"There," he said, "you can talk at your ease, and tell us how my
sister, your mistress, is, and the children."
"Did you not say, Sir Edmund," his wife asked, "that it was the captain
of his men-at-arms that Sir Hotspur sent hither, in command of the
band?"
"That is so, dame."
"Then, surely, he should have been at our table."
"I asked him," Sir Edmund replied, "but he said that he would rather,
with my permission, lodge with John Baldry; who is, like himself, a
stout soldier, but who likes better his own society than that of the
high table. He said that, except upon rare and special occasions, he
always has been accustomed to take his meals alone, or with some
comrades whom he could take to his room. As this is also John Baldry's
habit, he prayed me to allow him to accept his invitation to share his
room."
"What he says about his habits is true, my lady. I can well understand
my uncle cares not for company where it would not be seemly for him to
raise his voice, or to enter into a hot argument, on some point of
arms."
"What were the services of which Sir Henry speaks?"
"It was a mission with which he charged me, and which involved some
danger."
"By the way," Dame Mortimer said, "my sister-in-law wrote to me, some
time since, telling us of a strange conflict that was held between one
of the squires, and another who had been newly appointed; and who, on
one of the mountain ponies, worsted his opponent, although the latter
was much older, and moreover clad in full armour, and riding a heavy
warhorse.
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