CHAPTER 7
So little does it take to make a body's reputation.
That night all the squires' quarters buzzed with the story of how thenew boy, Falworth, had answered Sir James Lee to his face without fear,and had exchanged blows with him hand to hand. Walter Blunt himself wasmoved to some show of interest.
"What said he to thee, Falworth?" asked he.
"He said naught," said Myles, brusquely. "He only sought to show me howto recover from the under cut."
"It is passing strange that he should take so much notice of thee as toexchange blows with thee with his own hand. Haply thou art either veryquick or parlous slow at arms."
"It is quick that he is," said Gascoyne, speaking up in his friend'sbehalf. "For the second time that Falworth delivered the stroke, SirJames could not reach him to return; so I saw with mine own eyes."
But that very sterling independence that had brought Myles so creditablythrough this adventure was certain to embroil him with the rude,half-savage lads about him, some of whom, especially among thebachelors, were his superiors as well in age as in skill and training.As said before, the bachelors had enforced from the younger boys afagging sort of attendance on their various personal needs, and it wasupon this point that Myles first came to grief. As it chanced, severaldays passed before any demand was made upon him for service to the headsof the squirehood, but when that demand was made, the bachelors werevery quick to see that the boy who was bold enough to speak up to SirJames Lee was not likely to be a willing fag for them.
"I tell thee, Francis," he said, as Gascoyne and he talked over thematter one day--"I tell thee I will never serve them. Prithee, whatshame can be fouler than to do such menial service, saving for one'srightful Lord?"
"Marry!" quoth Gascoyne; "I reason not of shame at this or that. All Iknow is that others serve them who are haply as good and maybe betterthan I be, and that if I do not serve them I get knocked i' th' headtherefore, which same goeth soothly against my stomach."
"I judge not for thee," said Myles. "Thou art used to these castleways, but only I know that I will not serve them, though they be thirtyagainst me instead of thirteen."
"Then thou art a fool," said Gascoyne, dryly.
Now in this matter of service there was one thing above all others thatstirred Myles Falworth's ill-liking. The winter before he had come toDevlen, Walter Blunt, who was somewhat of a Sybarite in his way, and whohad a repugnance to bathing in the general tank in the open armory courtin frosty weather, had had Dick Carpenter build a trough in the cornerof the dormitory for the use of the bachelors, and every morning it wasthe duty of two of the younger squires to bring three pails of water tofill this private tank for the use of the head esquires. It was seeingtwo of his fellow-esquires fetching and carrying this water that Mylesdisliked so heartily, and every morning his bile was stirred anew at thesight.
"Sooner would I die than yield to such vile service," said he.
He did not know how soon his protestations would be put to the test.
One night--it was a week or two after Myles had come to Devlen--Bluntwas called to attend the Earl at livery. The livery was the last meal ofthe day, and was served with great pomp and ceremony about nine o'clockat night to the head of the house as he lay in bed. Curfew had not yetrung, and the lads in the squires' quarters were still wrestling andsparring and romping boisterously in and out around the long row of rudecots in the great dormitory as they made ready for the night. Six oreight flaring links in wrought-iron brackets that stood out from thewall threw a great ruddy glare through the barrack-like room--a light ofall others to romp by. Myles and Gascoyne were engaged in defending thepassage-way between their two cots against the attack of three otherlads, and Myles held his sheepskin coverlet rolled up into a ball andbalanced in his hand, ready for launching at the head of one of theothers so soon as it should rise from behind the shelter of a cot. Justthen Walter Blunt, dressed with more than usual care, passed by on hisway to the Earl's house. He stopped for a moment and said, "Mayhaps Iwill not be in until late to-night. Thou and Falworth, Gascoyne, mayfetch water to-morrow."
Then he was gone. Myles stood staring after his retreating figure witheyes open and mouth agape, still holding the ball of sheepskin balancedin his hand. Gascoyne burst into a helpless laugh at his blank,stupefied face, but the next moment he laid his hand on his friend'sshoulder.
"Myles," he said, "thou wilt not make trouble, wilt thou?"
Myles made no answer. He flung down his sheepskin and sat him gloomilydown upon the side of the cot.
"I said that I would sooner die than fetch water for them," said he.
"Aye, aye," said Gascoyne; "but that was spoken in haste."
Myles said nothing, but shook his head.
But, after all, circumstances shape themselves. The next morning when herose up through the dark waters of sleep it was to feel some one shakinghim violently by the shoulder.
"Come!" cried Gascoyne, as Myles opened his eyes--"come, time passeth,and we are late."
Myles, bewildered with his sudden awakening, and still fuddled with thefumes of sleep, huddled into his doublet and hose, hardly knowing whathe was doing; tying a point here and a point there, and slippinghis feet into his shoes. Then he hurried after Gascoyne, frowzy,half-dressed, and even yet only half-awake. It was not until he wasfairly out into the fresh air and saw Gascoyne filling the threeleathern buckets at the tank, that he fully awakened to the fact that hewas actually doing that hateful service for the bachelors which he hadprotested he would sooner die than render.
The sun was just rising, gilding the crown of the donjon-keep with aflame of ruddy light. Below, among the lesser buildings, the day wasstill gray and misty. Only an occasional noise broke the silence of theearly morning: a cough from one of the rooms; the rattle of a pot ora pan, stirred by some sleepy scullion; the clapping of a door or ashutter, and now and then the crowing of a cock back of the long row ofstables--all sounding loud and startling in the fresh dewy stillness.
"Thou hast betrayed me," said Myles, harshly, breaking the silence atlast. "I knew not what I was doing, or else I would never have comehither. Ne'theless, even though I be come, I will not carry the waterfor them."
"So be it," said Gascoyne, tartly. "An thou canst not stomach it,let be, and I will e'en carry all three myself. It will make me twojourneys, but, thank Heaven, I am not so proud as to wish to get mehard knocks for naught." So saying, he picked up two of the buckets andstarted away across the court for the dormitory.
Then Myles, with a lowering face, snatched up the third, and, hurryingafter, gave him his hand with the extra pail. So it was that he came todo service, after all.
"Why tarried ye so long?" said one of the older bachelors, roughly, asthe two lads emptied the water into the wooden trough. He sat on theedge of the cot, blowzed and untrussed, with his long hair tumbled anddisordered.
His dictatorial tone stung Myles to fury. "We tarried no longer thanneed be," answered he, savagely. "Have we wings to fly withal at yourbidding?"
He spoke so loudly that all in the room heard him; the younger squireswho were dressing stared in blank amazement, and Blunt sat up suddenlyin his cot.
"Why, how now?" he cried. "Answerest thou back thy betters so pertly,sirrah? By my soul, I have a mind to crack thy head with this clog forthy unruly talk."
He glared at Myles as he spoke, and Myles glared back again with rightgood-will. Matters might have come to a crisis, only that Gascoyne andWilkes dragged their friend away before he had opportunity to answer.
"An ill-conditioned knave as ever I did see," growled Blunt, glaringafter him.
"Myles, Myles," said Gascoyne, almost despairingly, "why wilt thoubreed such mischief for thyself? Seest thou not thou hast got theethe ill-will of every one of the bachelors, from Wat Blunt to Robin deRamsey?"
"I care not," said Myles, fiercely, recurring to his grievance. "Heardye not how the dogs upbraided me before the whole room? That Bluntcalled me an ill-condition
ed knave."
"Marry!" said Gascoyne, laughing, "and so thou art."
Thus it is that boldness may breed one enemies as well as gain onefriends. My own notion is that one's enemies are more quick to act thanone's friends.