full readily, for the lady Eulelia holds the door." -The cheek of De Lacy flushed vermillion, as he replied coldly" It is well; I will think of her no more." "Better were it," said the churchman, with biting sarcasm, "to see her wedded to the lord De Touars, and to espouse, in all haste, the daughter of the lord D'Arley." "And if it were so, the dame of De Lacy were well worth the ladye of Rossenville. The daughter of the lord D'Arley is fair and of high blood, nor has she lacked suitors." "By my halidome, no!" said the bishop; "and beshrew me if I deem not, that some one of them has ere this well outworn you in her remembrance." "You will be blithe at our bridal ere long, my lord of Bayeux," said the Gaul, haughtily. "And the ladye De Rossenville? and the goodly towers of Sarum ?" urged the bishop. "I will e'en yield them up," cried De Lacy, as he strode across the apartment; "and now I remember me," he added, pausing opposite to the prèlate, “I have even advised the king of my betrothment to the fair Eulelia." "I retain the passage," replied Odo of Bayeux, bitterly; " and the daughter of the lord D'Arley cast off your bonds!" "That was but woman's policy-her heart was embittered by my faithlessness." "By my prowess, thou art a goodly suitor!" cried the lord Odo, with a light laugh; "why thine heart hath bounded from one fair dame to another, like a football, which each speeds on its passage with what haste he may." 66 Ay, marry is it," replied De Lacy, echoing the laugh of the churchman; "for none who join the pastime but seek to come off winner; it is a fair similitude, my lord, and a courtly." "Go to," said the lord of Bayeux"thou art verily the lightest-hearted knave in Christendom. De Lacy, with all thine ambition, thou wilt never be a courtier." "Beseech you, wherefore?" "You shew gladness on your brow, and displeasure in your looks," replied the churchman; 66 you laugh only when the jest is for your own pastime, and forget in your mirth, that the bystanders may little favour it. With your ambition, and your easy conscience, were your hasty passions under better guidance, you were a crafty courtier; but now you have all the evil of his nature without the lustre." "I will retain the lesson," said the Gaul; "but I pray you, my lord of Bayeux, are you for the banquet? methinks it must be even now spread." "I will attend you," replied the bishop; " and we will pledge the mistress of De Touars in a fair cup of wine; and beshrew me but the pious churchman of Canterbury shall do it honour !" CHAP. XVIII. "Not bear my company? why, greater men A Traveller. THE morning was fair and bloomy; and as the jester passed the portal of the tower, he paused for a moment, to inhale its breezy freshness. The sounds of busy life were wafted to his ear by every freshening breeze, and the wild chant or shrill call of the fisherman, sounded cheerily as he unmoored his little skiff, and with jocund heart addressed him to his daily toil. A In a moment the merry courtier pursued his way, and blithely springing forward, soon reached the river's bank: a noisy group were collected round a pea sant-seer, who was predicting to the eagerly-listening maidens, suitors of rank and power; nor failed he, in that age combat, to array them in flashing armour, and to mount them on prancing steeds: he was repaid by many a gay smile, and at times by that which he valued still more, a small coin or a whispered promise. At the door of a neighbouring booth, a few aged artisans sat smiling at the credulity of the young, and passing merry jests on the feats of their own boyhood; while many a lingering fisherman stood a moment on the deck of his little bark, to note the wiles of the prophet, and the good success of his craft. The jester drew his cloak round him, and mingled with the group; and many a dark-eyed damsel turned a smile on him, as he pressed through the throng; for they knew the gay head-gear, and gayer mood, of the court servitor. "Beseech you, make way," cried a redcheeked maiden, as she extended her arm to force a passage: "mark you not sir |