sir; and I shall be well content if on the day when we again embark on
board the _Susan_ none of them have fallen to your share."

The two lads accordingly sallied out and amused themselves greatly by
staring at the goods exhibited in the open shops. They were less
surprised at the richness and variety of the silver work, at the silks
from the East, the costly satins, and other stuffs, than most boys from
the country would have been, for they were accustomed to the splendour
and magnificence displayed by the various noble guests at the castle,
and saw nothing here that surpassed the brilliant shows made at the
jousting and entertainments at Hedingham.

It was the scene that was novel to them: the shouts of the apprentices
inviting attention to their employers' wares, the crowd that filled the
street, consisting for the most part of the citizens themselves, but
varied by nobles and knights of the court, by foreigners from many
lands, by soldiers and men-at-arms from the Tower, by countrymen and
sailors. Their amusement was sometimes turned into anger by the
flippant remarks of the apprentices; these varlets, perceiving easily
enough by the manner of their attire that they were from the country,
were not slow, if their master happened for the moment to be absent, in
indulging in remarks that set Geoffrey and Lionel into a fever to
commit a breach of the peace. The "What do you lack, masters?" with
which they generally addressed passers-by would be exchanged for
remarks such as, "Do not trouble the young gentlemen, Nat. Do you not
see they are up in the town looking for some of their master's calves?"
or, "Look you, Philip, here are two rustics who have come up to town to
learn manners."

"I quite see, Geoffrey," Lionel said, taking his brother by the arm and