“By God's will, I 'll call the King's ményé to him with this horn,” quoth Calote, a-kissing it.
The King laughed merrily then, and went and cast himself upon his squire's neck:—
“Etienne, chéri, mignon,—be not so glum! When Richard is King in the Kingdom of Love, not Dan Cupid's self shall dare to cross thy suit to thy lady. Thou shalt be married to Calote, and I 'll make thee chief counsellor. I 'll take mine Uncle John's land and richesse in forfeit and give them to thee.”
“Ah, no, no!” Calote exclaimed.
“But I will if I 'm King?” said Richard.
And then did Stephen laugh.
“Now wherefore so merry?” Richard asked, eyeing him in discontent.
“Beau sire, you bade me be merry,” Stephen made answer, and to Calote he said “When dost thou start a-preaching, and whither?”
“When Parliament is departed,—I go about in the villages to the south and west of Gloucester. Meanwhile, I 'll lodge with a kindly forester's wife in Malvern here. But now I must away to find an old monk, my father's schoolmaster. My father was put to school in Malvern Priory.”
“Why, 't is very true!” cried the King. “The Vision maketh a beginning in the Malvern Hills.”