"
"Have you been long a member of Sir Henry Percy's household?"
"But a year, my lady."
"Hotspur speaks of him in very high terms, and says that he has
rendered him great services, and that he has the highest confidence in
him."
"To what family do you belong, sir?" the dame asked. "From my husband's
sister, who was staying here some months since, I learned much of your
northern families."
"I am the son of John Forster of Yardhope, who has the reputation of
being as hard a fighter as any on the border. He is not a knight,
though of fair estates; for, although Earl Percy offered him
knighthood, for his services at the battle of Otterburn, he said that
he preferred remaining plain John Forster, as his fathers had been
before him. My mother was a daughter of Sir Walter Gillespie, and my
uncle is captain of the garrison of Alnwick; and it was for his
goodwill towards him, and my father, that Sir Henry appointed me one of
his esquires, thinking, moreover, that I might be more useful than
some, because I know every foot of the border, having relations on the
Scottish side of it."
They now sat down to supper. After it was over, Sir Edmund took Oswald
with him to his wife's bower.
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