It would be impossible for me to set down the hubbub of thoughts and
ideas that filled my mind. I had been plunged into a new world, and
floundered about in it pretty hopelessly, I can tell you. The days of
knight-errantry had come over again, and chance, mightier even than King
Arthur, had commanded me to serve a sweet lady in distress. But I had had
no training, no preliminary squireship, in which I could learn how things
were done by watching brave and accomplished knights do them. I had lived
among the parts of speech, not among the facts of life. I could hit a bird
on the wing, snare a rabbit, ride like a saddle, angle for jack and trout,
strike like a sledge-hammer, swim like a fish--and that was all. I knew,
too, every turn and track and tree for miles round; and that might be
something now, and indeed, as will be seen, turned out my most precious
accomplishment. Some people said I was as proud as Lucifer, others that I
was as meek as a mouse, and I once overheard our Kate tell Priscilla
Dobson, Jack's vinegary sister, that both were right--which confounded me,
for our 'Copper Nob,' as I used to call her, was a shrewd little woman.
Still, such as I was, the stranger lady should have me, an she would, as
her squire, to the last breath in my body. Only let me get out of my
cabbage-bed, only give me a man's work to do, and I would ask for no more.
Neither for love nor for liking would I crave, but just for the work and
the joy of it.

The yard gate clicked, and a moment later mother and Kate came in.

"Oh, Noll, it's been grand!" burst out Kate. "I wish you'd been there.
There were hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers, horse and foot, and guns
and wagons without end. Lord Brocton was there, and Sir Ralph Sneyd, who
is just a duck, and a nasty-looking major with his face all over blotches.
And they saw us, and crowded into the vicar's to talk to us."