Page:Early poems of William Morris.djvu/90



So please you, sir, concerning your estate, He has good will to talk with you.

Outside, I'll talk with him, close by the gate St. Ives. Is he unarm'd?

Then bid them bring me hither my furr'd gown With the long sleeves, and under it I'll wear, By Lambert's leave, a secret coat of mail; And will you lend me, John, your little axe? I mean the one with Paul wrought on the blade? And I will carry it inside my sleeve, Good to be ready always—you, John, go And bid them set up many suits of arms, Bows, archgays, lances, in the base-court, and Yourself, from the south postern setting out, With twenty men, be ready to break through Their unguarded rear when I cry out "St. George!"

How, sir! will you attack him unawares, And slay him unarm'd?

Trust me, John, I know The reason why he comes here with sleeved gown, Fit to hide axes up. So, let us go. [They go.