They had come in sight of the fall now, and also of a little canoe drawn up near to the bank, in which a pair of lads were seated, one diligently fishing in the pool, the other poring over a small volume which he held in his hands; and so intent did this latter appear over his task, that it was not until hailed in a loud voice by Hugh that he lifted his face.
When he did so, however, Alys gave a little cry, and bending over Edmund, she said eagerly,—
"Brother, yonder is the clerk who saved me when the palfrey went nigh to hurting me that day in the spring-tide. I am sure it is he; and it was he I saw in the meadows the day when the Barons made their entry into the city. Prithee may I speak to him? he seems to be known to Master Hugh."
"I will speak him first," answered Edmund; and then with a good deal of confusion of tongues the boat was drawn ashore, and all the party disembarked—Alys giving her shoulder to her brother to lean upon whilst the wherry was carried to the upper waters close above the fall.
"May I not help you, sir?" asked Leofric, coming up with a shy smile in his eyes. The other four youths—for Jack had taken his part there—were carrying the boat, and Leofric had been sent back to help Edmund up the narrow path. "I am very strong, and the way is not long. Lean upon me, and I will take you there gently."
"Thanks, good lad," answered Edmund, availing himself of the strong arm extended to him. "I was wanting a word with thee, for my sister here tells me that thou didst do her a good turn one day some while back, when her horse took fright, and might have thrown her from its back."
Leofric blushed and disclaimed, declaring that Jack had done more than himself; but Alys was of another opinion, and both brother and sister fell into conversation with their new acquaintance, whose face, as usual, won him favour at once.
"Thou wert reading when we came up," said Edmund; "art thou a scholar of this place?"
Leofric told of himself, who and what he was, and admitted that he was able to read Latin fairly well and understand it too, and that Brother Angelus had given him several books to study, to help him to a greater proficiency.
"These are the 'Sentences' they think so much of in the schools," said Leofric, drawing the little volume from his pouch; "but Brother Angelus prefers to go straight to the Scriptures themselves for learning, and loves not the Sentences very greatly. But it is well for a clerk to be versed in them. I have begun to study the philosophy of Aristotle too, for all men talk much of him now, though some say that his learning is dangerous to the soul. How-beit all men are eager to learn it."