"Welcome back, my lord!" he said. "I trust that our dear lady is better."
"Much better, Guy. You see I have brought your father over with me."
Guy bent low to his father.
"I am right glad to see you," the latter said, "and to hear such good
accounts of you. Dame Margaret and Mistress Agnes were never tired of
singing your praises, and in truth I was not weary of hearing them."
"Are you going to make a long stay, father?"
"I shall stay for some little time, Guy. Our lady is going to be her own
castellan for the present. And in truth things are so quiet in England
that Summerley could well go on without a garrison, so Sir Eustace
suggested that I should accompany him hither, where, however, just at
present things have also a peaceful aspect. The young countess arrived
safely, Guy, and was heartily welcomed, the more so since, as your letter
told me, it is to her father that we owe it that we did not have the
king's army battering our walls, or, even if they did not try that,
devastating the fields and ruining the farmers."
By this time they were at the gate. Long Tom had the garrison drawn up in
the court-yard, and they hailed the return of their lord with hearty
cheers, while the retainers of Summerley were no less pleased at seeing
Sir John Aylmer. "And now, Guy," said Sir Eustace, "I will tell you why I
have come hither. It is partly to see after the estate, to hear the
complaints of my vassals and to do what I can for them, and in the next
place I wanted to see these fortifications that you have raised, and,
thirdly, I shall shortly ride to Paris in the train of the Earl of Dorset,
the Lord Grey, Admiral of England, some bishops, and many other knights
and nobles, amounting in the whole to 600 horse.
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