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Page 15
'"Both fat," said he, rubbing his nose. "This is craft and cunning such
as I love. What did I tell thee when I rode away, boy?"
'"Hold the Manor or hang," said I. I had never forgotten it.
'"True. And thou hast held." He clambered from his saddle and with his
sword's point cut out a turf from the bank and gave it me where I
kneeled.'
Dan looked at Una, and Una looked at Dan.
'That's seizin,' said Puck, in a whisper.
'"Now thou art lawfully seized of the Manor, Sir Richard," said he--'twas
the first time he ever called me that--"thou and thy heirs for ever. This
must serve till the King's clerks write out thy title on a parchment.
England is all ours--if we can hold it."
'"What service shall I pay?" I asked, and I remember I was proud beyond
words.
'"Knight's fee, boy, knight's fee!" said he, hopping round his horse on
one foot. (Have I said he was little, and could not endure to be helped
to his saddle?) "Six mounted men or twelve archers thou shalt send me
whenever I call for them, and--where got you that corn?" said he, for it
was near harvest, and our corn stood well. "I have never seen such
bright straw. Send me three bags of the same seed yearly, and
furthermore, in memory of our last meeting--with the rope round thy
neck--entertain me and my men for two days of each year in the Great
Hall of thy Manor."
'"Alas!" said I, "then my Manor is already forfeit. I am under vow not
to enter the Great Hall." And I told him what I had sworn to the Lady
�lueva.'
'And hadn't you ever been into the house since?' said Una.
'Never,' Sir Richard answered, smiling. 'I had made me a little hut of
wood up the hill, and there I did justice and slept ... De Aquila
wheeled aside, and his shield shook on his back. "No matter, boy," said
he. "I will remit the homage for a year."'
'He meant Sir Richard needn't give him dinner there the first year,'
Puck explained.
'De Aquila stayed with me in the hut, and Hugh, who could read and write
and cast accounts, showed him the Roll of the Manor, in which were
written all the names of our fields and men, and he asked a thousand
questions touching the land, the timber, the grazing, the mill, and the
fish-ponds, and the worth of every man in the valley. But never he named
the Lady �lueva's name, nor went he near the Great Hall. By night he
drank with us in the hut. Yes, he sat on the straw like an eagle ruffled
in her feathers, his yellow eyes rolling above the cup, and he pounced
in his talk like an eagle, swooping from one thing to another, but
always binding fast. Yes; he would lie still awhile, and then rustle in
the straw, and speak sometimes as though he were King William himself,
and anon he would speak in parables and tales, and if at once we saw not
his meaning he would yerk us in the ribs with his scabbarded sword.
'"Look you, boys," said he, "I am born out of my due time. Five hundred
years ago I would have made all England such an England as neither Dane,
Saxon, nor Norman should have conquered. Five hundred years hence I
should have been such a counsellor to Kings as the world hath never
dreamed of. 'Tis all here," said he, tapping his big head, "but it hath
no play in this black age. Now Hugh here is a better man than thou art,
Richard." He had made his voice harsh and croaking, like a raven's.
'"Truth," said I. "But for Hugh, his help and patience and
long-suffering, I could never have kept the Manor."
'"Nor thy life either," said De Aquila. "Hugh has saved thee not once,
but a hundred times. Be still, Hugh!" he said. "Dost thou know, Richard,
why Hugh slept, and why he still sleeps, among thy Norman men-at-arms?"
'"To be near me," said I, for I thought this was truth.
'"Fool!" said De Aquila. "It is because his Saxons have begged him to
rise against thee, and to sweep every Norman out of the valley. No
matter how I know. It is truth. Therefore Hugh hath made himself an
hostage for thy life, well knowing that if any harm befell thee from his
Saxons thy Normans would slay him without remedy. And this his Saxons
know. Is it true, Hugh?"
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