lightest regard to their
digestion, and they were, in the most emphatic sense, not teetotallers.

The dining-hall, but not the table, was decorated with flowers, and
singers, often placed in a gallery at one end, were employed the whole
time. A gentleman usher acted as butler, and a yeoman was always at
hand to keep out strange dogs, snuff candles, and light to bed the
guests, who were not always in a condition to find their way upstairs
without his help. The hours at this time were nine or ten o'clock for
dinner (except on fast-days, when it was at noon), and three or four for
supper. Two meals a day were thought sufficient for all men who were
not invalids. The sick and women sometimes had a "rear-supper" at six
o'clock or later. As to breakfast, it was a meal taken only by some
persons, and then served in the bedchamber or private boudoir at
convenience. Wine, with bread sopped in it, was a favourite breakfast,
especially for the old. Very delicate or exceptionally temperate people
took milk for breakfast; but though the Middle Ages present us with
examples of both vegetarians and total abstainers, yet of both there
were very few indeed, and they were mainly to be found among the
religious orders.

In watching the illustrious persons on the dais one thing struck Clarice
as extremely odd, which would never be thought strange in the nineteenth
century. It was the custom in her day for husband and wife to sit
together at a meal, and, the highest ranks excepted, to eat from the
same plate. But the Earl and Countess of Cornwall were on opposite
sides of the table, with one of the priests between them. Clarice
thought they must have quarrelled, and softly demanded of Heliet if that
were the case.

"No, indeed," was Heliet's rather sorrowful answer. "At least, not more
than usual. The Lady of Cornwall will never sit beside her baron, and,
as thou shalt shortly see, she will not even speak to him."

"Not speak to him!" exclaimed Clarice.

"I never heard her do so yet," said Heliet.

"Does he entreat her very harshly?"

"There are few gentlemen more kindly or generous towards a wife. Nay,
the harsh treatment is all on her side."

"What a miserable life to live!" commented Clarice.

"I fear he finds it so," said Heliet.

The dillegrout, or white soup, was now brought in, and Clarice, being
hungry, attended more to her supper than to her mistress for a time.
But during the next interval between the cour