inn," said the Abbe John,
taking some oil from the salad-bowl and burnishing the hilt of his sword
with a rag, as became a good cavalier. He had the sign of the Golden
Tresses held by Sileno Lorent y Valvidia under his eyes as he spoke.

"You think so, sir?" said the landlord, his former _brusquerie_
returning as soon as it was a question of property; "that shows you are
unacquainted with the history of the country in which you desire to
practise your trade of war!"

"I am none so entirely ignorant of it as you suppose," said John
d'Albret.

"Yes, as ignorant as my carving-fork," said the landlord, pointing with
that useful and newly-invented piece of cutlery to the sign below. "Now
if you are a man of the pen as well as of the sword, what would you draw
from that sign?"

"Why," said the Abbe John, smiling, "that you are named, curiously
enough, Sileno--that your father's name was Lorent and your mother's
Valvidia--that you are tenant of a well-provisioned inn called with
equal curiosity the Golden Chevelure, and that you lodge (as you put it)
both 'on horseback or on foot.' That is a good deal of printing to pay
for at a penny a letter!"

"As I foretold, your Excellency knows nothing of the matter--and indeed,
how should you? For by your tongue I would wager that you are from the
Navarrese provinces--therefore a speaker of two languages and a wanderer
over the face of the earth--your sword your bedfellow, a sack of fodder
for your beast your best couch, and the loot of the last town taken by
assault the only provender for your purse----"

"Let my purse alone," quoth the Abbe John, "you will find that there is
enough therein to pay you, and--for a bottle of good wine on occasion
for the pleasure of your company."

This mixture of hauteur and familiarity appeared to enchant the
landlord, and he laid down on the bed the dishes he was carrying.

"I will explain," he said; "it is not every day that you can hear such a
tale as mine for nothing."

"Bring a bottle of your best!" said John, who was disposed to talk,
hoping that by-and-by he might receive also the best of informations as
to the ships in the harbour, their incomings and outgoings, their
captains and merchandises, together with the ports to which they sailed.

The wine was brought, and the host began his tale.

"This hostelry of mine was my father's also, and his father's before him
for many generations. They were of noble blood--of the Llorients of