whom much is to be hoped. What is his name and title?'
'It is not for my lips to name it unless by his desire. But I beg and pray you, gentlemen, that you will go from my house, for I know not what may come of it if his rage should gain the mastery of him.'
'By Saint Paul!' lisped Sir Nigel, 'this is certainly a man whom it is worth journeying far to know. Go tell him that a humble knight of England would make his further honourable acquaintance, not from any presumption, pride, or ill-will, but for the advancement of chivalry and the glory of our ladies. Give him greeting from Sir Nigel Loring, and say that the glove which I bear in my cap belongs to the most peerless and lovely of her sex, whom I am now ready to uphold against any lady whose claim he might be desirous of advancing.'
The landlord was hesitating whether to carry this message or no, when the door of the inner room was flung open, and the stranger bounded out like a panther from his den, his hair bristling and his deformed face convulsed with anger.
'Still here!' he snarled. 'Dogs of England, must ye be lashed hence? Tiphaine, my sword!' He turned to seize his weapon, but as he did so his gaze fell upon the blazonry of Sir Nigel's shield, and be stood staring while the fire in his strange green eyes softened into a sly and humorous twinkle.
'Mort Dieu!' cried he, 'it is my little swordsman of Bordeaux. I should remember that coat-armour, seeing that it is but three days since I looked upon it in the lists by Garonne. Ah! Sir Nigel, Sir Nigel! you owe me a return for this,' and he touched his right arm, which was girt round just under the shoulder with a silken kerchief.
But the surprise of the stranger at the sight of Sir Nigel was as nothing compared with the astonishment and the delight which shone upon the face of the knight of Hampshire as he looked upon the strange face of the Frenchman. Twice he opened his mouth and twice he peered again, as
