To all this the yeomen listened in silence, the clatter of many voices,
jesting and laughing, sounding around them, and the red light of the
fire shining on their faces and in their eyes. So simple were the poor
boy's words, and so deep his sorrow, that even Little John felt a
certain knotty lump rise in his throat.
"I wonder not," said Robin, after a moment's silence, "that thy true
love loved thee, for thou hast surely a silver cross beneath thy tongue,
even like good Saint Francis, that could charm the birds of the air by
his speech."
"By the breath of my body," burst forth Little John, seeking to cover
his feelings with angry words, "I have a great part of a mind to go
straightway and cudgel the nasty life out of the body of that same vile
Sir Stephen. Marry, come up, say I--what a plague--does an old weazen
think that tender lasses are to be bought like pullets o' a market day?
Out upon him!--I--but no matter, only let him look to himself."
Then up spoke Will Scarlet. "Methinks it seemeth but ill done of the
lass that she should so quickly change at others' bidding, more
especially when it cometh to the marrying of a man as old as this same
Sir Stephen.
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