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HOW ALLEYNE WON HIS PLACE IN AN HONORABLE GUILD.

Whilst the prince's council was sitting, Alleyne and Ford had
remained in the outer hall, where they were soon surrounded by a
noisy group of young Englishmen of their own rank, all eager to
hear the latest news from England.
"How is it with the old man at Windsor?" asked one.
"And how with the good Queen Philippa?"
"And how with Dame Alice Perrers?" cried a third.
"The devil take your tongue, Wat!" shouted a tall young man,
seizing the last speaker by the collar and giving him an
admonitory shake. "The prince would take your head off for those
words."
"By God's coif! Wat would miss it but little," said another. "It
is as empty as a beggar's wallet."
"As empty as an English squire, coz," cried the first speaker.
"What a devil has become of the maitre-des-tables and his sewers?
They have not put forth the trestles yet."
"Mon Dieu! if a man could eat himself into knighthood, Humphrey,
you had been a banneret at the least," observed another, amid a
burst of laughter.


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370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394