me; as you know, our profits are good, and work plentiful; and did I choose
I might hold mine head higher than I do among the citizens; and you, if you
join me, may well aspire to a place in the common council, aye, and even to
an alderman's gown, in which case I may yet be addressing you the very
worshipful my Lord Mayor."

"Pooh!" Walter laughed; "a fig for your lord Mayors! I would a thousand
times rather be a simple squire in the following of our young prince."



CHAPTER IV: A KNIGHT'S CHAIN


The following morning Walter put on the sober russet dress which he wore on
Sundays and holidays, for gay colours were not allowed to the apprentices,
and set out for Westminster. Although he endeavoured to assume an air of
carelessness and ease as he approached the dwelling of Earl Talbot, he was
very far from feeling comfortable, and wished in his heart that his master
had accompanied him on his errand. Half a dozen men-at-arms were standing
on the steps of the mansion, who looked with haughty surprise at the young
apprentice.

"Dame Alice Vernon has sent to express her desire to have speech with me,"
he said quietly, "and I would fain know if she can receive me."

"Here, Dikon," one of the men cried to another within the hall. "This is
the lad you were sent to fetch yesterday. I wondered much who the city
apprentice was, who with such an assured air, marched up to the door; but
if what thou sayest be true, that he saved the life of Dame Vernon and her