tall lout hiding behind her petticoats, and that if I stayed, it should
not be as her man. And now I must be off to my supper, or I shall find
that there is not a morsel left for me."

The gates of the castle were closed that night, but it was not considered
necessary to lower the drawbridge. Two sentries were posted at the work
beyond the moat, and one above the gate, besides the watcher at the top of
the keep. The next day things were got into better order. More barricades
were erected for the separation of the cattle; a portion was set aside for
horses. The provisions brought in from the farms were stored away in the
magazines. The women and children began to settle down more comfortably in
their sheds. The best of the horses and cattle were removed into the inner
court-yard. The boys were set drawing water and filling the troughs, while
some of the farm men were told off to carry the fodder to the animals,
most of which, however, were for the time turned out to graze near the
castle. Many of the men who had come in had returned to their work on the
farms. During the day waggons continued to arrive with stores of grain and
forage; boys and girls drove in flocks of geese and turkeys and large
numbers of ducks and hens, until the yard in which the sheds were was
crowded with them. By nightfall every preparation was complete, and even
Jean Bouvard himself could find nothing further to suggest.

"If they are coming," he said to Sir Eustace, "the sooner they come the
better, my lord; we have done all that we can do, and had best get it over
without more ado."

"I still hope that no one will come, Bouvard, but I agree with you, that
if it is to come the sooner the better. But there is no saying, it may be
to-morrow, it may be months before we are disturbed. Still, in a war like
this, it is likely that all will try and get as much as they can as