"Ah, ha! I see fools' caps must hang thick as beech masts in the
Forest," cried the fool, but his voice was husky, and he turned
suddenly round with his back to them, then cut three or four
extraordinary capers, after which he observed--"Well, young
gentlemen, I will see the man I mean, and if he be the same, and be
willing to own you for his nephews, he will meet you in the Temple
Gardens at six of the clock this evening, close to the rose-bush
with the flowers in my livery--motley red and white."

"But how shall we know him?"

"D'ye think a pair of green caterpillars like you can't be marked--
unless indeed the gardener crushes you for blighting his roses."
Wherewith the jester quitted the scene, walking on his hands, with
his legs in the air.

"Is he to be trusted?" asked Tibble of the comptroller.

"Assuredly," was the answer; "none hath better wit than Quipsome
Hal, when he chooseth to be in earnest. In very deed, as I have
heard Sir Thomas More say, it needeth a wise man to be fool to my
Lord of York."



CHAPTER VIII. QUIPSOME HAL