and 'twould be a sad--O me! a very sad thing
that thou should'st sniff brimstone on my account."

"Why, Giles," quoth Beltane, blinking in the dawn, "what dost bring
hither so early in the morning?"

"Lord, 'tis what they call a Pardoner, that dealeth in relics, mouldy
bones and the like, see you, whereby they do pretend to divers miracles
and wonders--"

"Verily, verily," nodded the little man placidly, "I have here in my
wallet a twig from Moses' burning bush, with the great toe of Thomas a'
Didymus, the thumb of the blessed Saint Alban--"

"Ha, rogue!" quoth Giles, "when I was a monk we had four thumbs of the
good Saint Alban--"

"Why then, content you, fond youth," smiled the Pardoner, "my thumb is
number one--"

"Oh, tall brother," quoth Giles, "'tis an irreverent knave, that maketh
the monk in me arise, my very toes do twitch for to kick his lewd and
sacrilegious carcase--and, lord, he would kick wondrous soft--"

"And therein, sweet and gentle lord," beamed the little buxom man,
"therein lieth a recommendation of itself. Divers noble lords have
kicked me very familiarly ere now, and finding me soft and tender have,
forthwith, kicked again. I mind my lord Duke Ivo, did with his own
Ducal foot kick me right heartily upon a time, and once did spit upon
my cloak--I can show you the very place--and these things do breed and
argue familiarity. Thus have I been familiar with divers noble lords--
and there were ladies also, ladies fair and proud--O me!"

"Now, by the Rood!" says Beltane, sitting up and staring, "whence had
you this, Giles?"

"My lord, 'twas found by the man Jenkyn snoring within the green,
together with a mule--a sorry beast! a capon partly devoured, a pasty--
well spiced! and a wine-skin--empty, alas! But for who it is, and
whence it cometh--"

"Sweet, courteous lord,--resplendent, youthful sir, I come from north
and south, from east and west, o'er land, o'er sea, from village green
and market-square, but lately from the holy shrine of the blessed Saint
Amphibalus. As to who I am and what--the universal want am I, for I do
stand for health, fleshly and spiritual. I can cure your diseases of
the soul, mind and body. In very sooth the Pardoner of Pardoners am I,
with pardons and indulgences but now hot from the holy fist of His
Holiness of Rome: moreover I have a rare charm and notable cure for the
worms, together with divers salves, electuaries, medicaments and
nostrums from the farthest Ori