Page:A C Doyle - The White Company.djvu/163

Rh 'Alas! lady,' Alleyne answered, 'I know well the great honour that you have done me in deeming me worthy to wait upon so renowned a knight, yet I am so conscious of my own weakness that I scarce dare incur duties which I might be so ill-fitted to fulfil.'

'Modesty and a humble mind,' said she, 'are the very first and rarest gifts in page or squire. Your words prove that you have these, and all the rest is but the work of use and of time. But there is no call for haste. Rest upon it for the night, and let your s ask for guidance in the matter. We knew your father well, and would fain help his son, though we have small cause to love your brother the socman, who is for ever stirring up strife in the county.'

'We can scarce hope,' said Nigel, 'to have all ready for our start before the feast of St. Luke, for there is much to be done in the time. You will have leisure therefore, if it please you to take service under me, in which to learn your devoir. Bertrand, my daughter's page, is hot to go; but in sooth he is over young for such rough work as may be before us.'

'And I have one favour to crave from you,' added the lady of the castle, as Alleyne turned to leave their presence. 'You have, as I understand, much learning which you have acquired at Beaulieu.'

'Little enough, lady, compared with those who were my teachers.'

'Yet enough for my purpose, I doubt not. For I would have you give an hour or two a day whilst you are with us in discoursing with my daughter, the Lady Maude; for she is somewhat backward, I fear, and hath no love for letters, save for these poor fond romances, which do but fill her empty head with dreams of enchanted maidens and of errant cavaliers. Father Christopher comes over after nones from the priory, but he is stricken with years and slow of speech, so that she gets small profit from his teaching. I would have you do what you can with her, and with Agatha my young tirewoman, and with Dorothy Pierpoint.'

And so Alleyne found himself not only chosen as squire