“Not at present, but I can bring you either if you want it.”

“What’s the price, and who’s selling them?”

“Our neighbour Veka wants to sell three or four bacon pigs and half-a-dozen young porkers; Martin le bon Fermier, brother of Henry the Mason, has a couple of hundred sheep to sell.”

“But what’s the cost? Veka’s none so cheap to deal with, though she feeds her pigs well, I know.”

“Well, she wants two shillings a-piece for the bacons, and four for the six porkers.”

“Ay, I knew she’d clap the money on! No, thank you; I’m not made of gold marks, nor silver pennies neither.”

“Well, but the sheep are cheap enough; he only asks twopence halfpenny each.”

“That’s not out of the way. We might salt one or two. I’ll think about it. Not in a hurry to a day or two, is he?”

“Oh, no; I shouldn’t think so.”

“Has he any flour or beans to sell, think you? I could do with both those, if they were reasonable.”