"
The Italian and his daughter presently joined them, and heard with
satisfaction where Guy and the four men had obtained a safe lodging.
"Still," he said, "I should advise you sometimes to sleep at your lodging
by the market-place. Simon is not the sort of companion you would choose.
I have only seen him once, and I was then so disguised that he would not
recognize me again--for none of those with whom I have dealings know who I
am or where I live--but that once was sufficient to show me that the
fellow might be trusted to serve me well as long as he was paid well,
especially as he believed that I was an agent of the duke's; still, he is
a rough and very unsavoury rascal, and had I been able to think at the
moment of anywhere else where you could for the time safely shelter I
should not have placed you with him."
"I do not mind," Guy said; "and at any rate with him I have opportunities
of seeing what is going on, as, for example, when they insulted the Duke
of Aquitaine, and it is certainly well to be able to learn what the
intentions of the fellows are. As an Englishman I care naught for one
party or the other, but as one of gentle blood it fills me with anger and
disgust to see this rabble of butchers and skinners lording it over nobles
and dragging knights and gentlemen away to prison; and if it were in my
power I would gladly upset their design, were it not that I know that, for
my lady's sake, it were well to hold myself altogether aloof from meddling
in it.
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