The porter slowly opened the gate; and, with the tone of careless and haughty indifference which has always marked the inferior personages of a court--I mean the inferior in mind, more than the inferior in rank or station--the knight said, "There was an old man killed near this spot last night, I think?" "There was, noble sir," answered the porter, with a low reverence to his air of superiority; "the body has been moved to the chapel." "I care nought about the body," rejoined Roydon. "He had a daughter or grand-daughter or something with him; where is she?" "She has just gone forth, noble sir," replied the porter; "you must have passed her at the gate." "Ha! what! a girl with a grey hood and a white coat, with some gold at the edge?" asked the knight. "The same, noble sir," said the old man; "poor thing, she is sadly afflicted." "Send her to me when she comes back, and I will comfort her," answered the visitor in a light tone. "Nay, sir, she is none of those, I'll warrant," replied the porter, very little edified; "and I give no such messages here." "Thou art a fool, old man," said Sir Simeon of Roydon. "Will she come back hither?" "Doubtless she will," answered the other, "for better comfort than you can give." "Pshaw! art thou a preacher?", demanded the knight, with a sneer. "The comfort that I have to give is gold, by the King's command. So tell her to come to Burwash House, close by the Temple gate, up the lane to the left, and ask for Simeon of Roydon. If I be not within, I will leave the money with a servant; but bid her come quickly, for I must tell the King as soon as his bounty is bestowed. When will she be here?" "That I know not," answered the old man; "the prioress bade me give her admission to the parlour whenever she came, for the ladies the sisters have taken her case much to heart. But the young woman did not say when she would return. Perhaps it would be better for you to leave the money with the lady prioress herself, who would render it to her when she sees her." "Give advice to those who ask it, my friend," replied Roydon. "I know best what are the King's commands and my duty; so tell her what I say on the part of his Highness, and let her come as speedily as may be." The knight then turned, and, with a haughty step, took his way back to Burwash House, the London mansion of a distant kinsman, who, in reverence of his newly acquired wealth, permitted the heir of poor Catherine Beauchamp to inhabit it during his own absence from the capital.