'By my hilt! he is our master, Michel,' quoth Aylward, 'and such men as we do not serve under a laggart. But here are four deniers, Michel, and God be with you! En avant, camarades! for we have a long road before us.'
At a brisk trot the three friends left Cardillac and its wine-house behind them, riding without a halt, past St. Macaire, and on by ferry over the river Dorpt. At the further side the road winds through La Réolle, Bazaille, and Marmande, with the sunlit river still gleaming upon the right, and the bare poplars bristling up upon either side. John and Alleyne rode silent on either side, but every inn, farm-steading, or castle brought back to Aylward some remembrance of love, foray, or plunder, with which to beguile the way.
'There is the smoke from Bazas, on the further side of Garonne,' quoth he. 'There were three sisters yonder, the daughters of a farrier, and, by these ten finger-bones! a man might ride for a long June day and never set eyes upon such maidens. There was Marie, tall and grave, and Blanche, petite and gay, and the dark Agnes, with eyes that went through you like a waxed arrow. I lingered there as long as four days, and was betrothed to them all; for it seemed shame to set one above her sisters, and might make ill blood in the family. Yet, for all my care, things were not merry in the house, and I thought it well to come away. There, too, is the mill of Le Souris. Old Pierre Be Carron, who owned it, was a right good comrade, and had ever a seat and a crust for a weary archer. He was a man who wrought hard at all that he turned his hand to; but he heated himself in grinding bones to mix with his flour, and so through over-diligence he brought a fever upon himself and died.'
'Tell me, Aylward,' said Alleyne, 'what was amiss with the door of yonder inn that you should ask me to observe it.'
'Pardieu! yes, I had well-nigh forgot. What saw you on yonder door?'
