brushwood andundergrowth for a space of two hundred feet on each side of the highwayas well as round the gates of towns. A great deal of talk passedbetween the different groups, for fairs were the very centre of news,foreign and English, political and commercial, with a strongunder-current of local gossip. The Hansards, Easterlings, and Lombardshad brought the latest information about the French claims to Gascony,as well as much trading information from Bruges, which was then thegreat seat of commerce; the English merchants discussed the king's wiseand politic measures to promote the unity of the kingdom, a cause whichEdward had much at heart, as necessary not only for the greatness butthe safety of that England for whose good never king toiled moreunselfishly.
It was all deeply interesting to Stephen Bassett, who had left his owncountry many years before, and was amazed at the strides civil libertieshad made since that time. Before this the making and the keeping oflaws had depended upon the fancies of the reigning king, checked orenlarged as they might be by the barons. It was Edward the First whocalled his Commons to assist in the making of these laws, who summonedburgesses from the principal towns throughout the kingdom, who requiredthe consent of the people for Acts proposed in Parliament, and enforcedthe keeping of these laws so powerfully that his greatest lords could nomore break them with impunity than the meanest churl. He set up a fixedstandard of weights and measures. Up to this time all attempts in thisdirection had been failures, and the inconvenience must have been great.He tried to encourage the growth of towns, freeing them from pettylocal restrictions and introducing staples or fixed markets. Under himtaxation became more general and more even. He made a survey of thecountry yet more important than that of Domesday. And if thathonourable hold of plighted word was--at any rate until late years--theproud characteristic of an Englishman, this national virtue, which doesnot come by chance any more than does a personal virtue, is owing in nosmall degree to the steady and strong example of the great king, who onhis tomb left that bidding to his people--"Pactum serva"--keep covenant.
Hugh, for love of his father, listened as well as he could to the talk;but he had good play-times as well, for there were many boys and girlson the road, and, indeed, the mercer with whom they travelled had hislad of thirteen with him. Agrippa, held by Dame Edith's silken cord,was an immense object of interest; the mercer's wife made him a newlittle coat of scarlet cloth, and, besides the black rye bread which heshared with his masters, the children were never tired of bringing himnuts, costard apples, and spice-nuts, so that he fared well. He showedgreat affection for Hugh, and was never so happy as when on hisshoulder; tolerating Stephen and detesting Matthew.
The hostels were crowded, and the accommodation of the roughest; but itwas always a matter of rejoicing to have got through the day's journeywithout encounter of outlaws. Highway robbery was one of the evils withwhich the king had vigorously to contend, and at their lasthalting-place the host's wife had such a number of terrible stories ather fingers' ends as made the more timorous shake in their shoes. Shediscoursed volubly as she brought in an excellent supper, which they atewith knives, forks being as yet a great luxury.
"Alack-a-day, my masters!" she said. "I wot that shameful things havehappened on this very road not so long ago. My lord Abbot from theneighbouring house, having but one brother with him, was seized androbbed, and left bound in the ditch. The thief made off with hispalfrey, and that led to his being taken and hung; but the abbot, holyman! has scarce recovered from the shock."
One story brings another, and Matthew was seldom behindhand whenanything had to be said.
"Things be better, however, than they were ten years ago. Then was atime of riot. I mind me I had a cousin, living in Boston, when therecame to the gates one night a party of monks wanting room in themonastery. Fine monks were these, for, when all honest citizens were inbed, out they slipped, stripped off their gowns, appeared in doublet andhose of green, and never trust me, my masters, if these merry men didnot take the town so completely by surprise that they sacked and setfire to it before they left."
"There, see now!" cried the hostess, lifting up her hands; "and theymight do the same by us now, and we sleeping in our beds like babes!"
"I warrant that was what caused the king to ordain that town gatesshould be closed between sunset and sunrise, and makes him so strict inthe matter," said a monk who was seated at table, with a good helping ofa fish called cropling on his trencher. "Nay, good mistress, look notmistrustfully on me. I wear no cassock of green, only that whichbelongs to the habit of St Austin, of which I am an unworthy brother."
"There be land pirates and sea pirates," said the little red-facedmercer, pompously; "both be enemies to an honest man's trade."
"Alack, I know not how any can venture on the seas!" added his wife,putting her head as much on one side as her stiff gorget would allow.
"There's terrible venturesome folk nowadays," put in the hostess,pouring out a tankard of ale.
"They do say that ships be going so far as Spain; never will they comeback again, that's certain." Bassett listened, smiling, to thesedoleful conjectures; at the same time, hearing more of the dangers ofthe highways made him think with some anxiety of the long journey toExeter which lay before them. His strength had been tried by that nowgoing on, and he wished it had been earlier in the year, when the dayshad been longer and roads better. But he was naturally hopeful, and,comforting himself with the thought that on the next day, if all waswell, they would reach London, he listened patiently to much which Hughhad to tell about his comrades on the road and Agrippa's clevernessbefore stretching themselves on the hard pallet which fell to theirshare in the common room.
CHAPTER FOUR.
GOD SAVE THE KING!
The last day's journey was a heavy one, owing to the rain which fellpersistently. All the travellers wore their long pointed hoods, andcarried tall, stout sticks, but their legs were not very well protectedexcept by thick hose, and Bassett's cough was none the better for thejourney. He was glad enough when they came near the clusters of housesor villages which marked the outskirts of London, and saw the misthanging over the city which, helped by the moisture from the marshes,the new use of coal was already beginning to produce. Matthew was in ahigh state of delight.
"Truly something of a city!" he exclaimed, rubbing his hands,"sheltering within its walls something like forty thousand souls. Anoble city! I'll warrant a man of parts might make a name here. Thereare the walls."
The carver was almost too weary to bear Hugh's questionings as to theFranciscan monastery in Newgate Street where they were to lodge, andwhether the prior might object to the presence of Agrippa. When theyreached the monastery, indeed, he was so sorely spent that the goodfriars at once called one of their number who had studied physic andconsigned Bassett to his care, giving him, moreover, the best room inthe guests' quarters.
It must be said that the monkey was very doubtfully received, indeed hemight probably have been altogether refused, for some of the brethrenlooked upon him as an actual imp of Satan, or perhaps Satan himself.But the prior was of a larger nature, so that Hugh was suffered to takeAgrippa with him into the room he shared with his father.
And here, in spite of his impatience, Bassett was forced to spend aweek, Friar Luke altogether refusing to allow his patient to leave theroom until the cough and pain in his side were subdued. Had it not beenfor his strong longing to reach Exeter and see Hugh started as anapprentice this would have been a time of peace for the carver. Hisquarters were sunny and cheerful; Friar Luke was a herbalist, and in hissearch for healing plants would bring him back what autumn flowers yetlingered, and talking of them would draw out stores of simple learning.Agrippa, moreover, somewhat to Friar Luke's discomfiture, had shown astrong attraction for his master's physician, and would come flying downfrom all manner of unexpected places to greet him. Sometimes the priorwould visit his guest, and, being a man of thought, his presence was areal delight to Stephen, while the prior was glad to hear theexperiences of a man
who had travelled largely and seen something of theworld. As Stephen grew stronger Friar Luke allowed him to attend theservices in the chapel.
Then Hugh would come in, rosy and excited with his walks with Matthew,who would see everything, even to the hangings on the Tyburn elms. Theywent to mass at St Paul's, then surrounded by its own walls; theywalked down the grassy spaces of Strand; they looked with some dread atthe round church of the New Temple, and heard tales of the Templars fitto make the hair stand on end; they passed another day to the village ofWestminster, where was the king's palace and the beautiful abbey,together with the great hall where Parliament, when it met in London,assembled. It amused Hugh very well at first to see the crowds ofsuitors who poured up the stairs--those who had some complaints to make,grievances to be
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