Stephen however had stepped forth holding out his small stock of
coin, and saying, "Sir, receive for our charges, and let us go to
the tavern we passed anon."

"How now, boy! Said I not ye were my guests?"

"Yea, sir, and thanks; but we can give no cause for being called
beggars nor beggars' brats."

"What beggary is there in being guests, my young gentlemen?" said
the master of the house. "If any one were picked up on the heath,
it was I. We owned you for gentlemen of blood and coat armour, and
thy brother there can tell thee that, ye have no right to put an
affront on me, your host, because a rude prentice from a country
town hath not learnt to rule his tongue."

Giles scowled, but the armourer spoke with an authority that imposed
on all, and Stephen submitted, while Ambrose spoke a few words of
thanks, after which the two brothers were conducted by an external
stair and gallery to a guest-chamber, in which to prepare for
supper.

The room was small, but luxuriously filled beyond all ideas of the
young foresters, for it was hung with tapestry, representing the
history of Joseph; the bed was curtained, there was a carved chest
for clothes, a table and a ewer and basin of bright brass with the
armourer's mark upon it, a twist in which the letter H and the
dragon's tongue and tail were ingeniously blended. The City was far
in advance of the country in all the arts of life, and only the more
magnificent castles and abbeys, which the boys had never seen,