"For I shall not alway be served here by such
as ye," he said.
"Nay, verily," replied the first scullion, "thou sayest true. Thou art
more like to be served in one of the dungeons, if so be thou be served
at all."
"Why, what meanest thou by that last, sirrah?" demanded the little man,
strutting up and down and frowning.
"I did but mean that thou mayest shortly journey to that land where
there is neither eating nor drinking," was the reply.
"Thou meanest that I may shortly die?" asked Walter Skinner,
contemptuously.
"Yea," was the answer.
"Why, so must thou. So must Richard Wood. So must the king himself,"
said Walter Skinner. "But thou hast learned here so near the court to
speak Norman fashion, and go round about the matter; and so thou
speakest of journeys, and a land where there is neither eating nor
drinking. Moreover, thou didst speak of dungeons. I would have thee
know that they be no fit subjects of conversation in my presence. Have
I not served the king? And shall I not therefore have preferment? Speak
not of dungeons, and the country where there is neither eating nor
drinking to me.
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