"I have ridden to-day from Jamestown," he went on. "I was the
only man, i' faith, that cared to leave its gates; and I met the world
- the bachelor world - flocking to them. Not a mile of the way but I
encountered Tom, Dick, and Harry, dressed in their Sunday
bravery and making full tilt for the city. And the boats upon the
river! I have seen the Thames less crowded."

"There was more passing than usual," I said; "but I was busy in the
fields, and did not attend. What's the lodestar?"

"The star that draws us all, - some to ruin, some to bliss ineffable, -
woman."

"Humph! The maids have come, then?"

He nodded. "There's a goodly ship down there, with a goodly
lading."

"Videlicet, some fourscore waiting damsels and milkmaids,
warranted honest by my Lord Warwick," I muttered.

"This business hath been of Edwyn Sandys' management, as you
very well know," he rejoined, with some heat. "His word is good:
therefore I hold them chaste. That they are fair I can testify, having
seen them leave the ship."

"Fair and chaste," I said, "but meanly born."

"I grant you that," he answered. "But after all, what of it? Beggars