you into his following should you so choose it, and I would gladly pay for
the cancelling of your indentures."

"I thank you, indeed, lady, for your kind offices," Walter said earnestly;
"for the present I am well content to remain at my craft, which is that of
an armourer, until, at any rate, I have gained such manly strength and
vigour as would fit me for a man-at-arms, and my good master, Geoffrey
Ward, will, without payment received, let me go when I ask that grace of
him."

"Edith, go and look from the window at the boats passing along the river;
and now," she went on, as the girl had obeyed her orders, "I would fain ask
you more about the interview you overhead in the marshes. Sir William de
Hertford told me of the evidence that you had given before the justice. It
is passing strange that he who incited the other to the deed should have
been by him termed 'Sir Knight'. Maybe it was merely a nickname among his
fellows."

"Before I speak, lady," Walter said quietly, "I would fain know whether you
wish to be assured of the truth. Sometimes, they say, it is wiser to
remain in ignorance; at other times forewarned is forearmed. Frankly, I did
not tell all I know before the court, deeming that peradventure you might
wish to see me, and that I could then tell the whole to your private ear,
should you wish to know it, and you could then bid me either keep silence
or proclaim all I knew when the trial of these evil-doers comes on."

"You seem to me to be wise beyond your years, young sir," the lady said.

"The wisdom is not mine, lady, but my master's. I took counsel with him,
and acted as he advised me.