proposal that they should travel in Master Headley's company, only
objecting that they were on foot; on which the good citizen hired a
couple of hackneys for them.

Besides the two Giles Headleys, the party consisted of Tibble, the
scarred and withered foreman, two grooms, and two serving-men, all
armed with the swords and bucklers of which they had made so little
use. It appeared in process of time that the two namesakes, besides
being godfather and godson, were cousins, and that Robert, the
father of the younger one, had, after his apprenticeship in the
paternal establishment at Salisbury, served for a couple of years in
the London workshop of his kinsman to learn the latest improvements
in weapons. This had laid the foundation of a friendship which had
lasted through life, though the London cousin had been as prosperous
as the country one had been the reverse. The provincial trade in
arms declined with the close of the York and Lancaster wars. Men
were not permitted to turn from one handicraft to another, and
Robert Headley had neither aptitude nor resources. His wife was
vain and thriftless, and he finally broke down under his
difficulties, appointing by will his cousin to act as his executor,
and to take charge of his only son, who had served out half his time
as apprentice to himself. There had been delay until the peace with
France had given the armourer some leisure for an expedition to
Salisbury, a serious undertaking for a London burgess, who had
little about him of the ancient northern weapon-smith, and had
wanted to avail himself of the protection of the suite of the Bishop
of Salisbury, returning from Parliament. He had spent some weeks in
disposing of his cousin's stock in trade, which was far too
antiquated for the London market; also of the premises, which were
bought by an adjoining convent to extend its garden; and he had