screaming of birds, a clatter of voices and footsteps in the court--all
this showed that the boy was none too early. A man stepped forward to
take his mare and his hawks; and Robin slipped from his saddle and went
in.

* * * * *

Padley Hall was just such a house as would serve a wealthy gentleman who
desired a small country estate with sufficient dignity and not too many
responsibilities. It stood upon the side of the hill, well set-up above
the damps of the valley, yet protected from the north-easterly winds by
the higher slopes, on the tops of which lay Burbage Moor, where the
hawking was to be held. On the south, over the valley, stood out the
modest hall and buttery (as, indeed, they stand to this day), with a
door between them, well buttressed in two places upon the falling
ground, in one by a chimney, in the other by a slope of masonry; and
behind these buildings stood the rest of the court, the stables, the
wash-house, the bake-house and such like, below; and, above, the
sleeping rooms for the family and the servants. On the first floor,
above the buttery and the hall, were situated the ladies' parlour and
chapel; for this, at least, Padley had, however little its dignity in
other matters, that it retained its chapel served in these sorrowful
days not, as once, by a chaplain, but by whatever travelling priest
might be there.

* * * * *

Robin entered through the great gate on the east side--a dark entrance
kept by a porter who saluted him--and rode through into the court; and
here, indeed, was the company; for out of the windows of the low hall on