hould have done better to have passed by; but the landlord
coming out very civilly, and leading the way to a shed beside the house,
I reflected that I had little to lose, and followed him. I found, as I
expected, four horses tied up in the shed, the bits hanging round their
necks and their girths loosed; while my surprise was not lessened by the
arrival, before I had fastened up my own horse, of a sixth rider, who,
seeing us by the shed, rode up to us, and saluted me as he dismounted.

He was a tall, strong man in the prime of youth, wearing a plain, almost
mean suit of dust-coloured leather, and carrying no weapons except a
hunting-knife, which hung in a sheath at his girdle. He rode a powerful
silver-roan horse, and was splashed to the top of his high untanned
boots, as if he had come by the worst of paths, if by any.

He cast a shrewd glance at the landlord as he led his horse into the
shed; and I judged from his brown complexion and quick eyes that he had
seen much weather and lived an out-of-door life.

He watched me somewhat curiously while I mixed the fodder for my horse;
and when I went into the house and sat down in the first room I came to,
to eat a little bread-and-cheese which I had in my pouch, he joined
me almost immediately. Apparently he could not stomach my poor fare,
however, for after watching me for a time in silence, switching his boot
with his whip the while, he called the landlord, and asked him, in a
masterful way, what fresh meat he had, and particularly if he had any
lean collops, or a fowl.

The fellow answered that there was nothing. His honour could have some
Lisieux cheese, he added, or some stewed lentils.

'His honour does not want cheese,' the stranger answered peevishly, 'nor
lentil porridge. And what is this I smell, my friend?' he continued,
beginning suddenly to sniff with vigour. 'I swear I smell cooking.'

'It is the hind-quarter of a buck, which is cooking for the four
gentlemen of the Robe; with a collop or two to follow,' the landlord
explained; and humbly excused himself on the ground that the gentlemen
had strictly engaged it for their own eating.

'What? A whole quarter! AND a collop or two to follow!' the stranger
retorted, smacking his lips. 'Who are they?'

'Two advocates and their clerks from the Parliament of Paris. They have
been viewing a boundary near here, and are returning this afternoon,'
the landlord answered.

'No reason why they should cause a famine!'