"See what, master?" quoth Arnold: "what! here cometh an ape in gay
raiment; belike the beast of some jongleur. Nay, by God's wounds! 'tis a
man, though he be exceeding mis-shapen like a very devil. Yea and now
there cometh a pretty maid going as if she were of his meney; and lo!
here, a most goodly and noble lady! Yea, I see; and doubtless she owneth
both the two, and is of the greatest of the folk of this fair city; for
on the maiden's ankle I saw an iron ring, which betokeneth thralldom
amongst these aliens. But this is strange! for notest thou not how the
folk in the street heed not this quaint show; nay not even the stately
lady, though she be as lovely as a goddess of the gentiles, and beareth
on her gems that would buy Langton twice over; surely they must be over-
wont to strange and gallant sights. But now, master, but now!"
"Yea, what is it?" said Walter.
"Why, master, they should not yet be gone out of eye-shot, yet gone they
are. What is become of them, are they sunk into the earth?"
"Tush, man!" said Walter, looking not on Arnold, but still staring down
the street; "they have gone into some house while thine eyes were turned
from them a moment."
"Nay, master, nay," said Arnold, "mine eyes were not off them one instant
of time."
"Well," said Walter, somewhat snappishly, "they are gone now, and what
have we to do to heed such toys, we with all this grief and strife on our
hands? Now would I be alone to turn the matter of thine errand over in
my mind. Meantime do thou tell the shipmaster Geoffrey and our other
folk of these tidings, and thereafter get thee all ready; and come hither
to me before sunrise to-morrow, and I shall be ready for my part; and so
sail we back to Langton."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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