"
"Ma foi!" the other cried, "I have never yet seen a man who was
so stout of speech and yet so weak of heart."
"Not so, friend," quoth big John; "it is not weakness of heart
for I know the lad well. His heart is as good as thine or mine
but he hath more in his pate than ever you will carry under that
tin pot of thine, and as a consequence he can see farther into
things, so that they weigh upon him more."
"Surely to any man it is a sad sight," said Alleyne, "to see
these holy men, who have done no sin themselves, suffering so for
the sins of others. Saints are they, if in this age any may
merit so high a name."
"I count them not a fly," cried Hordle John; "for who is the
better for all their whipping and yowling? They are like other
friars, I trow, when all is done. Let them leave their backs
alone, and beat the pride out of their hearts."
"By the three kings! there is sooth in what you say," remarked
the archer. "Besides, methinks if I were le bon Dieu, it would
bring me little joy to see a poor devil cutting the flesh off his
bones; and I should think that he had but a small opinion of me,
that he should hope to please me by such provost-marshal work.
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