st.
A low ceiling, blackened by age, and hung with numberless spider webs,
whose weavers had long since fled--driven thence by the clouds of
tobacco smoke puffed from the lips of many a sturdy knave who nightly
helped to fill the place. The walls of the room being paneled in some
dark wood to an unusual height, the three windows, which furnished
more air than light, were well up toward the ceiling. The sides of
this chamber were decorated with rows of pewter pots and flagons of
various shapes and sizes. The furniture consisted of half a dozen
rough tables and high-backed benches ranged about the sides. The floor
was freshly sanded, but rough in many places from the prominence of
knots, the softer wood being worn from around them by the shuffling of
numberless pairs of boots. An uncertain light proceeded from several
large candles standing in brass candlesticks, but most of the
illumination was due to a fire which burned briskly in a large stone
fireplace at the extreme end of the room, and gave to all an aspect of
warmth and good cheer.

Standing in front of the blaze was the host of the establishment,
attired in the costume of his time,--a loose jacket, linen breeches
and green apron. He was eyeing with a look of no small displeasure
three men seated at one of the tables, two of whom, by their actions,
seemed to have partaken a little too freely of the Leopard's special
beverage. They wore the dress of a class, which, by their manner, was
one of no great elevation. Long, soft, wide-brimmed hats adorned their
heads, while tight-fitting jerkins of very much soiled leather covered
their bodies. Trunks and tights of some faded material, and boots with
deep falling tops, completed their costume, unless there should be
added the two long bellguard rapiers lying upon the table, and to
which, from appearances, the gentlemen in question owed their
livelihood. The man seated opposite was thick-set and slightly under
medium height; instead of the leather jerkin worn by them, his body
was incased in a steel cuirass or breastplate, which, judging from
the numerous dents thereon, had turned the force of many a savage
thrust and blow. The face of the man was one which had long been
exposed to both sun and storm, and even pestilence had not spared it,
for in many places the disfiguring finger of smallpox had left its
mark. His beard was worn in the style favored by the soldiers of the
Spanish, rather than the English army, for it was