"I have thought of that, too," she admitted. "But he shall not find us at our wit's-end. Seek Simon Butler, friend captain. Though our cellars are near empty he will make shift to find you some full flagons. Bring hither a bunch of your subalterns, the rosiest, the most jovial, if any still carry such colors and boast such spirit; let them gather in the banqueting-hall, where, with such wit as French wine can give, let them sing as if they were merry and well fed. Our sanctimonious spy-out-the-nakedness-of-the-land must think we are well victualled, he must think we are well mannered." Halfman made her a sweeping reverence which was not without its play-actor's grace, though its honesty might have pardoned a greater awkwardness. "We are well womaned, lady," he asseverated, "with you for our leader. By sea and by land I have served some great captains, but never one greater than you for constancy and manly valor." Brilliana's bright face took a swift look of gravity and she gave a little sigh. "The King's cause," she said, soberly, "might turn a child into a champion." The steady loyalty that made her words at once a psalm and a battle-cry bade Halfman's pulses tingle. Who could be found unfaithful where this fair maid was so faithful? Yet he remembered their isolation and the memory made him speak. "I marvel that none of your neighbors have tried to lend us a hand?" "How could they?" Brilliana asked, astonished. "The brave are with the King at Shrewsbury; the stay-at-homes are not fighters." "Hum," commented Halfman. "What of Master Paul Hungerford?" Brilliana shrugged her shoulders. "A miserly daw, who would not risk a crown to save the crown." Halfman questioned again. "What of Master Peter Rainham?" Brilliana shrugged again. "A dull, sullen skinflint waiting on event." Halfman's inventory was not complete. "You have yet a third neighbor," he said, "and, as I heard, a prodigal in protestation. What of Sir Blaise Mickleton?" Brilliana's lips twitched with a derisive smile. "Sir Blaise, honest gentleman, loves good cheer and good ease. I think he would not quit the board if Armageddon were towards. He will be for eating, he will be for drinking, he will be for sleeping, and in the mean time God's chosen gentlemen have learned the value of living so long as to grant them a death for their King." Her voice had risen to a cry of defiance, but now it dropped again to its former note of bantering irony. "What a wonderful world it is which can hold at once such men as my cousin Randolph or you or Rufus Quaryll and these hangbacks who shame Harby. These three are professed my very good suitors, but they have made no move to our help. Well, let them hang for a tray of knaves. We need them not. We know that the King's cause must triumph and so we are wise to be blithe."