g his angry emotions; and
as the watermen rested on their oars for a moment, to inquire his
destination, he looked round, and perceiving he was just opposite the
Three Cranes in the Vintry, he desired to be put ashore there.

No better retreat wherein to recover his composure seemed to offer
itself than Madame Bonaventure's comfortable house of entertainment;
and thither, therefore, he proceeded, and at his request was shown into
a private room overlooking the river. Scarcely was he installed within
it, than the buxom hostess, who had caught sight of him as he mounted
the stairs, entered, and in her blandest accents, and with her most
bewitching smiles, begged to know his commands; declaring that all that
her house possessed was at his service.

She was running on thus, but perceiving the young knight to be much
disturbed, she instantly changed her tone, and expressed such genuine
concern for him, that he could not fail to be moved by it. Without
making her an entire confidante, Sir Jocelyn told her enough of what had
occurred to make her comprehend his position; and highly indignant she
was at the treatment he had experienced. She did her best to console
him; and so far succeeded, that he was prevailed upon to partake of some
delicacies which she caused Cyprien to set before him, together with a
flask of the best vintage in her cellar; and the discussion of these
good things, coupled with the hostess's assiduities, certainly operated
as a balm upon his wounded feelings.

The repast over, the good-natured dame thought it best to leave him to
himself; and drawing his chair to the open window, he began to ruminate
upon the many strange events that had happened to him since he first
beheld that fair prospect almost from the same place; and he was
indulging in this retrospect, when his own name, pronounced in tones
familiar to him, caught his ear, and looking forth, he perceived Dick
Taverner, seated on a bench in front of the house, drinking in company
with some half dozen other apprentices, his boon companions.

The conversation of these roysterers was held in so loud a key that it
could not fail to reach his ears; and he soon ascertained that his own
dismissal from court was the theme of their discourse, and that they
rightly attributed it--doubtless owing to information derived from their
hostess--to the instrumentality of De Gondomar. It was evidently Dick
Taverner's design to rouse the indignation of his companions