'"Knight's fee, boy, knight's fee!" said he, hopping round his horse on
one foot. (Have I said he was little, and could not endure to be helped
to his saddle?) "Six mounted men or twelve archers thou shalt send me
whenever I call for them, and--where got you that corn?" said he, for it
was near harvest, and our corn stood well. "I have never seen such
bright straw. Send me three bags of the same seed yearly, and
furthermore, in memory of our last meeting--with the rope round thy
neck--entertain me and my men for two days of each year in the Great
Hall of thy Manor."

'"Alas!" said I, "then my Manor is already forfeit. I am under vow not
to enter the Great Hall." And I told him what I had sworn to the Lady
Ælueva.'

'And hadn't you ever been into the house since?' said Una.

'Never,' Sir Richard answered, smiling. 'I had made me a little hut of
wood up the hill, and there I did justice and slept ... De Aquila
wheeled aside, and his shield shook on his back. "No matter, boy," said
he. "I will remit the homage for a year."'

'He meant Sir Richard needn't give him dinner there the first year,'
Puck explained.

'De Aquila stayed with me in the hut, and Hugh, who could read and write
and cast accounts, showed him the Roll of the Manor, in which were
written all the names of our fields and men, and he asked a thousand
questions touching the land, the timber, the grazing, the mill, and the
fish-ponds, and the worth of every man in the valley. But never he named
the Lady Ælueva's name, nor went he near the Great Hall. By night he