Page:The Chronicle of Clemendy.pdf/116

 is not to be wondered at that these pastimes became very popular at Caldicot, and the esquires, pages, captains, and lieutenants were always tickling, squeezing, enticing, and kissing some girl or another, but never Loyse for she did not appear to care about enjoying herself like the rest of them. Yet they all loved her for she was a kind, pitiful, girl, and so beautiful withal that a good deed done by her seemed somehow of a much better quality than the good deeds of the governess Mistress Eleanora Malkin, who was not exactly well favoured, nor quite as young as she had been. How this was I can't tell you, but it is just the same in our days, and I expect never will be different. Moreover each and every of the young gallants hoped to overcome her scruples before next July, and treated themselves with imaginations of the first kiss on those maiden lips, for the sprouting chivalry of Caldicot was point de vice and thought no small beer of itself in war, or love or tennis; the which were the principal amusements of those days. And the three pastimes are alike in many ways: in each victory is very sweet and defeat as bitter, for each one must be strong and a thorough man, and in each great practice and long experience is required if you want to divide your enemy scientifically into two equal parts, to take your lady's heart quite out of her body, or to best "better than half-a-yard." And every gentleman at Caldicot wished to do these things, and worked hard from morning to night and from night to morning, at one or the other, and the ladies helped them as well as they were able,