catching at my robe as I passed, "kiss me and give me luck," and,
striking up my basket of linen, so that the wares were all scattered on
the floor, he drew me on to his knee, and gave me a smack that reeked
sorely of garlic. Never came man nearer getting a sore buffet, yet I
held my hand. Then, making his cast with the dice, he swore roundly,
when he saw that he had thrown deuces.

"Lucky in love, unlucky in gaming. Lug out your losings," said his
adversary with a laugh; and the man left hold of my waist and began
fumbling in his pouch. Straightway, being free, I cast myself on the
floor to pick up the linen, and hide my face, which so burned that it
must have seemed as red as the most modest maid might have deemed seemly.

"Leave the wench alone; she is new come, I warrant, and has no liking for
your wantonness," said a kind voice; and, glancing up, I saw that he who
spoke was one of the gentlemen who had ridden with the Maiden from
Vaucouleurs. Bertrand de Poulengy was his name; belike he was waiting
while the King and the nobles devised with the Maiden privately in the
great hall.

He stooped and helped me to pick up my linen, as courteously as if I had
been a princess of the blood; and, because he was a gentleman, I suppose,
and a stranger, the archers did not meddle with him, save to break
certain soldiers' jests, making me glad that I was other than I appeared.

"Come," he said, "my lass, I will be your escort; it seems that Fortune
has chosen me for a champion of dames."

With these words he led the way forth, and through a long passage lit
from above, which came out into the court at the stairs of the great