that you are but a merchant's lad, though your blood be as noble as any
in this realm--a merchant's lad, the last of five brothers? Why were
you not born the first of them if you wished for Eve Clavering, for then
your red gold might have bought me."

"Ask that of those who begot me," said Hugh. "Come now, what's in
your mind? You're not one to be sold like a heifer at a faring and go
whimpering to the altar, and I am not one to see you led there while I
stand upon my feet. We are made of a clay too stiff for a French lord's
fingers, Eve, though it is true that they may drag you whither you would
not walk."

"No," she answered, "I think I shall take some marrying against my wish.
Moreover, I am Dunwich born."

"What of that, Eve?"

"Go ask your godsire and my friend, Sir Andrew Arnold, the old priest.
In the library of the Temple there he showed me an ancient roll, a
copy of the charter granted by John and other kings of England to the
citizens of Dunwich."

"What said this writing, Eve?"

"It said, among other things, that no man or maid of Dunwich can be
forced to marry against their will, even in the lifetime of their
parents."

"But will it hold to-day?"