condition.  Nothing would serve but that Wat
+must sit down, too, between Thomasin and her elder sister, Alice, and
+there he was more confused than ever by faltered thanks, and grateful
+glances of the blue eyes.
+
+"How was it?" asked Alice, whispering across him.
+
+"Alack, I know not!" said the other girl, shuddering.  "I felt something
+hot under my elbow, and looked down, and there was a line of flame
+darting up, and then I screamed, and then--" to Wat--"you came."
+
+"I was too rough," stammered Wat, "but then I always am a bear."
+
+"A bear!  Nay, it was to save my life."
+
+"It was all past in a minute," said Alice.
+
+"But thy hands.  I hope mother has bound them up skilfully.  Is the pain
+great?"
+
+"Prithee speak not of it again!" cried Wat in desperation.
+
+It was curious, however, how content he was to remain in his present
+position, which Hugh fancied must be terribly irksome to him, Wat always
+finding it most difficult to sit still when anything active was going
+on.  It made him fear that he might be more hurt than they knew.  But
+the bonfires were in full blaze, and every great crackle and leap of
+flame caused Thomasin to tremble, so that Wat's presence and protection
+were very grateful to her.  And to him it was a new experience to be
+appealed to and looked up to as if he were a man; he found it
+exceedingly pleasant, he had never believed it could be so pleasant
+before.  Mistress Tirell would have him go home with them, having an
+ointment which she thought excellent for burns, and though Thomasin
+could not endure to look upon the dressing, Wat thought her interest and
+sympathy showed the kindest heart in the world.  In fact, it seemed to
+him that no one ever had been so sweet, and when he got back late, he
+was very angry that Hugh should be too sleepy to listen to his
+outpourings of admiration.
+
+As for Hal, he had to keep out of his way all day, Wat scarce being able
+to withhold his hands from him, while to Hugh he talked perpetually of
+what had happened, and put numberless questions as to what he thought
+about it all.
+
+"She was a silly maiden," said Hugh, bluntly, "to shriek and run like a
+frightened hare."
+
+"Much thou knowest!" cried the indignant Wat.  "Thou wouldst have had
+her sit and be burned, forsooth!"
+
+"Well, 'tis no matter of mine.  Thou hast thy hands burned so thou canst
+not work, and had to sit up like the master himself--poor Wat!  I was
+sorry for thee!"
+
+"It was not so bad," said Wat, meditatively.  "When thou art a grown
+man, thou wilt not care so much for all that foolish boy's play.  I
+shall have no more of it."
+
+Hugh burst into a laugh, as he shaped the graceful curve of a vine
+tendril.
+
+"What has come to thee?  Who was mad yesterday at having to play Master
+Sobersides?"
+
+"I shall play the fool no more, I tell thee.  What age, think you, might
+Mistress Thomasin be?"
+
+"Nay, I scarce looked at her."
+
+"I am going soon to the house to have my hands dressed."
+
+"What need for that when the goodwife here could do it?"
+
+"I could scarce be such a churl as to refuse when I was bidden," said
+Wat, hotly.
+
+Hugh stared at him, not understanding the change from the Wat who fled
+the company of his elders, caring for none but hare-brained prentices;
+and as the days went by he grew more and more puzzled.  Wat's hands
+seemed long in getting well, at any rate they required to be frequently
+inspected by Mistress Tirell, and it was remarkable that he could talk
+of naught but his new friends.  He had always preferred the carving of
+curious and grotesque creatures, leaving all finer and more graceful
+work to Hugh.  But now he implored Hugh to let him have the fashioning
+of a small kneeling angel.
+
+"Thou!" cried the other, amazed.  "What has put that into thy head?  It
+is not the work that thou carest for."
+
+"I have a mind for it when my hands are well.  Prithee, Hugh!"
+
+"Nay, thou wilt stick some grinning face on the poor angel's shoulders."
+
+"Not I.  I am going to try to shape something like Mistress Thomasin--
+well, why dost thou laugh?"
+
+"What has come to thee, Wat?  Since that day in the meadows it has been
+naught but Thomasin, Thomasin!  Now I think of it, perhaps the fairies
+bewitched thee, since it was Midsummer Eve!"  Perhaps Master Gervase
+guessed more clearly than Hugh what was the magic that had wrought this
+change, for though he laughed a good deal, he kept Wat occupied after
+the first three or four days were past, and Prothasy undertook to do all
+that was now necessary for the hurt hands.  It was remarkable that under
+her care they seemed to improve more rapidly than at one time appeared
+probable, so that it was not very long before Wat was able to handle his
+chisel again, though from the great sighs he emitted Hugh was afraid the
+pain might be more than he allowed.
+
+But now were no more pranks or junketings for Wat, no more liberties
+permitted from the prentices whose merry company he had hitherto
+preferred.  He had suddenly awakened to a dignified sense of his
+position as journeyman, and Roger himself did not maintain it more
+gravely.  Most remarkable, however, was the change in his appearance.
+It had always been an affront to Prothasy that Wat would never keep his
+clothes tidy or clean, she vowed he was a disgrace to their house, and
+that no others in the town made such a poor appearance.  But now--now
+times indeed were changed!  Now was Wat going off to the draper's to
+purchase fine cloth, and taking it himself to the Tailors' Guild, and
+most mighty particular was he about the cut of his sleeves.  And as for
+his shoes, he ran to outrageous lengths in the toes--he who had always
+inveighed against the oafs who were not content with modest points!  On
+the first Sunday on which Wat, thus attired, set forth, carrying a posy
+of lilies in his hand, and walking with such an air of conscious
+manliness as quite impressed those who met him, Hugh and Joan, with
+Agrippa, watching from the balcony, saw him turn up to St Martin's
+Gate, and both burst out laughing.
+
+"What has come to Wat?" cried Hugh.  "Didst see his posy?"
+
+"That is for Thomasin," Joan answered, nodding her pretty little head,
+"for I heard him ask mother what flowers maidens loved, and mother
+laughed, and said 'twas so long since she was a girl, she had forgotten,
+but if it was meant for Thomasin he had best ask Mistress Tirell.  And I
+know Thomasin loves lilies.  I wonder why Wat likes Thomasin so much?  I
+like Alice better.  But he is for ever talking about her yellow hair and
+her blue eyes, and wanting to hear if I have seen her pass.  Look, Hugh,
+what a fierce-looking man!"
+
+"That is he they call Henry of Doune, and Sir Adam Fortescue is stopping
+his horse to speak with him.  And here comes Peter the shereman, and Nat
+the cordwainer.  They say that.  Earl Hugh has been quarrelling with the
+mayor again, and threatening to stop all the fishing in the Exe.  Thy
+father is very wroth; he says the city bears it too tamely, and should
+complain to the king."
+
+"Hugh, tell me about thy corbel.  Hast thou thought it out?"
+
+"I am always thinking.  I see such beautiful lines and curves in my
+dreams that I am quite happy--till I wake."
+
+"Father says in two or three months there will be a beginning, and I
+don't know what to wish," continued Joan.  "I want both of you to do the
+best."
+
+"There is no fear.  I cannot match with the master."
+
+"There is no other that can match with thee then!" cried Joan, fondling
+Agrippa.  "He first and thou second--that is what it must be."
+
+Hugh shook his head.
+
+"Franklyn and Roger."
+
+"They can work but they cannot design like thee," returned Joan,
+eagerly.  "Roger will be mad to be the best, but--unless he steals a
+design--there is no chance of that.  Oh, thou foolish Hugh, to make me
+tell thee this over and over again when thou knowest it better than I
+do!"
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+BY PROXY.
+
+All through the autumn and early winter Hugh's thoughts were busy about
+the corbel work.  He might have been impatient that it was not begun
+before, but that he knew the delay to have been gained for himself by
+Elyas, who had met with some opposition from certain canons of the
+Cathedral.  They objected that it was unwise to put a work of such
+importance into the hands of a young apprentice.  Every month gained,
+therefore, was in his favour, and the bishop remained his friend.  The
+rough blocks were already in their places, ready for ordinary workmen to
+"boss them out," and by the end of February, which had been a wet and
+cheerless month, this was done.
+
+Gervase was very much in the Cathedral superintending; Prothasy
+complained that she never saw him, and even Joan failed to coax him out.
+He was like a boy in his longing to begin, saying, and justly, that he
+was for ever over-seeing and correcting, and got little opportunity of
+letting his own powers have play.  To Hugh, more freely than to any, he
+talked of his design, discussing its details with him; but one day Wat,
+looking uncomfortable, pulled Hugh after him as he went down the street.
+
+"Talk a little less loudly with the master of what his _surs_ is to be
+like," he said.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because there are those who would give their ears to have some notions
+in their thick brains, and would filch other folks' without scruple."
+
+"Roger?"
+
+"Ay, Roger is ever conveniently near when there is aught to be heard,
+and he is mad because the men say thy work is sure to be the best--after
+the master's.  So beware, for the master thinks all as honourable as
+himself.  What's this?"
+
+For by this time they had got near the conduit and the market, and a
+crowd of people were coming along hooting and jeering some object,
+which, as they approached, turned out to be a man seated on a horse with
+his face to the tail, and a loaf hanging round his neck.
+
+"Why, 'tis Edmund the baker!" cried Wat in great excitement.  "Look how
+white he is--as white as his own meal!  This comes of adulterating his
+bread, and now he will be put in the pillory, and his oven destroyed.
+Which wilt thou go to see, Hugh?"
+
+"Neither.  And what will Mistress Thomasin say of thy caring to see a
+man pilloried?"
+
+"Oh, Mistress Thomasin, she is too dainty and fine!  Her sister is more
+to my mind.  Come!"
+
+But Hugh would not.  He left Wat, and walked down the High Street, and
+across the bridge with its houses and its chapel, and out into the
+country.  A high wind was driving grey clouds swiftly across the sky,
+and now and then a dash of rain came in his face.  The year was forward,
+and already buds were swelling, and the country showing the first signs
+of spring.  Though so many years had passed Hugh could never walk in
+this direction without remembering his first coming to Exeter.  How glad
+his father would be to know how it was with him!  He was in the last
+year of his apprenticeship, and receiving wages of ten shillings a
+month, no small sum in those days.  That he had got on in his craft and
+satisfied his master Hugh was aware, and now before him opened such an
+honourable task as a lad of his age could not have hoped for; what
+Stephen had longed for was about to come to pass, and Hugh knew that it
+was possible for him to bring fame and honour to his father's name.
+
+With such thoughts, too, necessarily was joined very deep gratitude to
+Master Gervase.  He had never faltered in his kindness; had Hugh been
+his own son he could not have trained him more carefully, or taught him
+more freely, with no grudging thoughts of possible rivalship.  He had
+given the boy of his best, and Hugh's heart swelled as he recognised it,
+wondering whether it would ever be in his power to do something by way
+of return.  Poor Hugh!  He little thought how soon the occasion would
+come!
+
+Then, as ever, he fell to studying the beautiful spring of branch and
+twig, and shaped and twisted them in his own mind, and saw them fair and
+perfect in the corbel, as artists see their works before they begin to
+carry them out, as yet unmarred by failure.  Some of these models he
+bore home to study at leisure, and in the doorway met Elyas.
+
+"I was looking for thee.  John Hamlyn and I have had our commission to
+begin, and we are to hear about thee in two or three days.  Have no
+fear.  The bishop and I are strong enough to carry the matter; beshrew
+me, am I not the one to judge who is the best workman?"
+
+"I may get the block ready for you, sir?" said Hugh eagerly.
+
+"That may'st thou not, for I have already spoken to Ned Parsons, and he
+is there at this moment.  Why, thou silly lad, disappointed?  Thinkest
+thou that seeing thee set to do the rough labour will dispose them to
+choose thee for the better?  Nay, nay, leave it to me, and do thou
+perfect thy design, remembering that it is a great and holy work to
+which thou art admitted.  And hark ye, Hugh, spare no time in the
+design, and be not over-bold.  Take something simple, such as ivy with
+the berries.  Do that well, and it may be a second will fall to thy
+share."
+
+No need to bid him be industrious.  Hugh flung himself into it with such
+intensity of purpose that for the next day or two he could hardly eat or
+sleep.  Wat, whose fate was also in the balance, took it with the utmost
+philosophy, said he should do his best, hoped that would turn out better
+than he expected, and snored peacefully the moment he was in his bed.
+Roger, who was certain to have the work, was as absorbed as Hugh, but
+silent withal.  His nature was moody and suspicious, he gave no
+confidence, and Wat was not far wrong when he said that he was on the
+watch for what he could gather as to the designs of the others.  Hugh
+generally drew his fancies on a bit of board with a stick sharpened and
+burnt.  Usually he rubbed them out as soon as he had them to his fancy,
+but once or twice he had left them about, and was little aware how Roger
+had made them his own, or what exact copies were stowed away in a box.
+
+It was a week after Hugh's walk outside the walls that he saw Elyas come
+into the yard with Master William Pontington, the canon of St Peter's,
+who a few years before had bought Poltimore of Lord Montacute.  Hugh's
+heart beat so fast that his hand was scarcely so firm as usual, and he
+chipped the feather of a bird's wing.  For something in Gervase's face
+told him that he brought news.  Wat was working in the Cathedral.
+Presently the master and the canon came and stood behind Hugh.  Hugh's
+hand trembled no more; he cut with astonishing freedom and power,
+feeling himself to be in a manner on his trial.  Yet the silence seemed
+to him to last almost beyond endurance.  He could not see the proud look
+on his master's face, nor watch the change of expression from cold
+indifference to eager interest on that of the canon.  His own work never
+reached his hopes or his intentions, and he was far more quick to see
+its faults than its beauties.  Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.
+
+"Enough, goodman," said a voice, "I give in.  Since I have seen this
+young springald of thine at work, I own thou hadst a right to praise him
+as thou hast done.  Give him a corbel and let him fall to at it as if it
+were this capital he is carving now, for the bird and her nest are as
+cunning a piece of workmanship as I have ever beheld."
+
+"Thank his reverence, Hugh," said Gervase gleefully.
+
+But Hugh turned red and then white, and could scarce stammer out the
+words.
+
+"Ay, ay," said the canon good-humouredly, "no need for more; and I am
+glad thy heart is so set upon it, because now thy heart will go into thy
+hand, and, to tell thee the truth, that is what I feared might be
+wanting in such a young worker.  Is that truly all thine own design?"
+
+"The other men would be more like to come to Hugh than Hugh to go to
+them, holy sir," put in Elyas.
+
+The canon, indeed, could scarcely believe his eyes.  He made the young
+man show more of his carving, heard something of his father's skill, to
+all of which he had hitherto turned a deaf ear, and departed, ready to
+do battle for Hugh against any who spoke a disparaging word.
+
+"There goes thy most persistent opponent," said Elyas, coming back and
+rubbing his hands in glee; "'twas all I could do to bring him here, and
+he grumbled the whole way about putting work into inexperienced hands,
+and I know not what!  Now to-morrow, Hugh, Ned Parsons will have
+finished his blocking out for me, and I will set him to thine.  I shall
+give thee the first pillar in the choir on the opposite side to mine
+own.  It is not so well in view as some of the others, but that should
+make no difference in its fairness.  And here is Joan to be told the
+news."
+
+Joan shook her wise little head over it, and opined that now Hugh would
+be worse than ever in neither eating nor sleeping.  But it was not so.
+He was very quiet all that day, and when work was over he and Joan set
+off for the Cathedral that he might look upon his pillar--with what
+longing eyes!--and picture it again and again to himself as it should
+be.
+
+"And there is father's--shaped," said Joan; "how long and slender it
+looks!  I do hope that his will be the most beautiful of all, because he
+is older, and because you have all learnt from him, and because--he is
+father and there is no one like him!"
+
+"No fear!" said Hugh.  "I have seen his designs.  Not one of us can
+overpass him."
+
+"Mother is not easy about him, either," said Joan, who had sat down and
+clasped her hands round her knees.  "He has pains in his head and
+dizziness, and he will not have the leech because he says he talks so
+foolishly about Mars and Venus, and father says he does not believe the
+planets have aught to do with us.  Dost thou think they have?"
+
+"I know not," said Hugh unheeding.  "Joan, hast thou heard where Roger's
+is to be?"
+
+"On the same side with father's, and Wat opposite, and Franklyn between
+thee and Wat.  Tell me once again how thine ivy is to curl."
+
+From one cause or another there was a slight delay in the preparation of
+Hugh's block.  Something hindered Ned Parsons, or he was slower in his
+work, or kept Mid-Lent too jovially; at any rate there was a check which
+seemed very terrible to Hugh, and Roger and Wat were both at work before
+him.  Wat intended to carry out a bold design of leaf and fruit, but he
+vowed that something grotesque there must be, and if he might not put
+Agrippa there, he should have a neighbour's dog which had shown a great
+liking for him.  It must be owned that Wat was of a somewhat fickle
+disposition, his fancy for angels and lily-bearing maidens was over, and
+Mistress Thomasin was betrothed to a rich burgess.  It seemed likely
+that he would lose his heart and find it again many a time before the
+final losing took place.
+
+Meanwhile it was evident to more than the wife that something was amiss
+with Elyas.  He was at work on his corbel, but heavy-headed and
+depressed, finding the carving for which he had longed a labour, and not
+really making good progress.  Of this he was fully conscious, so
+conscious indeed, that a fear evidently oppressed him that his hand
+might have lost its power, and he spoke of it anxiously to Hugh.
+
+"I wot not why it is," he said, wearily passing his hand across his
+face, "but though I know what I have to do, I fail in the doing.  Come
+with me to-day, Hugh, and see for thyself."
+
+And, indeed, Hugh, when he had mounted the ladder and raised the cloth
+concealing the carving, was fain to acknowledge that it was as Gervase
+said.  Instead of the firm and powerful strokes which marked his work in
+all stages, there was a manifest feebleness, hesitation, and blurring
+which filled Hugh with dismay.  It was only the beginning; nothing was
+there which might not be set right, but what if indeed his skill was
+failing?  He could hardly bear to meet the questioning in Gervase's
+eyes.
+
+"Master--it--it--"
+
+"Speak out--speak freely," said Elyas hoarsely.  "It is bad work?"
+
+"It is not as thy work.  Thou art ill, and thy hand feeble; wait a
+little, and let the sickness pass."
+
+The other shook his head.
+
+"Nay, I dread to wait.  Something, some fear of the morrow drives me on.
+Hugh, this on which I have set my heart--is it to be snatched from me?
+I see it before me, fair and beautiful, a joy for generations to come.
+I can do it.  I have never failed before, how can I fail now?  And yet,
+and yet--"
+
+He covered his face with his hands.  Hugh, inexpressibly moved, laid his
+hand on his arm.
+
+"Sir, dear sir, it is only a passing malady.  In a few days you will
+look back and smile at your fears.  Come home and let Mistress Prothasy
+make you a cooling drink."
+
+But Elyas was obstinately determined to work while he could.  Haunted by
+a fear of disabling sickness, unable to believe that the next stroke he
+made would not show all his old vigour, he toiled, struggled, and went
+home more disheartened than ever.  Yet there were no absolute marks of
+illness about him, and Prothasy was neither fanciful nor over-anxious,
+and the next day thought him better.  Work over, Hugh went up to his
+room to perfect his designs, for presently he was to begin.  With his
+board and burnt stick he traced in full the ivy clusters upon which he
+had decided, carrying out all the smallest details, so that he might
+have it well in his mind before he put his tool to the stone.
+
+Satisfied he was not, but yet it seemed to him that the lines were
+fairly good, and it was broad and simple, such as Gervase had suggested.
+He had finished and was holding it at arm's length to search for
+shortcomings when he was startled by a cry, and the next moment heard
+Joan's voice calling wildly, "Hugh, Hugh!"
+
+Hugh dashed the board on the ground, and rushed towards the cry.  He
+found Prothasy kneeling on the ground, holding her husband's head in her
+lap, while Joan, with a terror-struck face, was unfastening his vest as
+well as her trembling little hands would allow.
+
+"The leech!" was all Prothasy could say, and Hugh was out of the door
+the same moment, flying down the street in pursuit of the first
+apothecary he could find, so that they were back before Prothasy had
+dared to hope.  It appeared that Elyas had but just come in from the
+Cathedral, when, without warning, he dropped on the ground, cutting his
+head against a sharp projection.  He remained unconscious for many
+hours, and the leech looked grave, the more so when it was found that
+all one side was affected, so that his arm and leg were useless.
+
+A heavy sadness hung over the house, even Hal hushing his malapert
+tongue.  The warden was greatly beloved by all; they were, moreover,
+extremely proud of his genius, and now--was that strong right hand to
+lie helpless!  As the news spread some of the families near sent their
+serfs to ask tidings; the good bishop came himself, full of grief.
+
+"Truly, goodwife," he said to Prothasy, "this blow falls heavy on us
+all.  I know not what we can do without him, he has been the very spring
+of our work, ever cheerful, ever ready, seeing to everything; in good
+sooth we have had in him a support on which we have leaned more heavily
+than we knew."
+
+Prothasy stood up, white and cold, and apparently unmoved.  Very few
+were aware of the tempest which raged in her heart; bitter remorse for
+many sharp words, passionate love, sickening anxiety.  She had often
+been jealous of the work which seemed to absorb Elyas, and many a time
+had flouted him for some kind action of which she was secretly proud,
+and against which she would not have said a word had she not known well
+that he would not be shaken from it.  And the worst was, that so strong
+had grown the habit, that she was conscious now, in the midst of what
+was little short of torture, that were he to recover from his sickness
+it would be the same thing again.  Joan little knew with what a weary
+longing her mother looked at her--to be a child again, to have no chain
+of habit binding her round and round, to be free!
+
+For a few days the works in the Cathedral were stopped.  The bishop
+ordered this as a mark of respect to Gervase, the most self-denying mark
+he could pay.  There were many things to carry out in the yard, and
+Franklyn, looking wretched, and perhaps, like Prothasy, bearing a burden
+of self-reproach, kept strict rule, and would permit no idling.  Hugh,
+however, could be little there.  After Gervase recovered his
+consciousness it was plain enough that he liked Hugh to be with him.
+They sometimes thought, from the wistful look in his eyes, that he
+wanted to say something, but as yet his speech was unintelligible.  Wat
+was of no use in the sick-room; it was always impossible for him not to
+make more noise than two or three others put together, even when he was
+walking on tip-toe, and painfully holding his breath.  But in the house
+he was invaluable, thought nothing a trouble, would run here and there,
+fetch the apothecary or the leech, or walk miles on any errands they
+could devise.  When three or four days had passed, and hope had
+strengthened, Hugh found him one day belabouring Hal Crocker for having
+ventured to tease Agrippa.  Hal took advantage of the newcomer to
+wriggle himself off and escape, making a face at Wat as he did so.
+
+"That is the most incorrigible varlet in the town," said Wat, looking
+after him wrathfully.  "Now, is aught wanted?"
+
+"No.  He is sleeping."
+
+"He will soon be himself again," said the other, joyfully, "and thou
+wilt set to work."
+
+They were both young and both hopeful.
+
+"Ay, so I think," returned Hugh.  "And thou, too?"
+
+"Mine will not do the master much credit, though I have got a fancy for
+my dog.  When we are all gone and forgotten, there will Spot be, gazing
+down on a fresh generation of citizens.  Think of that, Hugh!  What will
+they be like, I wonder?  New faces and new fashions.  Come up the street
+with me.  The itinerant justices came this morning, and I want to know
+what they have done to the forestaller whom they caught half-way to
+Brampford Speke, meeting the people on their way to market Roger said he
+was to have two years in gaol."
+
+"Wat?"
+
+"Ay."
+
+"I wanted to ask thee.  Thou rememberest the day the master was taken?"
+
+"Ay."
+
+"I was in our room, and had just drawn out my design on the board."
+
+"Ay, thy head was full of thy old _surs_.  Well?"
+
+"When I heard them cry I ran down and flung it on the ground, and it is
+gone."
+
+"Gone!  Oh, that thief Roger!"
+
+"Thou thinkest so?"
+
+"Thinkest?  Who else?  It was not I--nor Agrippa.  Hast thou asked?"
+
+"Ay, and he was very wroth."
+
+Wat doubled his fists and made several significant movements.
+
+"That is what he has been trying for--to get at thy designs, thine or
+the master's.  How couldst thou be such an oaf?"
+
+"Who could think of it then?"
+
+"He could, at any rate.  He would think how to push himself to the front
+if he had to do it over all our dead bodies.  Say good-bye to thy
+design, friend Hugh!"
+
+"Nay, I'll not bear it," cried the young man, angrily; "if he use my
+design I'll proclaim it through the town.  And he works fast, and will
+get the advantage of me, because the master will not spare me while he
+is so ill.  Out on him, what can I do?"
+
+"Change thy design," advised Wat, sagely.  "To whom canst thou complain
+with the goodman ill?  Franklyn ever favours Roger."
+
+There was truth enough in the words to make Hugh very angry with the
+feeling of having been treacherously dealt with, and of having no means
+of righting himself.  When, the next day, Roger went off to the
+Cathedral, rightly or wrongly Wat and Hugh fancied there was an air of
+triumph about him, which was infuriating.  Hugh could not be spared, but
+Wat vowed he would make out by one means or another what he was
+intending to carve.  He began by coming up to him as he stood at the
+foot of the ladder choosing his chisel, and asking what was his subject.
+It took Wat rather aback when Roger stared full in his face and
+answered, "Ivy."
+
+"Ivy!  What, the same as Hugh?"
+
+"I know naught of Hugh."
+
+"That thou didst then.  Thou hast heard him speak of it a dozen times."
+
+"I have better things to do than to listen to idle prentice talk."
+
+"The master can witness that thou heardest."
+
+"Let him--when he can!" said Roger, with a hard laugh.
+
+"Now, out on thee for a false loon!" cried Wat.
+
+He might have said more but that two of the chapter were close at hand,
+and he flung himself away with a heart full of rage, and betook himself
+to his own corbel, on which he vented a good deal of force which he
+would gladly have employed in pommelling Roger.  And this having a
+calming effect, he came to the conclusion that it would be best for Hugh
+to take no notice of the older man's perfidy.  There was no proof that
+Roger had stolen the design, there was nothing except honour to prevent
+his using the same foliage, and with Gervase ill, an accusation might
+meet with little attention, and perhaps harm Hugh more than Roger.
+
+Wat groaned, and dug in his tool with a violence which it cost him no
+little trouble to repair.
+
+Perhaps Hugh was helped to patience by the circumstances of Gervase's
+illness.  There was something so infinitely sad in this sudden check at
+the time when all the master's hopes seemed to be on the point of
+touching fulfilment, that such a disappointment as Hugh's must be
+comparatively trifling.  He was young, he could wait.  Besides, he would
+not count it as a disappointment, it was only a delay.  Elyas was
+already better, and probably in another week he would be free.  And
+meanwhile, if his design had been filched, he would work out another--
+that he could do while in Gervase's room, and his hopes rose high.  He
+had chosen the ivy because the master had counselled simple forms, but
+he felt as if now, with this taken from him, he was free to try a higher
+flight, and he fell hopefully to work with all the glad consciousness of
+power.
+
+Elyas was better, but his speech remained much affected, and as his
+strength returned, there were an evident restlessness and anxiety which
+were alarming.  It became, indeed, clear that something weighed on his
+mind, and the leech showed more common sense than was usual with him
+when he pronounced that, unless the trouble could be removed, it might
+go hardly with his patient.  Everybody, frightened out of their wits by
+this prediction, tried their best to find out what was amiss.  Prothasy
+tried--with a patience which no one had seen in her before.  Joan
+tried--laying her pretty head fondly upon the poor useless right hand.
+Hugh tried--and sometimes they fancied that his efforts came nearest to
+the hidden trouble, though never quite reaching it.  Hugh spoke of the
+Cathedral works, of how Franklyn, Roger, Wat, and two other men had
+begun, of how glad all would be when Elyas himself was able to be there
+again.  And then, fancying that perhaps he feared lest another should
+touch his corbel, he told him that the bishop himself had said it should
+wait for him even were all the others finished.
+
+A feeble--so feeble as to be almost imperceptible--shake of the head
+made Hugh impress this the more strongly, and then followed a painful
+effort to make them understand something, of which they could not gather
+the right meaning.  It was terrible to Prothasy--almost more, indeed,
+than she could bear.
+
+The bishop heard of this drawback, for the warden's anxiety and distress
+had the worst effect upon his strength, and they began very much to fear
+that if they were not removed they might lead to another attack more
+serious than the last.  He came himself to see Gervase with the hope of
+fathoming the trouble; and at any rate his visit gave pleasure, for the
+sick man's eyes brightened as the bishop stood in the doorway and
+uttered the words of peace.  They could even make out a murmur of "This
+is kind."
+
+Bishop Bitton sat on the stool which Prothasy put for him, and set
+himself to chat about all that was going on in the Cathedral.  Then he
+said--
+
+"We think there is something on thy mind, goodman, which thou canst not
+explain, and which retards thy recovery.  It may be that I can arrive at
+it, but do not try to speak.  Here lies thy left hand.  When thou
+wouldst say Ay, lift thy forefinger so, and for Nay, keep thy hand
+still.  Now, first, is there something thou wouldst say?"
+
+The finger was raised.
+
+The good bishop nodded, proud of his ingenuity.
+
+"Hath it aught to do with thy spiritual condition?"
+
+No sign.
+
+"Or thy worldly matters?  Nay.  Thy wife?  Thy child?  Any of thy
+relations?  Nay, to all.  Then we will come to municipal matters.  Doth
+anything there weigh on thee?  Still nay.  Thy guild?"
+
+The bishop persisted in a string of questions which brought no response,
+before arriving at the subject of the Cathedral, which in his own mind
+he doubted not was where the trouble lay.  Indeed, his first question as
+to whether it were not so, brought the lifted finger, and a hopeful
+gleam in the eyes.  Only Prothasy was in the room, Hugh having gone down
+to the yard.
+
+But, try as he might, the bishop found his task very difficult.  They
+narrowed the matter at last to the corbel, but Elyas got restless and
+irritable with making efforts to speak and explain himself, and the
+bishop laid his hand finally upon his arm, saying kindly--
+
+"Have patience.  We shall reach it in time.  Thou dost but fever thyself
+with vain struggles.  Hearken.  I have assured thee that we will wait
+months, ay, years if thou wilt, till God gives back thy strength.  Is
+that what thou desirest?"
+
+No sign.
+
+"Nay?" repeated the bishop, in some surprise.  He paused, and then bent
+forward.  "Wouldst thou then have another take the work?  Ay?  And carry
+out thy designs?  Ay, again.  Goodman, were that not a pity?  A little
+patience and thy strength may come back, the leech says--"
+
+But his words died away before the look which the sick man turned on
+him.  He looked away to collect himself.
+
+"If it must be so," he said at length, hesitatingly.  "Goodwife, you
+understand it as I do?  It is no doing of ours."
+
+"Nay, my lord, it is clearly his wish," said Prothasy firmly.
+
+"And now," Bishop Bitton continued, "we must know to whom thou wouldst
+confide it.  The other warden, John Hamlyn, ranks next to thee."  But it
+was evident that Gervase would have none of John Hamlyn.
+
+"Walter Bennet?"
+
+No.
+
+"Well, it is natural thou wouldst keep it in thine own yard.  William
+Franklyn, thy head man?"
+
+Still no.
+
+The bishop pondered; named two other skilled workmen, and received no
+assent.
+
+"Thou thinkest well of thy Roger?  Nay, again!--Wat?--who remains,
+goodman?  Thy prentice Hugh is too young."
+
+But to the good bishop's amazement Elyas, looking eagerly at him,
+raised, not the finger only, but the whole hand.
+
+"Hugh!  Thou wouldst choose Hugh!  Bethink thee that he is but a
+prentice, and when we gave him the work it was thought that thou wouldst
+advise and help him."
+
+Still there could be no doubt that this was the master's desire; Hugh
+and none but Hugh was to carry out his design, and carve his corbel.
+The bishop shook his head doubtfully, but he could not gainsay Elyas;
+there was so much relief apparent in his face, and his lips moved as if
+in thankfulness.
+
+"It shall be as thou wilt," he said gravely.
+
+He told Prothasy that she must use her judgment and send Hugh to his
+work when Elyas could spare him, and went away, doubtful, it must be
+owned, of his own wisdom in handing over one of the most prominent of
+the corbels to the youngest of the carvers.
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+WILL ROGER SUCCEED?
+
+Hugh's first feeling was one of bitter and intense disappointment.  He
+cared not one jot about the position of the corbel, what he did care for
+was the working out his own design, seeing that, as it were, spring into
+life under his hand.  It was a very different thing to carry out another
+man's, for, however good the execution might be, that could not equal
+the joy of creation.  He turned quite white when Prothasy told him,
+thinking the news should give him proud delight, but, curiously enough,
+Joan, who was in the room, child as she was, understood his feelings
+better, and the moment her mother left slipped her hand in his.
+
+"Alack, alack, poor Hugh!"
+
+"There go all my hopes," he groaned.
+
+"But it is for father," she urged.  "Bethink you how grievous it is for
+him to have no hand in what he longed for."
+
+"I think of my father, too.  I wanted to credit his name."
+
+"Nay," said Joan softly, "if he could speak he would say there were
+nobler things than fame."
+
+Was not that really what he had said, and was it not strange that she
+should repeat it?  But then Joan ever had strange thoughts for her age,
+and Hugh's better nature came to his aid.
+
+"In good sooth, thou art right, Joan," he said after a pause.  "Whatever
+it cost me, I will remember that I might not be working in the Cathedral
+at all were it not for the master.  I will put aside thought of my own
+fancies, and carry his out with my might."
+
+There was something solemn about this promise, and both felt it so, Joan
+looking up admiringly into Hugh's face, and more certain than ever
+that--her father always excepted--there was no one like him in the
+world.
+
+Gervase gave better signs of mending after the bishop's visit, and his
+speech began slowly to clear itself, but they soon found that he was
+anxious for Hugh to begin work, and that the latter might now leave him
+to the care of Prothasy and Joan.  He made Hugh bring his design to his
+side, and evidently wished him to go through it there and to show that
+he fully understood it.  It was a conventional design, mixed with
+foliage, long, slender, and sharply cut, not unlike the lower leaves of
+the shepherd's purse greatly magnified, and depending for its beauty
+upon certain strongly marked curves.  It had never seemed to Hugh quite
+equal to the master's other designs.
+
+There was much wonder and some jealousy of Hugh when Gervase's choice
+became known; but also general satisfaction, there being much
+competition in the matter, and no one being willing to give up his own
+chance of distinguishing himself by producing and carrying out a design
+which should surpass all the others.  No one, that is to say, but Wat.
+He had the lowest opinion of his own powers, and thought it sheer folly
+to have been chosen for such a task, and he would very gladly have made
+over his pillar to Hugh, and faithfully carried out the master's
+drawings.  As, however, this was impossible, he set himself to
+perpetuate Spot, and at the same time to keep a watchful eye upon Roger.
+
+Roger was the best pleased of all, for, since Hugh could no longer use
+his own design, it was pretty sure that no one would interfere with him.
+He was a first-rate workman, only wanting in imagination and invention;
+he had no fear but that now he had provided himself with the design, his
+corbel would hold its own with, perhaps surpass, all others.  He even
+managed to smooth certain ruffles in his conscience by assuring it that
+since Hugh could not have undertaken any independent labour, no harm was
+done to him; ivy had always been in his mind, and he had but assisted
+his fancy by a means which had fallen in his way.
+
+Nevertheless, it was remarkable that he took the utmost pains to prevent
+Wat from getting a sight of his work.  The carvings were always covered
+when left for the night, and there was a sort of tacit understanding
+that no one need openly display his work, although often one called
+another to give advice upon some doubtful point.  But Roger used unusual
+precautions to arrange his materials and himself as he worked, so as
+completely to hide the carving from view.  Wat pondered long upon this,
+and at last, coming home with Hugh one evening, he asked--
+
+"The design which Roger filched, is it yet in thy head?"
+
+"Ay," briefly answered Hugh.
+
+"Draw it out then again."
+
+"Where is the use?  I shall never have the chance of using it, and if I
+had, I could not now when that false loon has had all this time to push
+on with his."
+
+"Still--do as I bid thee," returned Wat obstinately.
+
+Nor would he rest until he had the design safely in his keeping.  Then
+he carried it to Prothasy.
+
+"Prithee, goodwife, hast thou any place where thou canst bestow this
+safely?"
+
+"What for?"
+
+"It is Hugh's design for the corbel which he was to have carved: one he
+did before, and has never seen since the day the master was taken ill."
+
+"There are places in the yard without lumbering the house."
+
+"Ay, mistress, but I would have thee keep it where none of us, not even
+Hugh himself, should ever see it.  He hath marked the day of the month
+upon it--see."
+
+She looked questioningly at him, then took the board without a word, and
+carried it away with her, while Wat rubbed his hands and pushed back the
+lathes of the window to whistle to Spot, who, as usual, was basking
+lazily in the sun on the opposite side of the street.
+
+Hugh worked with all his might.  His chief difficulty consisted in the
+extreme anxiety of bishop and chapter, who were really terror-struck at
+the idea of so young a workman having so great a responsibility thrust
+upon him, particularly without the master being there to oversee.
+Constantly one or another was coming, desiring to speak with him, and
+urging him if he were in any doubt to seek counsel from the older men.
+When he answered modestly enough that he would do so if he felt he
+needed help, but that at present he found no difficulty, they looked the
+more anxious and uncomfortable, shook their heads, and said it was
+impossible that he could have the necessary experience.  All this was
+sufficiently depressing, but Hugh found comfort in Gervase's evident
+faith in him.  He was so far recovered that his speech had come back,
+and a certain amount of power in the disabled arm; he could get about
+the house and even listen to Franklyn's account of the work done; but
+his supreme pleasure lay in hearing Hugh's report of his work at what
+Elyas ever called _his_ corbel, and his chief longing was for the time
+when he should get down and see it with his own eyes, though that day
+they feared was far away.
+
+He laughed over Hugh's description of the fears of the canons, and
+managed to see the bishop and to assure him so confidently of his
+prentice's power to carry through the task entrusted to him, that Bishop
+Bitton, who had hitherto doubted whether it had not been the fancy of a
+sick man, was completely reassured, and tried Hugh no more with advice
+to seek counsel.  The chaunter or precentor, however, was not to be
+persuaded.  He was a sour little man, who liked to be in opposition, and
+one day came bustling up to the foot of the ladder on which Hugh was at
+work, intimating that he wished to speak to him.  Hugh accordingly came
+down, though not with the best grace in the world, for he knew very well
+what he was likely to hear.
+
+"Young lad," said the precentor, pursing his mouth and throwing out his
+chest, "it appears to me that this task is beyond thy years."
+
+Hugh was silent, standing gazing down at the precentor.  His face was
+much the same as it had been when he was a child, fair and ruddy, with
+light hair and honest grey eyes, which looked full in the face of those
+who talked with him.  He was tall and very powerfully made; with promise
+indeed, in a few years' time, of unusual strength and size.
+
+"As it has been rashly, over-rashly to my thinking, committed to thee, I
+say nothing," the precentor continued; "we must bear the risk.  But that
+should not prevent precaution.  I desire, therefore, that thou wilt call
+upon the older men to counsel thee, and correct thy mistakes.  From what
+I learn, thou hast done naught of this; thou art too self-satisfied, too
+presumptuous, and we, forsooth, must suffer for thine overweening
+confidence.  See that thou act as I desire."
+
+Hugh did not immediately answer, perhaps finding some difficulty in
+keeping back hasty words.  When he did speak it was to ask a question.
+
+"Reverend sir," he said, "who of all our guild would know best what I
+can or cannot do?"
+
+The precentor hesitated.
+
+"Thy master--in health," he added, with emphasis on the last word.
+
+"Before aught ailed him, he was set upon my carving a corbel."
+
+"Ay, but not a forward one, such as this, and not without his being here
+to overlook thee.  This is another matter."
+
+"It may be so, reverend sir.  In good sooth, I found it hard to give up
+my own work and take his, but since it pleasured him, and since he can
+trust it in my hands, I must work, if I work at all, without such let or
+hindrance as you would put on me.  You say truly that it is a great
+task.  I cannot carry it out fettered and cramped.  If the Lord Bishop
+and his chapter hold that I have forfeited the trust they committed to
+me, I would humbly pray to be allowed to resign it.  If it is left in my
+hands, then I must be as the other men, free to work undisturbed."
+
+Hugh spoke with great modesty, yet so firmly as to amaze the little
+precentor, who had thought he might meet with a boy's petulance, which
+he was determined to put down.  He would have liked to take Hugh at his
+word and dismiss him, but this he could not venture to do, since the
+bishop, though he had had his fears, thought highly of the lad's genius,
+and would have strongly resented any such high-handed act.  He found
+himself in a position for which he was quite unprepared, obliged to
+withdraw his commands, but he was not the man to do this frankly or
+fully.
+
+"Thou art a malapert springald to bandy words with me," he said angrily.
+"Thou, a mere prentice, to put thyself on a level with other men!  This
+comes of being cockered and made much of, out of thy fit place.  But I
+shall speak with the bishop, and I wot we shall see whether thine
+insolence is to go unchastised."
+
+He spoke loud enough for some of the other men to hear, and marched off,
+leaving Hugh very angry, though he had been able to control all outward
+signs of wrath.  He went up his ladder again, hearing a chuckle of
+laughter among the others, and feeling sore and bitter with all the
+world.
+
+"As if it were not enough to have given up what I had thought of so
+long," he muttered, looking round at the corbel on the other side,
+which, somewhat to his surprise, no one had yet been set upon, "but I
+must be flouted at for failing when I have scarce begun, and set to ask
+counsel from--whom?  Roger, maybe, Roger, who could not do his own task
+without stealing from my wits!  Well, I have finely angered the
+precentor, and it will be no wonder if it is all stopped, and I am sent
+off, though I said naught that was unbecoming, or that I should not be
+forced to say again.  I will tell the master, and he shall judge."
+
+The precentor was indeed very angry, and the first person he met, and to
+whom he poured out his indignation, was Master William Pontington, the
+canon, who had been one of the last to admit the possibility of the
+prentice being allowed to undertake the carving of a corbel.
+
+"This," said the precentor solemnly, "this comes of the bishop's weak--
+hem--over-easiness.  If he permitted such a thing, it should have been
+under control and direction, instead whereof we have a young jackanapes
+perched up there, and left to amuse himself as he likes, and telling
+me--telling me to my very face--that he is as good as any other!"
+
+It was well-known among the chapter that the precentor never omitted a
+chance of saying a word against the bishop, and the canon smiled.
+
+"The dean thinks as well of the lad as doth the bishop," he said.  "My
+counsel is to leave him alone.  If he be trusted with a man's work, we
+must trust him as to the manner in which he carries it out, and not fret
+him with constant restrictions.  Beshrew me, but were I in his place I
+should feel the same!"
+
+So supported, Hugh was left very fairly at peace to toil at his carving,
+although even his friends among the chapter felt deep anxiety for the
+result, and tried hard to get peeps at what he had already done.  But
+Hugh, having once suffered, was almost as careful as Roger to keep his
+work concealed, and as for Wat, he made a complete watch-dog of himself,
+staying the last of the workmen, and being one of the earliest to
+arrive.  He cared far more for Hugh's success than for his own, and he
+was the only one who had seen the corbel.  Somehow or other, however,
+perhaps from words he let drop, perhaps from glimpses caught of its
+progress, the report went about that it was very beautiful.
+
+Every day Gervase eagerly questioned Hugh as to what progress he had
+made.  Once or twice Hugh told him of changes he had made in the
+design--told him with some doubt lest it should displease him that his
+apprentice should dream of bettering his work.  But Gervase was of a
+rarely generous nature, frankly acknowledging the improvement.
+
+"I would I could get to see it; thou art right, thou art right, Hugh,
+that change takes off a certain stiffness.  Do what thou wilt, I trust
+thee ungrudgingly, in spite of precentor or any of them.  And they will
+have to own that we are in the right when they see it finished.  Now,
+art ready for our game at chess?"
+
+Slowly, but surely, the doubts and anxieties as to the lad's work died
+away, and instead of them grew up an impression that when the day came
+for its uncovering, something of great merit would be displayed.  The
+one most affected by all these rumours was Roger.  His own was
+progressing well, and he was the more eager not to be outdone; moreover,
+he had injured Hugh, and this very fact made his jealousy and dislike
+more bitter.  If, after all, Hugh should surpass him!  Roger gnawed his
+lip, and meditated day and night upon some possible means of preventing
+such a catastrophe.  He would have given a great deal to see the carving
+and judge for himself, and he made several attempts in this direction,
+always baffled by Wat's vigilance.  One day he got hold of Franklyn, and
+asked him what he heard of Hugh and his work.  Franklyn was a
+narrow-minded man, but honest, and he answered openly, that from a
+glimpse he had caught, and from what the master had repeated, he doubted
+whether the lad had ever done anything so good before.
+
+"He hath great power," added Franklyn musingly.
+
+"Ay, to work at another man's design!" said Roger, with a sneer.  "I
+call that another matter from working one's own."
+
+"Marry amen! and so do I," said a voice, emphatically.
+
+Roger started as if he had been stung.  He had not known that Wat was
+just behind, and he knew too well the meaning of the words.  But it made
+him the more bitter against Hugh.
+
+Through those summer days work went on briskly in the Cathedral.  All
+were fired with enthusiasm, partly from the bishop's example, partly
+from personal longing to distinguish themselves.  The choir with its
+noble vaulting was completed, a splendid monument of Bitton's
+episcopate; but the corbels would be a prominent and beautiful feature
+in the work, and perhaps, with some prevision that his life would not be
+long, the bishop desired very greatly to see them finished.  Hugh worked
+incessantly; he hoped before the summer was over to have brought his
+carving to an end.  Gervase had been out several times, indeed his
+recovery was amazing, but now that matters had gone so far, he said that
+he should keep away from the Cathedral until Hugh's corbel was a
+finished work.
+
+Hugh had been so much absorbed that he had thought little of Roger,
+although he did not relax any of his precautions as to keeping his work
+hidden, and Wat and Joan were far more watchful guardians than he dreamt
+of.
+
+He had a great surprise one Sunday when they came in from St Mary
+Arches, and he saw a big man standing in the doorway, which was still
+wreathed with the midsummer greenery, and looked at him at first as if
+he were a stranger.  The man, in his turn, stared from one to the other
+as if in search of someone; something struck Hugh as familiar, and the
+next moment he sprang to his side and seized his hand.
+
+"Master Andrew!" he cried in delight, "where have you come from?  How
+long have you been here?  Are you well?  How is Moll?"
+
+The sailor put his hands on his shoulders, held him at arm's length, and
+looked him up and down in amazement, which soon broadened into a laugh.
+
+"I never thought to have found thee grown to this size!" he said; "thou
+art a man, and a proper one!  Where have I come from?  From Exmouth, and
+I would have sailed up in the _Queen Maud_ if your burgesses of Exeter
+had not been fools enough to let a woman ruin their river for them with
+her weir.  I have had a wish many a time to know how thou fared, and
+Friar Luke--we are good friends, what thinkest thou of that?  I never
+thought to be friends with a grey friar--gives me no peace because I
+bring him no tidings.  Thy father?  Ay, anyone could see it was that way
+with him, honest man!  And Agrippa?"
+
+There was much to hear and tell.  The warden took a great fancy to
+Andrew and would not listen to his going to a hostelry for the night,
+and Prothasy was pleased to see her husband interested.  But the one who
+took most to Andrew, and who in his turn was greatly liked by the
+sailor, was Wat.  Andrew vowed that Wat should have been a sailor, and
+Wat was almost ready to renounce everything in favour of the sea.  Wat
+told him all about Hugh, and his work and his genius, and what great
+things were entrusted to him at the Cathedral, and promised to take him
+there the next morning as early as the doors were opened, and Joan,
+Hugh, and Wat must all go forth after the five o'clock supper, and show
+him the castle and St Nicolas' Priory, which he looked at with
+disfavour in spite of his friendship with Friar Luke, and the
+alms-houses of Saint Alexius, which pleased him better.  All these, but
+more especially the bridge, made him own that Exeter was a very noble
+city.
+
+Hugh could not go to the Cathedral as early as the others the next
+morning, because the master wanted some measurements taken, but he was
+to follow almost immediately, and there could not have been a prouder
+showman than Wat.  He scarcely let Andrew glance round at the fair
+beauty of the building before he was off to fetch Hugh's ladder and to
+set it up against the pillar.  They were, as he intended to be, the
+first there, and the covering might be safely taken off, but he was so
+prudent that he darted off to watch, calling to Andrew to go up and
+unwrap the covering for himself.  As he stood in the nave, it struck him
+that he heard a cry, but he set it down to someone outside, and when
+some minutes had passed, and he thought time enough had been given, he
+hurried back, expecting to find the sailor full of admiration.  Instead
+of this he met him coming towards him, looking, as even Wat could not
+fail to see, rather strangely disturbed.  He said at once and roughly--
+
+"Fine traps you set for strangers!"
+
+"How, master?"
+
+"How?  In placing a ladder which has been cut through.  Nay, I like not
+such jests."
+
+"Cut through!" cried Wat, with such genuine amazement that Andrew looked
+keenly at him.
+
+"Beshrew me, yes!  Didst thou not know it?  The ladder gave way, and I
+might have made a fool of myself on the stones below, but that I have
+been long enough on shipboard to hold on by the very hair of my head.  I
+gave thee a halloo."
+
+"I never thought it was thou, sir.  Cut through!  Then that is Roger's
+work again; he would have done Hugh a mischief, the false traitor!  If
+only I could wring his neck!  Let me see the place."
+
+He strode off, boiling over with excitement, and Andrew, with a whistle
+of some amusement, sauntered slowly after him.
+
+It was quite true.  One of the rungs of the ladder about half-way up had
+been so cut where it ran into the upright that it must necessarily have
+given way under an ordinary weight, and Hugh, who would have gone up
+encumbered with his tools, could scarcely have avoided a bad fall.  He
+arrived very soon, and the other men dropped in, Wat questioning them
+all closely, not, it must be owned, with any thought that they could
+have done such a dastardly deed, but with a hope of getting evidence
+that Roger had been seen near the ladder.  In this he failed.  No one
+had noticed anything, all the ladders lay near each other, and whoever
+had done it had undoubtedly exercised much caution and ingenuity.  The
+men were angry.  Many of them were jealous of Hugh, but not to the
+extent of committing a crime in order to incapacitate him; such an act,
+if proved, would be visited by the most severe punishment the guild
+could inflict.  Roger himself came late, he cast a swift glance at the
+groups of men standing about in unusual idleness, and another, which Wat
+noted, towards Hugh's pillar.  When he saw Hugh there, engaged on his
+work as on every other day, the colour left his face, and he glanced
+uneasily from one to the other, finally pausing before Wat, who had
+planted himself aggressively in his way.
+
+"Is aught the matter?" he demanded.
+
+"Murder or maiming might have been the matter," returned Wat grimly.
+"Now, maybe, there will be naught but the hanging."
+
+"Hanging?"
+
+"Of the villain who tried this wickedness.  Canst thou give a guess who
+that might be?"
+
+"Thou talkest riddles," said Roger impatiently.  "Let me pass to my
+work."
+
+"Ay," returned Wat, "pass.  We others mean to find out who it is among
+us who filches designs, and cuts through ladders, and brings shame on
+all our body."
+
+Flinging a glance of rage at him, Roger pushed by, and Wat went off to
+meet the other warden, John Hamlyn, and to lay the complaint before him.
+Andrew's presence and what he had himself experienced in the matter
+helped to make it serious, and the crime was sufficiently grave for the
+warden to promise that there should be a guild meeting to consider it.
+
+"What evidence hast thou against Roger?"
+
+"He hath done Hugh other harm, sir," answered Wat after a pause.  "He
+hath stolen his designs."
+
+"Take care, take care," said the warden warningly, "these be grave
+charges.  How knowest thou?  Hast thou seen his work?"
+
+"Nay, sir.  Nevertheless I can prove it, if you will."
+
+"How then?"
+
+"When the master was taken ill, Hugh's designs were stolen, but I made
+Hugh draw them out again, and Mistress Prothasy hath them in her
+keeping."
+
+"But thou knowest not that there thou hast what Roger is working upon.
+Tush, man, these are but idle tales.  Thou must bring better proofs."
+
+Wat was far more grave and sober than usual.
+
+"I wot not if we shall get proofs of this last villainy," he said.
+"Someone hath done it, and no other bears Hugh a grudge.  But the other,
+thou, sir, may'st prove for thyself if thou wilt."
+
+"Prithee, how?"
+
+"Come with me, sir, and get the board with the design from the goodwife.
+Thou wilt see by the date--Saint George's Day--that the carving was not
+far enough advanced for Hugh to have drawn his from that.  Keep it by
+thee, Master Hamlyn, and when Roger's work is uncovered, judge for
+thyself."
+
+"Thou hast not seen the corbel, thou sayest, and this is no more than
+thy fancy."
+
+"No more.  Yet I will stake my fair fame upon it," said Wat, boldly.
+
+The warden hesitated, finally said the test was a fair one, and promised
+to come that evening and receive the board from Prothasy.  This little
+arrangement partly compensated Wat for the failure to bring home any
+evidence connecting Roger with the ladder.  At the same time a feeling
+had risen up against him among the other workmen, who felt that they
+were in a measure compromised until the offender was discovered, and
+Roger found himself treated to cold and doubtful looks, while even
+Franklyn appeared to have his confidence shaken.  Hugh was the one who
+made least of the affair; he was so persuaded of Roger's ill-will that
+this fresh proof scarcely affected him, and it was he who induced
+Andrew--though more, it must be owned, for the credit of the guild than
+from any charitable feelings--to give up his plan of taking summary
+vengeance by administering a sound thrashing.
+
+They were all sorry when Andrew departed, carrying not only messages for
+Moll and Friar Luke, but a scroll for this latter, written in Hugh's
+fairest penmanship, and a marvel to the whole household.
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+"HERE'S A COIL!"
+
+"Hugh, when will it be finished--truly?  I am so weary of to-morrow, and
+to-morrow, and to-morrow, and it never gets any nearer!  Father is
+longing, too, for all he pretends to be patient."
+
+"It is finished now," answered Hugh, gloomily, "only I cannot keep my
+hands from it."
+
+"In good sooth!  And art not glad?"
+
+"Nay.  It is not what I would have it.  I had such brave ideas, and they
+have all come to naught, as ever.  Joan, will one ever be satisfied?"
+
+"I have heard father say something about `a noble discontent.'  I did
+not understand it, but maybe this was in his mind.  And I don't think he
+is ever satisfied with his own work.  But thine is sure to be
+beautiful," cried Joan, brightening.  "Is it really then to be
+to-morrow?"
+
+"Nay; the bishop has decided that as four or five are nearly ready, they
+shall wait to be uncovered together on Lammas Day.  The best is to have
+the choice of the other corbels."
+
+"And which shalt thou choose?" demanded Joan securely.
+
+"There will be no choosing for me.  Master Hamlyn has a beautiful design
+of pears and apples, they say, and Franklyn of vine leaves, and there is
+that traitor Roger, he can work.  I shall grudge it to him, but not to
+old Wat.  Joan, I verily believe that Wat's will be one of the best."
+
+"Hath he really stuck Spot up there?"
+
+"Hath he not?" said Hugh, with a laugh.  "There he is, to the life, at
+the base, but 'tis so cleverly done, and he thinks so little of it!"
+
+"Lammas Day!" sighed Joan, "a whole three weeks!  I shall get one of
+your tally sticks, and cut a notch for every day.  I shall stitch a new
+coat for Agrippa, and take him with me under my arm.  Where art thou
+going?  To the Cathedral?"
+
+"Nay, I had best keep away from the Cathedral.  I am going to speak with
+the bridge warden, for a mischievous loon has knocked away a bit of the
+monument to Master Gervase, in his chapel on the bridge, and they have
+sent up here for some one to repair it."
+
+Elyas had recovered so marvellously that scarcely any trace of his
+severe attack was noticeable except to those who knew him best.  He did
+not mount on ladders, but in other respects had resumed work, and had
+been frequently at the Cathedral in consultation with the bishop, who
+was delighted to have his right-hand adviser again.  Of course he might,
+had he so pleased, have seen the corbels, finished or unfinished, which
+were being executed by his own men, but he had determined to wait for
+the general view, and to give his voice as to the best with the other
+judges.  Meanwhile, his interest was intense, and he could talk of
+little, so that Prothasy, between husband, child, journeymen, and
+prentice, had some reason for vowing that she could not get a sensible
+word on any subject from a creature in the house.
+
+And this excitement increased as Lammas Day drew nearer.  Roger said
+little, but his pale face grew paler, his lips more tightly set, and
+there was a feverish light in his eyes which spoke of a fire within.
+Franklyn, who was one of the last, worked stolidly on, very much as he
+had been used to work in the yard, taking it as a matter of business to
+be got through fairly and conscientiously, and knowing the value of his
+work so well that he was not troubled with fear of failure.  Wat was
+wild with conjectures, thinking most of all about Hugh, but also
+devoured by a wish that he had given more care to the beginning of his
+work, and ready, if other justice failed, to break Roger's head sooner
+than allow him to enjoy the fruit of his wickedness.
+
+The last of Joan's notches was made at last, and Lammas Day dawned,
+fair, and hot, and tranquil.  Joan was up with the lark, looking very
+sweet and maidenly in her new blue kirtle, and seeing that the green
+branches were ready which she had brought in the day before in order to
+deck the house as soon as either of their own workers was declared to be
+first.
+
+"Saving Roger," she announced.  "There shall be no decking for Roger."
+
+Her father rebuked her for her lack of charity, but he himself looked
+uneasy, for he could not forget that Roger had been one of his family,
+and treated as a son, and it pained him to the heart to suppose that he
+could be guilty of such baseness as that of which he was suspected.  He
+hoped with all his heart that his work would prove him innocent.
+
+On all Sundays and holy days the officers of the city, the mayor, the
+sheriff, the aldermen, the wardens of Exe bridge, and at times the
+members of the guilds, were bound to attend the bishop to St Peter's
+Church.  But this day had in it the promise of an especial ceremony, one
+in which the bishop took deep interest.  The office of nones being ended
+in the Lady Chapel, the procession was to enter the choir, where six
+corbels, for the first time uncovered, were to meet the eyes of the
+spectators.  And this being so, the usual number was greatly increased,
+and presented a splendour of colour which at this time can hardly be
+realised.  The ecclesiastical dress was extremely gorgeous, and here
+were bishop, dean, and chapter in full robes, the mayor and aldermen not
+far behind in magnificence, with a great preponderance of blue in the
+civil dresses, and robes lined with fur (or vair).  The guilds added
+their brilliancy of colour, the craftsmen wearing their distinctive
+dress, and as the procession swept round into the choir, the sunlight
+falling brilliantly through the stained glass windows, in themselves one
+of the wonders of the time, and as all the beauty of the choir revealed
+itself, the grey Purbeck stone contrasting delicately with the somewhat
+yellowish tinge of the walls, the scene was one of amazing splendour,
+and the burst of song which broke forth as the singers raised the psalms
+of degrees, told that it had touched an answering chord in the hearts of
+the people.  Most of the great families of the county had sent some
+representative.  There were Grenvils and Fitz-Ralffes, Greenways of
+Brixham, Bartholomew and Joan Giffard of Halsberry, Sir Roger Hale, and
+numbers of ladies wearing long trains, and gold-embroidered mantles, and
+on their heads veils; while the black or grey frocks of the friars from
+the neighbouring priories gave the necessary relief to colour which
+might otherwise have been too dazzling.  Lammas Day, moreover, was the
+day of Exeter fair, which added to the concourse.
+
+But Joan had no eyes for any of this great assemblage.  She could just
+catch sight of Hugh moving on in his place among the guild apprentices,
+and she could see that his head was bent, and knew that his hands would
+be knotted together, as was ever the way with him when he was feeling
+strong emotion.  But even Joan, clasping her mother's hand, and sending
+her heart out to him in sympathy, little knew what a storm of feeling
+was surging up in the young man's heart.  His father had never seemed so
+near.  He understood, as he had never understood before, the
+wood-carver's longing to see his name famous; he understood, too, that
+higher longing which had moved him before his death.  In this work of
+his Hugh had resigned the ambition for his own honour and glory, for he
+honestly believed that all he had done had been to carry out his
+master's design, and was unaware of what his own power had added.  Nor
+was he going in with hope that even this execution would surpass that of
+the others.  He knew his own shortcomings, they often seemed to him to
+be absolutely destructive, and he imagined all the excellences he had
+dreamed of distributed among the others.  But at this moment it scarcely
+troubled him; what he felt was the solemnity and beauty of the scene,
+the glory of the building, the greatness of having been permitted to
+help in making it beautiful; he raised his head and a light shone in his
+eyes, for he knew that his father's deepest yearnings would have been
+satisfied.  There were the six corbels, fair and fresh from the carvers'
+hands, the rich stone with its almost golden tints adding the charm of
+colour to the nobility of the work; there were the clustered columns,
+massive, yet light, and high up the glorious lines of vaulting.  Right
+on one of the corbels--it was Wat's--struck a shaft of sunlight, and as
+the long procession crossed this gleam, all the brilliant colours were
+intensified, and the upturned faces of the little acolytes looked like
+those of child-angels.  The procession did not pause.  It swept through
+the choir and out of the side gate, still chanting the psalms of
+degrees, till the voices died away, and the choir was filled by those
+who had come to see Bishop Bitton's work thus nobly carried out.
+
+Hugh did not return--he could not, though Franklyn had almost dragged
+him by force, and told him that Gervase had asked for him.  He shook off
+Wat, who begged him at least to come outside and see the horses and
+trappings of the Lord of Pomeroy who had come in from his castle of
+Biry, a castle much renowned in the county, and who was famous for his
+success in the jousts.  Here was his coal-black horse Paladin, whose
+sire he had brought back from the Crusades, and the noblest mastiff Wat
+had ever beheld, and such a jester as--
+
+But Hugh was gone.
+
+His heart was too full for speech with anyone.  He had always been a
+self-restrained boy who, when deeply moved, liked to be alone, and
+sometimes vexed faithful Joan by escaping even her sympathy.  And now he
+felt as if only the woods could shelter him.  He loved them deeply, he
+went to them for inspiration for his work; he went now when he wanted he
+knew not what, for it was neither comfort nor rejoicing, only an
+over-fulness of heart.  He could not have told whether he had failed or
+succeeded, for the perception of something higher than success had
+touched him, and it was this which drove him forth into the solitudes of
+the woods.
+
+When an hour had passed the throng had left the choir, and the bishop
+and chapter, together with all the officers of the Guild of Stonemasons,
+came in once more to pronounce upon the work.  Bishop Bitton was
+strangely moved.  He saw before him a work, not yet, it is true,
+complete, yet, for the length of his episcopate, marvellous; a work in
+which he had loyally carried out the lines laid down by his predecessor.
+His health was failing, and the conviction was strong upon him that not
+many years of life remained to him.  He, too, like Hugh, would have
+thankfully passed these hours alone, but for him it was not possible; he
+must listen to the kindly congratulations of the dean, the half-veiled
+spite of the precentor, the unintelligent praise of others.  But all the
+while his heart was sending up its thankful _Nunc dimittis_.
+
+And Gervase?  His thoughts were perhaps the most mingled of any, and the
+most unselfish.  To him the desire of his soul had not been granted.  He
+had been forced to relinquish it to others, yet he could rejoice
+ungrudgingly, giving full meed of praise and admiration.  And, indeed,
+the corbels were of noble beauty.  From one to another the groups
+passed, pausing to note each characteristic, and so fair was each that
+it was hard to gather judgment.
+
+With one exception.
+
+Unanimously Hugh's corbel, or, as it was rather called, Gervase's, was
+declared the best both in design and execution.  It varied from the
+others, in which the whole mass was formed of leafage, while this was
+broken by curved lines round which the foliage grouped itself, and
+nothing could have been more admirable than the freedom of the lines,
+and the grace and spontaneousness of the design.  The bishop, after
+standing long to gaze at it, turned and stretched out his hand to Elyas.
+
+"This is a proud day for thee, friend," he said heartily, "for by common
+consent thy design is held so far to surpass all the others that there
+is not one can come near it.  And thy prentice hath ably carried out thy
+views."
+
+"He hath done more, my lord," said Elyas, quickly; "the parts of the
+design which delight you all are his, not mine.  Never saw I aught more
+enriched than my thoughts in his hands.  There is none other to equal
+it, that I allow, but the credit belongs to Hugh Bassett, not to Elyas
+Gervase."
+
+The bishop looked incredulously at him, and others who had gathered
+round shook their heads.
+
+"'Tis impossible," said the bishop.  "Bethink thee, goodman, the lad,
+though clever in his craft, is youngest of all the workmen.  Thou hast
+ever favoured him, and maybe art scarcely aware how much thy skill hath
+aided him."
+
+"My lord, no one knows better than myself how much and how little."
+
+But Gervase, to his great distress, found that his protestations were
+disregarded.  Some, like the bishop, believed that in his zeal for his
+apprentice, in whom it was known that he took more than usual interest,
+he did not remember all the advice he had given; others were perhaps
+willing to yield the first place to one who as a leading burgess was
+greatly respected in the city, and whose illness had raised the ready
+sympathy of all, while 'twould have been another matter to put a lad--
+younger than any--there.  Hardly one was there who would give the credit
+of more than an excellent execution to Hugh, though Elyas grew hot and
+fevered with his efforts to persuade them of the truth, and could
+scarcely keep his usually even temper under the congratulations which
+poured upon him, and which made him feel like a traitor, though a most
+unwilling traitor, to Hugh.  The master of the guild, who was an old man
+and deaf, especially pooh-poohed his remonstrances.
+
+"I mind me, goodman, that when thou wast a prentice, and an idle one, I
+ever maintained that the day would come when thou wouldst do us credit,
+and thy father, honest man, he cast up his hands, and `Alack, Master
+Garland,' quoth he, `the day is long in coming!'  `The day is long in
+coming,' those were his very words.  What dost thou say?  My hearing is
+not so sharp as it was--thy prentice?  Ay, ay, the lad hath done well,
+very well, but anyone can see whose was the band that directed his."
+
+"Beshrew me if they will not soon persuade me that I am an old dotard,
+knowing neither what I say nor what I do!" cried Elyas angrily to his
+fellow-warden.  "I shall hear next that I have carved the _surs_ myself!
+Hugh shall show them what he can do when he has his next corbel to
+carry out alone.  I will not even look at it."
+
+"It is said that that he will not have," replied John Hamlyn drily.
+
+"Not?  And wherefore?"
+
+"The judges maintain it should be given to one whose corbel has been
+solely his own work.  I have withdrawn from the competition, having much
+to execute for my Lord of Pomeroy, and some say it should fall to thy
+man Wat, whose scratching dog is marvellously well managed, but, unless
+I am mistaken, the greater part hold to another man of thine--Roger.
+His design is most delicately intricate."
+
+Gervase was greatly disturbed.
+
+"I would have had naught to do with the matter had I believed in such
+unfairness," he said, with heat.  "I would I had never asked the poor
+lad to give up his own work to do mine, nor hampered him with my
+design!"
+
+"Take it not so much to heart, goodman."
+
+"Nay, but I must, I must.  'Tis the injustice that weighs on me, and
+shame that Hugh should be served so scurvily.  Roger!  I shall speak
+presently with the bishop."
+
+He redoubled his earnestness, speaking, indeed, with so much decision,
+that the bishop was impressed.  But, as he said, the feeling among the
+judges was very strong, and he did not himself believe that anything
+could be advanced that would turn them.  There was, moreover, a
+conviction that Hugh was young enough to wait, and therefore, though a
+doubt might exist, they were opposed to giving him the benefit of the
+doubt.  Nor could anything which Elyas advanced shake their
+determination.  Something, it was true, was whispered as to an ugly
+story of a ladder, but the thing had never been proved against Roger,
+and except among the workmen had been forgotten.  And the workmen were
+not the judges.
+
+Ladders were now procured, and the corbels were minutely examined.
+Nothing, it was freely owned, approached the beauty of Hugh's, and no
+other exceeded it in admirable workmanship.  If both design and
+execution had been his, there could have been no question; as it was--
+
+"The obstinate fools!" growled Gervase, under his breath.
+
+Finally the workers were themselves admitted, Wat coming in eager and
+triumphant, with the certainty that Hugh's success was assured, and
+Roger pale, nervous, glancing furtively from side to side, as if trying
+to read his fate in the faces round.  Wat strode joyously to Gervase.
+
+"Where is Hugh?" asked his master.
+
+"Gone off, sir, in one of his solitary moods.  But Mistress Prothasy is
+preparing a rare feast in his honour."  Then, as he noticed Gervase's
+grave face, he stopped and stared at him.
+
+"Ay, Wat, it is even so," said Elyas, bitterly.
+
+"These wise men will have it that the _surs_ is my designing, and that
+Hugh hath but carved it.  Heardest thou ever such injustice?  I may
+talk, and they pay no more heed than if I were--thy dog whom thou hast
+set up there.  And, by the mass," he added kindly, "thou hast done him
+marvellous well, and there has been a talk of thy having the other
+corbel."
+
+"I would not have taken it," said Wat hotly.
+
+"I had rather it had been in thy hands than in Roger's."
+
+"Roger, goodman!" cried Wat, starting forward.  "Not that traitor?"
+
+"Peace, peace!  I am as grieved as thou, but we know not that he is a
+traitor."
+
+"Ay, by my troth, but I do!"  Wat persisted, "and so shall they all.
+Where is Warden Hamlyn?"
+
+"Nay, I know not.  It is not long since he was here," answered Elyas,
+surprised.  "What hast thou in thy mad head?  Bethink thee, Wat, we do
+Hugh but harm to bring charges which we cannot prove, and though it was
+a foul act to cut that ladder--"
+
+"It is not the ladder, goodman," cried Wat, earnestly.  "Thou wast ill,
+and we did not tell thee of the other villainy.  Hast thou looked at
+Roger's corbel?"
+
+"Ay," with surprise.
+
+"Is it new to thee?"
+
+"Nay, I seemed to know every twist of the ivy.  But I thought--my memory
+plays me scurvy tricks since my illness--I thought, though I could not
+call it to mind, that Roger must have brought it to me to ask my
+counsel.  Surely it was so?"
+
+"Nay, goodman, when did Roger ask thy counsel?  It was Hugh who brought
+it to thee, and, knowing Roger's evil disposition, we were ever on the
+watch against eavesdropping and prying.  But the day thou wast taken
+with thy sickness Hugh forgot it, and Roger stole the design.  And now!
+But he shall not gain his end," cried Wat, fiercely.  "Goodman, where
+shall I be most likely to find Master Hamlyn?"
+
+"Go and ask his head man there.  But what good can he do thee?"
+
+Wat, however, was already off, blaming himself bitterly that in the
+excitement of the morning, and his undoubted certainty that Hugh was
+secure of being first, he had omitted to remind the warden of what he
+held in trust.  To add to his dismay, he could get no tidings of John
+Hamlyn.  Each person he asked said he had been there but now, and must
+be somewhere close at hand, but he never arrived nearer, though he
+scoured the Cathedral from end to end, and brought upon himself a severe
+rating from the precentor.  Then in despair he rushed off to Hamlyn's
+house, where he met the warden's wife and daughter setting forth to find
+out what was going on at the Cathedral.  Even in the midst of his
+anxiety, Wat was suddenly seized with the conviction that Margaret
+Hamlyn, with her dark eyes and her primrose kirtle, was the sweetest
+maiden he had ever beheld, and she showed so much desire to help him,
+and was so very hopeful as to their finding her father, that before ten
+minutes were over he had not the smallest doubt on the matter.
+
+Nevertheless, nothing could be heard of Hamlyn.  Wat met Joan, who had
+been waiting and watching for Hugh until she could keep away no longer,
+and was come to seek Elyas with a little bundle tucked under her arm,
+from which she allowed a quaint wizened face to peep at Wat.  Her
+confidence that all was well for Hugh, and her pretty pleasure in
+bringing Agrippa to join in his triumph, were so great that Wat had not
+the heart to damp them by telling her of the untoward turn events had
+taken; he only said impatiently that things were not yet settled, and
+that Hugh was an ass to go and bury himself in the green woods instead
+of coming forward with the others.
+
+"Do they want him?" asked Joan stopping.
+
+"Nay, I know not that they want him," returned Wat, "but he should be
+there."
+
+"Then I shall go back and watch for him," she said resolutely.  "Mother
+is busy with the supper and might not see him.  I know where he is gone,
+and he must come in by the North Gate, and I will get the keeper to let
+me sit there and wait.  I will bring him, Wat, never fear."
+
+But as the minutes flew and nothing was seen of John Hamlyn, Wat began
+to wish that he had done nothing to draw Hugh to a place where he would
+only find his own just meeds passed over, and evil-doing triumphant.
+Gervase stood apart from his friends; he was sick at heart, feeling as
+if he had been the cause of all that had happened to Hugh, from his
+desire to see his own designs carried out.  Perhaps he had not yet
+regained his usual healthy buoyancy, for all looked black; he felt
+strangely unable to influence those with whom his word had always
+carried weight, but most of all he grieved for Roger's treachery.
+
+Presently there was a little stir among the knot of judges, and
+Franklyn, who was near them, came over to Elyas, and whispered--
+
+"It is all decided, goodman."
+
+"For Roger?"
+
+"Ay.  It should have been Hugh's to my thinking, for the lad hath
+surpassed us all.  But they vow it is thy design."
+
+"Ay, they know better than I do," said Elyas bitterly.  "See they are
+calling him up."
+
+Roger, indeed, was moving towards the group with an air which had gained
+assurance since he first came into the choir.  The old master of the
+guild spoke in his quavering voice.
+
+"Of these carvings which have been placed here to the honour of God and
+His holy Apostle, it is held that thine, Roger Brewer, is the most
+complete.  Thou art therefore permitted to undertake the carving of
+another corbel, and to make choice of which thou wilt for thyself."
+
+Somebody started forward.
+
+"Sir, it is no design of his; he is a false braggart, and stole it from
+Hugh Bassett."
+
+A great confusion arose, angry looks were turned on Wat, and the bishop
+moved forward and raised his hands.
+
+"Methinks, masters, you forget in whose house we be.  That is a grave
+accusation.  Hast thou answer to make, Roger Brewer?"
+
+"Ay, my lord," said Roger, standing boldly forward.  "I say it is a foul
+lie, and that he is ever seeking to do me a mischief, and I demand his
+proofs."
+
+"That hast thou a right to require.  Where are the proofs?"
+
+"My lord, I have them not, but--"
+
+Roger broke in with a scornful smile.
+
+"Said I not so?  You see, my lord."
+
+In his turn he was interrupted by a grave voice, "My lord, the proofs
+are here.  I but waited to see whether he would have the grace to
+withdraw his claim;" and John Hamlyn, stepping forward, raised a broad
+board so that it might be seen of all.  "Will the judges say whether
+this design is the same as that carved by Roger Brewer?"
+
+There was a close examination and comparison, at the end of which the
+master, after consultation with the others, raised his head.
+
+"It is undoubtedly the same."
+
+"Now," continued Hamlyn, turning the board, "there is writing here,
+which you and I, my masters, cannot fathom.  Maybe my lord bishop will
+have the grace to construe it for us."
+
+The bishop advanced, and in a clear voice read, "Hugh Bassett, Saint
+George's Day, A.D. 1303."
+
+"Wat, repeat thy story," said Hamlyn quietly.  "I have kept thy proof
+safely, though truly until this day I knew not what it was worth."
+
+Thus adjured Wat, though finding it hard to keep down his excitement,
+told what he had to tell straightforwardly and well.  He related how,
+having his suspicions raised, he had warned Hugh to beware of Roger, and
+how on the day of Gervase's illness the design had disappeared.  That
+then it had come into his mind to advise Hugh to draw it again, to place
+a date upon it and give it into Mistress Prothasy's keeping.  That she
+had held it safely until Master John Hamlyn took it from her, and that
+from the day of the date Hugh had never had it in his hands nor so much
+as seen it.
+
+This was all, but with the board before them, it was evidence which
+could hardly be strengthened, and if more were needed, Roger's white,
+fear-stricken face supplied it.  There was a significant silence, broken
+at last by the bishop's voice.
+
+"Where is Hugh Bassett?" he asked.
+
+"Now, in good sooth, was ever anything so foolish as that he should have
+hidden himself as he hath done?" whispered the provoked Wat to his
+neighbour.  But at that moment the circle of interested citizens opened,
+and Hugh, looking flushed and disturbed, came forward, while behind him
+were Elyas and Joan.
+
+"Hugh Bassett," said the bishop, pointing to the board, "is that thy
+work?"
+
+"Ay, my lord," he answered in a low voice.
+
+Again a pause.
+
+"Thou hast heard the relation of its keeping?"
+
+"Nay, my lord, I have but this moment come into the church."
+
+"Let us hear what thou hast to say."
+
+Hugh told his story, which agreed in every respect with that already
+related.  While it was telling the miserable Roger tried to slip away,
+but at a sign from Hamlyn two members of the guild silently placed
+themselves on either side.  Then Elyas stepped forward.
+
+"I speak with pain, my lord," he said, "for Roger Brewer is my
+journeyman and hath been my apprentice, but to keep silence were to sin
+against this holy place.  My sickness hath made me oblivious, but the
+ivy is strangely familiar to me, and I mind me that Hugh ever brought
+his designs to show me, while Roger had no such habit.  Moreover,
+although you have refused to listen to what I said as to the corbel
+carved by Hugh Bassett, I would urge upon you to consider it viewed in
+the light of what has now passed."
+
+He was listened to in absolute silence, and presently bishop, chapter,
+and judges retired to consult, while the others waited, and Elyas, whose
+kind heart was deeply grieved for Roger, drew off and knelt in prayer.
+
+The consultation was not long, the judges came back, and once again the
+old master delivered their judgment.
+
+"It having been proved that Hugh Bassett rather than Roger Brewer
+designed the ivy corbel, it is declared that his work standeth first in
+merit, and he is granted the carving of another corbel, and the choice
+of pillar."
+
+Had it not been church Wat would have leapt high in the air.
+
+No more was said, for it was not the fitting place in which to deal with
+Roger's misdoing, which would be the work of the guild, but he was
+removed by the two men who had him in charge, and those who were left
+pressed round Hugh to seize his hand.  He had known nothing of the first
+acts of the drama, but his day in the quiet woods was no ill preparation
+for this moment of success.  Elyas came up and laid a broad hand on his
+shoulder, and Joan slipped hers into Hugh's.
+
+"Come home and tell mother," she whispered.
+
+But when they at length got outside the Cathedral door a strange and
+unexpected sight met them, for Wat, who was a great favourite with the
+apprentices, had rushed out, and in an incredibly short time had
+gathered a large number together, and marshalled them at the door to
+greet Hugh when he came.  There was no need to bid them cheer; the
+tidings that one of their number had gained so great an honour raised
+them to wild enthusiasm, and made them forget their usual rivalries;
+they pressed round the Cathedral door, and when he came out, literally
+flung themselves upon him, shouting at the top of their voices, and
+waving sticks or anything which came to hand; finally, in spite of all
+he could do, seizing and bearing him off in their arms, carrying him in
+triumph through Broad Gate out into the High Street, and joined by fresh
+boys at every turn of the road.  Citizens ran out on hearing the tumult,
+the watchmen caught up their staves and hurried forth, the Pomeroy and
+Ralegh retainers cheered them on, all the windows and balconies were
+quickly filled with women who laughed and waved their hands, and the
+mayor himself, so far from showing any anger, stood in a balcony and
+flung down largesse upon the shouting lads.  Nothing would suffice, but
+to carry Hugh all down the steep street to Exe bridge, where, near seven
+years before, he had come in under such different circumstances, and,
+hot and shamefaced as he was, he could not but think of this, and scarce
+knew where he was for the thinking.
+
+Hot he might be, but there was no persuading them, to put him down, and
+up the street they went again, cheering still, and between the old
+houses, until they stopped at Gervase's door, where Elyas himself stood
+with Prothasy, and Joan clapping her hands with all her might.  And
+there was more shouting and rejoicing when Elyas bid all the prentices
+to a feast in the meadows on St Bartholomew's Day, his own house not
+having space for such a number.
+
+They separated at last, and reluctantly, after such a shrill burst of
+cheering as rang through the old city, and Hugh, who felt as if it were
+all some strange exciting dream, was thankful to find himself alone with
+those good friends to whom he owed his present fortune.  Elyas put his
+hands on his shoulders, and looked into the clear eyes, now on a level
+with his own.
+
+"Thy father could not have been more glad than I," he said simply.
+
+"I would I could thank thee, goodman," said Hugh, in an unsteady voice,
+"for all comes from thee."
+
+"Nay, neither me nor thee, but from One Who gave the gift.  And thou--
+thou hast kept covenant."
+
+"I looked not for anything like this."
+
+"Doubtless it hath been a little upsetting," said Elyas, with a smile,
+"but it hath made Wat as happy as a king.  Never was a more faithful
+friend, or that had less thought for himself.  I verily believe he never
+cared for his own work; he did his best simply, and there left it.  'Tis
+a rare nature.  Alack, alack, I would poor Roger had been as free from
+self-seeking!"
+
+"Goodman," said Hugh, hesitatingly, "hast thou heard aught of Roger?"
+
+"I went to the Guildhall from the Cathedral and saw him.  I might have
+been a stranger and an enemy," Elyas added, sighing, "for all I could
+get from him."
+
+"Might I speak for him?  Would they hearken?  I love him not, in good
+sooth," said Hugh frankly, "and I know not what I might have felt if he
+had succeeded; but 'tis easy to forgive when he hath done no one harm
+but himself.  Maybe, sir, he might do better if he had another chance?"
+
+"That may not be here," said the warden, gravely.  "Some were for
+flinging him into gaol, but they hearkened to me so far that he will be
+but heavily fined, and sent from the city, never to return.  Speak not
+of him.  I would rather not grieve on this day.  But first, before I
+hand thee over to Joan, who doth not yet feel she hath had her share,
+first tell me which corbel thou wilt choose?  I counsel the one opposite
+to that thou hast finished.  There is no fairer position for showing the
+beauty of thy work."
+
+But Hugh shook his head.
+
+"Nay, I have set my heart upon another."
+
+"And which is that?"
+
+"It is the first which was allotted to me, that on the left as you enter
+the choir, where the rood-screen is to stand."
+
+"That!" said Gervase, disappointed.  "Bethink thee, Hugh, it is not so
+well seen as any of the others."
+
+"Thou hast ever taught us, goodman, that we should give as good work to
+the parts which are not seen as to the rest," said Hugh, mischievously.
+"But, in truth, I have thought so much of that corbel, and let my
+fancies play about it so long, that it seems more mine own than any.
+Let me have it."
+
+"Nay, thou must choose for thyself, for none of us can gainsay thee."
+
+"And the other should be kept for thee.  I know the guild would have thy
+work before any man's."
+
+Gervase's eyes brightened.
+
+"With our Lady and the Blessed Babe--I know not, I know not, I would
+liefer have it in thy hands."
+
+"I hold to my own."
+
+"Father, father," cried Joan, running in, "mother bids me ask whether
+thou hast told Nicholas Harding to come and help her with the tables?
+And she saith Hal will drive her demented unless thou find some errand
+for him to do."
+
+Such a feast as Prothasy had prepared!  And to it came John Hamlyn, his
+wife, and daughter, and Wat, contriving to sit next to Mistress
+Margaret, was able to tell her the whole tale, which seemed to her most
+marvellously interesting.  Also she questioned him much about his own
+corbel, and was amazed to think that it should have been a neighbour's
+dog which he had set up, and would fain see for herself the unconscious
+Spot who had been thus immortalised.  And afterwards she spoke very
+prettily to Wat's mother, who had come in from her farm, a proud woman
+to think what her son had done, and gazing at him as if no mother had
+ever another such.
+
+But the happiest perhaps was Joan.  With Agrippa in her arms, she sat
+next to Hugh, and could whisper to him from time to time, and listen to
+what was said, and rejoice with all her faithful little heart.  Never
+apprentice had won such honour, and never, said Elyas strongly to John
+Hamlyn, could one deserve it better.  And in the midst of the feast came
+a messenger bringing Hugh a gift from the bishop, a reliquary of goodly
+workmanship.
+
+Such a day, as Joan said that evening with a sigh of happiness, had
+never been before!
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+THE SECOND CORBEL.
+
+There is little more to tell.  My story is like a web of knitting, and
+now the point is reached where the stitches have to be cast off, and the
+work left.  It has been no more than a tale of apprenticeship, and
+Hugh's man's life was but just beginning.  Yet those years are enough to
+tell us what the rest was likely to be.
+
+For months he toiled at the second corbel, and in these months passed
+out of his apprenticeship and became journeyman.  Master Gervase was
+wont to say that the lad was in a fair way to be spoilt, for the story
+of that Lammas Day got abroad, as stories did in those days, carried
+back by the Pomeroy retainers to Biry, and by the Raleghs to Street
+Ralegh, and caught at by the wandering minstrels and story-tellers, who
+were the great bearers of news about the country, and ever on the watch
+for some gossip which they might retail at fair or castle, where it
+travelled from the buttery hatch to my lady's closet, and lost naught in
+the telling.  The town had been crowded by these strangers at the time
+of the corbel incident, the annual fair being held on Lammas Day, so
+that there was fine opportunity for spreading of news; and when the
+families from the great houses in the county came into the city, they
+must needs go to the Cathedral to see the carving which had caused so
+much stir, and those who had work of their own going on would have had
+Hugh Bassett to carry it out.  But nothing would draw him from the
+corbel.
+
+"I marvel at the lad," said John Hamlyn one day to his fellow-warden;
+"he seems to care little for the over-praise he gets.  'Twould turn my
+Ralph's head."
+
+"His father's training has borne fruit," answered Elyas.  "Hugh gave up
+his own fancies, and held by what he had learnt to be duty; now he yet
+thinks of the duty, and not of the glory to himself.  He is as good to
+me as any son could be."
+
+"And may be thy son in good earnest?"
+
+"With all my heart," said Gervase cheerfully.  "But that must bide
+awhile."
+
+Hamlyn looked him up and down.
+
+"Thou art as hale, goodman, as ever thou wert before thy sickness."
+
+"Ay, thank God!  When the spring comes and the cold of winter is over I
+shall fall to work upon the _surs_."
+
+"Best make speed, for the old master can hardly last much longer, and it
+will not become thy dignity to be seen on a ladder when thou art in his
+place."
+
+"Tut, tut, man! were I King of England it would become me to work for
+the King of kings.  But this is idle telling.  Wilt come into the yard?
+That malapert Hal is like to drive William Franklyn out of his wits with
+his idle pranks, and I am ever needed to keep the peace."
+
+"And yet in sooth, goodman, thy prentices do thee credit--I would mine
+were of the same value," said Hamlyn, with a sigh and a thought of his
+son Ralph.  "I really believe their thick pates can hold naught but the
+desire to break those of others.  Now there is that man of thine, Wat--
+he," Hamlyn paused, "he is a likely fellow?"
+
+"As good a lad as ever breathed," returned Gervase heartily.  Then he
+looked at the other warden and smiled.  "Thou didst fling out something
+just now of my having a son in Hugh.  Maybe thou hast a thought of
+finding a son thyself and more quickly?"
+
+"I'd as lief know what like the lad is," said Hamlyn gruffly.  "He
+greatly favours our house, and on Holy Cross Day brought nuts enough to
+Madge to feed a wood full of squirrels."
+
+"He is a boy in his play yet," answered Elyas, "but I have marked him
+closely, and he hath in him the making of a true man.  I tell thee,
+neighbour, thou wouldst do well for thy daughter's happiness to give her
+Wat for a husband."
+
+Hamlyn protested that it had not come to this yet, but it was easy to
+see that he was well inclined to the young stonemason, and that if Wat's
+fancy lasted, which at this time appeared probable, he might win pretty
+Margaret for his wife.  There was a squire in my Lord of Devon's meine
+who was desirous to marry her, but Hamlyn had no liking for what he
+called a roystering cut-throat trade, much preferring one of his own
+craft, even though his daughter might have aspired to a richer suitor.
+Wat's simple loyalty to his friend and total absence of self-seeking had
+struck them all, and his corbel was greatly admired, so that the
+Prideaux family in seeking someone to carve a rich monument had
+expressed a hope that he would be chosen for the work.
+
+Of Roger nothing had been heard.  He had gone forth, forbidden to
+return, and though Gervase's kind heart had yearned for a word which
+might show repentance, and give him an excuse for helping him, the word
+never came.
+
+The winter was a sharp one, so sharp that Hugh's carving was somewhat
+hindered by the extreme cold.  And just at the New Year Agrippa died.
+
+He had grown old and feeble, no longer able to swing about from rafter
+to beam as in old days, most content to lie near the fire, wrapped in a
+piece of warm scarlet Flemish wool which they provided for him, and in
+his old age showing yet more markedly his likes and dislikes.  Never had
+he done more than tolerate Prothasy, and now, when she came near him, he
+chattered and scolded with all his weak might.  Franklyn, one or two of
+the men, and prentice Hal he detested equally, but there was a new
+prentice, Gilbert, whom he permitted to stroke him.  Joan he loved,
+saving always when Hugh was near.  For him he had a passionate devotion
+which was pathetic.  When he was in the room he was never content unless
+Hugh took him up, and he was jealous even of Joan if she withdrew Hugh's
+attention.  Yet in spite of his spoilt and irritable ways all the
+household cared for the quaint little creature, and it was Gervase
+himself who came down to the Cathedral, when they were singing nones in
+the Lady Chapel, to fetch Hugh, who, his fingers having grown stiff over
+his corbel with the bitter cold, had given it up for the day, and was
+working under Franklyn's directions at some of the larger work which yet
+remained to be finished in the choir.
+
+"Joan would have thee home to see Agrippa," said the warden, laying his
+hand as he loved to do on Hugh's shoulder; "the poor beast is sorely
+sick--unto death, if I mistake not."
+
+It did not take Hugh many minutes to dash through St Martin's Gate into
+the High Street and his master's house.  Joan called to him the moment
+she heard his voice, and he found her in much distress, kneeling close
+to the fire on which she had piled as many logs as she could.  There
+under his scarlet covering lay poor Agrippa at the last gasp, but still
+able to recognise his master with the old look of love, and the
+stretching forth his poor little shrunk paw.  Hugh flung himself down by
+his side, heaping endearments upon him, while Joan held back lest her
+presence by Hugh should stir the little creature's anger.  It was over
+the next moment.  One loving piteous look, one movement as though to
+raise himself towards his master, and the eyes glazed and the limbs
+stiffened, and Hugh's faithful little companion for more than seven
+years was gone.
+
+Joan sobbed bitterly, and Hugh was more moved than he would have cared
+to let anyone but her see.  They both knelt on by his side, till Hugh
+rose and drew her to her feet.
+
+"Poor Agrippa!  He has had a happy home, thanks to thee.  Thou wert his
+first protector, Joan."
+
+She looked up and smiled through her tears.
+
+"When thou wast so frighted at mother that thou must needs break thy
+indentures and run away!  Father hath often told me of it.  'Twas well
+it was father, and that he was able to keep it from coming to the guild.
+But to think thou didst not know mother better."
+
+She was a wise little maiden, capable as was Prothasy, and with as warm
+affections, but a gentler manner of showing them.  And from her father
+she had inherited his gift of imagination and love of beauty, so that in
+the greenwood not Hugh himself had a quicker eye for the loveliness of
+interlacing trees, or the fancies of the foliage, and as he sometimes
+told her, she should have been a boy and a stone-carver.  The art of
+painting, save in missals, can scarcely be said to have existed in those
+days, when all beautiful materials, glow of colour, and picturesqueness
+of line, were at its disposal, and art was forced to take refuge in
+architecture, which it carried to its noblest height, or, with women, in
+exquisite embroideries.
+
+Joan had smiled, but she was very sad for Agrippa, and nothing would
+comfort her but hearing of Hugh's progress with his _surs_, when 'twould
+be finished and she might see it.
+
+"It should have been done by now," said Hugh, "but this biting cold
+stiffens my fingers so that I cannot venture on the delicate parts.
+Come, now, Joan, what sayest thou to thy birthday--Candlemas Day?"
+
+She clapped her hands.
+
+"In good sooth.  And if father is still better--which Our Lady grant!--
+he will begin his work that month."
+
+Elyas, indeed, showed no signs of his past sickness, and as the leech,
+when Prothasy spoke to him, assured her that malignant influences no
+longer threatened, she was greatly comforted.  He said himself that his
+memory failed, but no one else saw any unusual signs of this not
+uncommon complaint, and there was little doubt that he would be elected
+its master by the guild, which some two hundred years later was to
+stretch itself so far as to incorporate together "Carpenters, Masons,
+Joiners, and Glaziers and Painters."
+
+There was no such excitement on Candlemas Day as there had been five
+months before, for nothing hung on the uncovering of Hugh's carving
+beyond learning whether his second work would equal the promise of his
+first, and this to the outer world meant little.  To his own little
+world, and to the bishop, it meant much.  The fame of his first work had
+come through difficulties and by a roundabout fashion; in this that he
+had now completed no one could either rightly or wrongly claim a part.
+When therefore, after the Hours, the bishop and a few of his clergy
+entered the choir, they found a knot of guild officers there, and all
+Gervase's household, together with Hamlyn's wife and daughters, and a
+few workmen who had not cared to keep holiday.
+
+"No greenwood for thee, Hugh, to-day," Elyas had said, and the young man
+was there himself, looking gravely content, and not, as Mistress Hamlyn
+expressed it, in the least puffed with pride.
+
+At a sign from the bishop, he mounted the ladder and drew off the
+wrapping cloths.
+
+Much had been seen during the carving, but now for the first time the
+work was beheld in its full beauty, and from the group there went up an
+irrepressible murmur of admiration.
+
+It was a group of figures.  At the top Our Lord and His Mother in glory;
+below, a single figure of Saint Cecilia drawing music from an instrument
+shaped something like a lute, but played with a bow; over her head,
+inclined gently to the left, a little angel hovered.  The grace and
+sweetness of her attitude, the fall of the draperies, the delicacy of
+the workmanship, raised the beholders into enthusiasm, and though the
+corbel was not so prominent as the others, something in the angle in
+which it was seen, and the manner in which it stood out against the
+outer nave, added to the effect of beauty.
+
+Hugh had modestly stood aside while the examination went on, but Joan
+had stolen to him and slipped her hand in his, and now Elyas turned and
+embraced him.
+
+"Hugh," he said, "I am proud to count thee as my son."
+
+Wat was there, too, absolutely beaming with delight, and seizing Hugh's
+hand as if he would wring it off.
+
+"Said I not, said I not,"--he began, and then, "no one can say aught
+against thy work now; but, Hugh--"
+
+"Ay?"
+
+"Couldst not carve a Saint Margaret as well as a Saint Cecilia?
+Prithee--"
+
+But here his request was broken off by a message that the Lord Bishop
+would speak with Hugh Bassett.
+
+Bishop Bitton, who had aged fast of late, was leaning on the arm of one
+of his priests, but his face was lit with that fire of enthusiasm which
+could always be stirred in him by aught that was good or great.  As Hugh
+came up, he raised his hand, and the young man dropped on his knee to
+receive the blessing.
+
+And as, deeply moved, he rose and stood on one side, it seemed to him
+that his father's dying voice stole softly upon his ears--
+
+"Not for thyself, but for the glory of God."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Prentice Hugh, by FM Peard
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43170 ***