I have been thinking during the night that you must
be most careful when you go abroad; you know that the son of that monster
Caboche, the leader of the skinners, and doubtless many leaders of the
butchers, among them Legoix, were killed, and their friends are certain to
endeavour to take vengeance on you. They saw you at the window, they will
know that you are my esquire, and will doubtless put down their defeat
entirely to you. You cannot be too careful, and, above all, you must not
venture out at night save on grave occasion. Agnes," she broke off as the
girl entered the room, "you too must thank our brave esquire for having so
stoutly defended us."
"I do thank you most heartily, Guy," the girl said, "though I felt it very
hard that I could do nothing to help you. It was terrible sitting here and
hearing the fight so close to us, and the dreadful shouts and screams of
those people, and to have nothing to do but to wait. Not that I was
frightened, I felt quite confident that you would beat them, but it was so
hard to sit quiet. I should not have minded so much if I could have been
standing there to see the brave deeds that were being done."
"Like the queen of a tournament, Agnes," her mother said with a smile.
"Yes, indeed, it is one of the hardships of us women. It is only when a
castle is besieged and her lord is away that a woman may buckle on armour
and set an example to her retainers by showing herself on the wall and
risking the enemies' bolts, or even, if necessary, taking her place with
her retainers on the breach; at other times she must be passive and wait
while men fight.
Pages:
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204