"This is a lad of mettle!" shouted another of the laborers. He
dares to give tongue to what all men think. Are we not all from
Adam's loins, all with flesh and blood, and with the same mouth
that must needs have food and drink? Where all this difference
then between the ermine cloak and the leathern tunic, if what
they cover is the same?"

"Aye, Jenkin," said another, "our foeman is under the stole and
the vestment as much as under the helmet and plate of proof. We
have as much to fear from the tonsure as from the hauberk.
Strike at the noble and the priest shrieks, strike at priest and
the noble lays his hand upon glaive. They are twin thieves who
live upon our labor."

"It would take a clever man to live upon thy labor, Hugh,"
remarked one of the foresters, "seeing that the half of thy time
is spent in swilling mead at the `Pied Merlin.'"

"Better that than stealing the deer that thou art placed to
guard, like some folk I know."

"If you dare open that swine's mouth against me," shouted the
woodman, "I'll crop your ears for you before the hangman has the
doing of it, thou long-jawed lackbrain."

"Nay, gentles, gentles!" cried Dame Eliza, in a singsong heedless
voice, which showed that such bickerings were nightly things
among her guests. "No brawling or brabbling, gentles! Take heed
to the good name of the house."