Therefore the more fools like yon he setteth to do it the
better."
Meanwhile the innkeeper was thinking ruefully of the guest he had on
his hands. "I may not anger him," he said to Elfric, the groom.
"Nor needest thou," replied Elfric.
"Talk not to me," said the innkeeper, impatiently. "Wouldst have me
lose Black Tom? For whether he did pay the thief for him or not, he
most certainly did not pay me. And thou knowest the value of Black
Tom."
"Yea," answered Elfric, "I know it. But why shouldst thou lose Black
Tom?"
"Why? Art thou gone daft? Didst thou hear him bid me refuse him the
beast if I dared? This it is to have a bad king who will set such
knaves upon his business."
"If there be but one black horse in Lincoln," replied Elfric, "thou
doest well to fret. But if there be Black Dick that is broken-winded
and hath the spring-halt so that he be not worth more than one day's
reckoning at the Swan at the most; and if he looketh tolerably fair;
and if thou mayst buy him for a small sum; and if this drunken fool
knoweth not one horse from another; why needst thou worry?"
The face of the innkeeper at once cleared.
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