Page:Tudor Jenks--The defense of the castle.djvu/317

Rh take. When I refused it. he begged me to let him serve me in some fashion, whereupon I told him that I was a timid young fellow, having been ill and having not yet fully recovered my strength, and begged him to tell me how I might go most quickly and safely further on my road to Nottingham. This puzzled the good woodcutter, but by dint of cudgeling his brain he at last remembered that his wife's cousin was a carter, and made journeys every few days to carry goods northward. 'If you had money, Harry—' said he. Whereupon I told him I had plenty, and his face brightened. 'Then all is easy,' he exclaimed. 'Wait until I have seen Robert Carter, and I will manage it. Can you afford as much as four silver pennies?' 'Yes,' said I, 'or twenty, so that I can make speed on my way. I fear sore trouble to my family should I be any way delayed.' And that was no lie, Lady Mortimer, as you must confess. Well, my story is near an end, for Robert the Carter had a good team of horses, and was a fine young fellow with so open a face that my heart bade me trust him. And trust him I did, so far as to say that I had gold and was noble, and that if he would take me as far as he dared go from home I would pay him fifty times his fee. He was eager to earn the money, for there was a sweet maiden