'I have not observed it,' said the Frenchman carelessly. 'But, by Saint Ives! Tristram, this chaplain of yours seems to me to be a worthy man, and you should give heed to his words, for though I care nothing for the curse of a bad Pope, it would be a grief to me to have aught but a blessing from a good priest.'
'Hark to that, my fair lord,' cried the Lady Rochefort. 'Take heed, I pray thee, for I do not wish to have a blight cast over me, nor a palsy of the limbs. I remember that once before you angered Father Stephen, and my tire-woman said that I lost more hair in seven days than ever before in a month.'
'If that be sign of sin, then, by Saint Paul! I have much upon my soul,' said Sir Nigel, amid a general laugh. 'But in very truth, Sir Tristram, if I may venture a word of counsel, I should advise that you make your peace with this good man.'
'He shall have four silver candlesticks,' said the Seneschal moodily. 'And yet I would that he would leave the folk alone. You cannot conceive in your mind how stubborn and brainless they are. Mules and pigs are full of reason beside them. God He knows that I have had great patience with them. It was but last week that, having to raise some money, I called up to the castle Jean Goubert, who, as all men know, has a casketful of gold pieces hidden away in some hollow tree. I give you my word that I did not so much as lay a stripe upon his fool's back, but after speaking with him, and telling him how needful the money was to me, I left him for the night to think over the matter in my dungeon. What think you that the dog did? Why, in the morning we found that he had made a rope from strips of his leather jerkin, and had hung himself to the bar of the window.'
'For me, I cannot conceive such wickedness!' cried the lady.
'And there was Gertrude Le Bœuf, as fair a maiden as eye could see, but as bad and bitter as the rest of them.
