There was, it would
seem, great kindness as well as great wickedness in this world,
of which he had heard so little that was good. His hostess would
hear nothing of his paying either for bed or for board, while the
archer and Hordle John placed a hand upon either shoulder and led
him off to the board, where some smoking fish, a dish of spinach,
and a jug of milk were laid out for their breakfast.
"I should not be surprised to learn, mon camarade," said the
soldier, as he heaped a slice of fish upon Alleyne's tranchoir of
bread, "that you could read written things, since you are so
ready with your brushes and pigments."
"It would be shame to the good brothers of Beaulieu if I could
not," he answered, "seeing that I have been their clerk this ten
years back."
The bowman looked at him with great respect. "Think of that!"
said he. "And you with not a hair to your face, and a skin like
a girl. I can shoot three hundred and fifty paces with my little
popper there, and four hundred and twenty with the great war-bow;
yet I can make nothing of this, nor read my own name if you were
to set `Sam Aylward' up against me.
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