Warwick Deeping

“ Are there not the wars in Gascony, with good men being shipped across the sea? I would rather fight than be married. Heaven save us, yes!"
So Jasper crept out of Roger de Quintet's tent in the hush before the dawn, made his way to the place where the horses were tethered, took his own beast, saddled and bridled him, and rode off into the forest.
Meanwhile, that imperious and headstrong young woman, Rosamund Basset, had lost herself in the woodland, despite the light of the full moon and the promise that she had made herself that she could find her way to Winchester before the morning. ”

“ Moreover, Rosamund Basset sat on the bench next to the queen, and when her eyes met Jasper's, it seemed to him that she thought him the sorriest thing in the world.
It is easy for a man to blunder when he feels like a clumsy oaf, and Jasper drew the eyes of the whole company upon him by stumbling over one of the king's dogs, and emptying a dish of venison over his uncle's back.
"Your boy is a shy lad," said the king to Messire Roger.
"Truly, sire, his hands and feet are big." And Messire Roger de Quintet dug the point of his girdle knife into the flesh of his nephew's leg. ”

“ Jasper sat amid the dead beech leaves and stared at the moon. His face was still hidden from Rosamund by his helmet.
"To-morrow I will tell it you," he said. "Go to sleep now and have no fear."
Rosamund laid herself down, wrapping the surcoat round her, and Jasper wandered off into the moonlight to see if he could find a stream or a pool where he could water his horse. He found a spring not very far away, and led his horse down to it to drink. When he returned to the beech wood, he heard the girl's voice calling him. ”

“ When the horse was brought out to him, Jasper slung the helmet by its laces to the pommel of the saddle, but he did not mount the beast till he saw the man in the grey cloak reappear out of the goldsmith's shop.
"Here is a mad whim!" he said to himself, as he followed the man down the main street. "What is the shrew to me—or the colour of the stones in her girdle? Certainly, we men are fools. ”

“ The younger man did not appear very desirous of approaching Rosamund Basset's tent. He looked sulky and restless, avoiding his companion's eyes, and staring obstinately into the deeps of the forest. And Rosamund, watching him from the doorway of her tent, felt a quick contempt for this young bachelor whom Roger de Quintet was driving like a calf to market.
The king's "friend" turned away with a threatening uplift of his sharp chin. He had brought this young man, his nephew, well on the road towards marrying a wealthy wife. The youngster must be left to manage some part of the wooing. ”

“ I am not such a shrew, really."
"Ah," said he, "perhaps, too, I am not such a fool! But let us forget that. And now that I am come to look at you, I am almost ready to be scolded."
Rosamund was silent a while, with her eyes turned towards Winchester. She was thinking of Réné, the Frenchman, with his peaked beard and nimble ways, and, somehow, this Réné appeared to her suddenly as a pitiable fop.
"They do not make men at the king's court," she said.
"You are very generous," he answered.
"Am I? Well, Jasper, you can run away from me now as soon as you please." ”

“ The lad was a lad of the woods and moors; and the man who seems a fool under the eyes of insolent girls may be keen and grim enough when there is something to be accomplished.
The thief in the grey cloak led Jasper that day towards one of the most rogue-haunted corners in all the southern shires. Towards Alton the great road from Winchester to London plunged through the wooded defiles on the borders of two counties. Here would gather half the cut- throats in the kingdom—broken men who were ready to break the heads of all who passed along the road. ”

“ To dare to touch the body of a great lady!"
Great lady or no, the "dog" held her the tighter, and dragged her over the bank into the full light of the fire. Rosamund found half a score rough figures crowding round her, staring in her face and fingering her clothes. There were women among the men—rough, mop-headed women, whose eyes looked red and hungry in the firelight. ”

“ He dropped the knife and began to whimper.
"I am an honest man, lording," he said; "you will not rob a poor man on the road?"
"What of that girdle set with purple stones, my friend, that you took to the goldsmith's at Winchester?
"Girdle, lording? Stones, lording? What would a poor man like me——"
Jasper gave another twist to the rogue's arm. ”

“ Red-haired Joan looked round with a sneer, as though she were ready to exult a little over this troubling of her mistress's pride.
"It will be a bad day for the boy," said she, "unless he can ride the mare they are bringing him. It is time for robing. The trumpets will blow for sapper in half an hour." ”

“ The king plays with one, your good uncle with the other. And we must dance, whether we like it or no, because the king takes money, and your good uncle gives it. The devil fly away with both of you! I wish you had never been born! ”

“ He had heard it said at the king's table that ships were to put out from Portsmouth in a week to carry arms and men to Earl Simon de Montfort in Gascony.
Jasper left his horse at a hostelry, made a meal there, and was directed by the hosteler to an armourer's shop in the lower town. He soon had a hauberk under his surcoat, a shield at his back, and a helmet hanging by its laces from the crook of his left elbow. ”

“ Two on the road make the way less lonely."
The man eyed him over a surly shoulder, nor did Jasper trust the gentleman's eyes. "A poor man must go on his own feet, lording," he said, "for the lack of an ass or a mule." ”