He slept but lightly, and several times went
out to see that the watch was being well kept, and to look up and down the
street to assure himself that all was quiet.
"You did nobly last night, Guy," Dame Margaret said as she met him in the
morning; "Sir Eustace himself could have done no better had he been here.
When I next write to my lord I shall tell him how well you have protected
us, and pray him to send word of it to your father."
"I did my best, lady; but it is to Long Tom that it is chiefly due that
our defence was made good. It was his shooting that caused the long delay
in breaking open the door, and that enabled us to hold the barricade
below, and he also stoutly aided in the defence of the landing."
"Nevertheless, Guy, it was under your direction that all things were done.
It is to the leader who directs that the first praise is due rather than
to the strongest and bravest of his men-at-arms. It was, too, owing to
your interference on behalf of Count Charles d'Estournel that we owe it
that succour came to us; it was his friendship for you that prompted him
to gather his friends to come to our aid; and it was the warning, short
though it was, sent us by that strange Italian that enabled you to send to
the count for aid. I must see his daughter and thank her personally for
the part she played in the matter. No, Guy, had it not been for you this
house would now have been an empty shell, and all of us would have been
lying under its ruins.
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