the court of
the King of Tartary, to carry a cartel to the Sultan of Baghdad, or to
serve a term against the wild heathen of Prussia. Sir Nigel had said
that his birth was high enough for any lady, if his fortune could but
be amended. Often had Alleyne curled his lip at the beggarly craving for
land or for gold which blinded man to the higher and more lasting issues
of life. Now it seemed as though it were only by this same land and gold
that he might hope to reach his heart's desire. But then, again, the
Socman of Minstead was no friend to the Constable of Twynham Castle. It
might happen that, should he amass riches by some happy fortune of war,
this feud might hold the two families aloof. Even if Maude loved him, he
knew her too well to think that she would wed him without the blessing
of her father. Dark and murky was it all, but hope mounts high in youth,
and it ever fluttered over all the turmoil of his thoughts like a white
plume amid the shock of horsemen.

If Alleyne Edricson had enough to ponder over as he rode through the
bare plains of Guienne, his two companions were more busy with the
present and less thoughtful of the future. Aylward rode for half a mile
with his chin upon his shoulder, looking back at a white kerchief which
fluttered out of the gable window of a high house which peeped over the
corner of the battlements. When at last a dip of the road hid it from
his view, he cocked his steel cap, shrugged his broad shoulders, and
rode on with laughter in his eyes, and his weather-beaten face all
ashine with pleasant memories. John also rode in silence, but his eyes
wandered slowly from one side of the road to the other, and he stared
and pondered and nodded his head like a traveller who makes his notes
and saves them up for the re-telling.

"By the rood!" he broke out suddenly, slapping his thigh with his great
red hand, "I knew that there was something a-missing, but I could not
bring to my mind what it was."

"What was it then?" asked Alleyne, coming with a start out of his
reverie.

"Why, it is the hedgerows," roared John, with a shout of laughter. "The
country is all scraped as clear as a friar's poll. But indeed I cannot
think much of the folk in these parts. Why do they not get to work and
dig up these long rows of black and crooked stumps which I see on every
hand? A franklin of Hampshire would think shame to have such litter upon
his soil."

"Thou foolish old John!" quoth Aylward. "You shou