I feared that under
such a training as he would be likely to have, the lad would have been
but a rough diamond. However, from his appearance and bearing, he might
well have come of a noble family."
"'Tis his mother's doing, methinks, Sir Henry. She is of gentle birth.
Her father was Sir Walter Gillespie. He was killed by the Scots, when
she was but a girl, or methinks he would scarcely have given her in
marriage to my brother John. She went with a sister to live with an old
aunt, who let the girls have their way, without murmur; and seeing that
they had no dowry, for their father was but a poor knight, there were
not many claimants for their hands; and when she chose John Forster,
and her sister Adam Armstrong, she did not say them nay. She has made a
good wife to him, though she must have had many an anxious hour, and
doubtless it is her influence that has made the lad what he is."
"How think you I had best bestow him, among the pages or the esquires?"
"I should say, Sir Henry, as you are good enough to ask my opinion,
that it were best among the esquires. It would be like putting a
hunting dog among a lady's pets, to put him with the pages. Moreover,
boys think more of birth than men do.
Pages:
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92