But immediately she could have bit out her tongue, for the knight had set his own meaning upon her words.
“So ho!” quoth he. “What a witch art thou! Ha, ha, ha!”
“Sir, you mistake,” she said coldly. “I have been sought in honourable marriage by a gentleman, but I would not.”
“And if once sought, wherefore not again?—Wherefore not again?” he asked with a cunning grin, wagging his head.
His three daughters had drawn close together at one side of the hearth; there was anger, astonishment, and fear in their faces. Suddenly the old man turned on them roughly:—
“Get ye gone!” he said. “Off!—To bed!—I 've a delicate business with this—ha, ha—this lady.”
“'T is shameful!” cried Godiyeva. “I 'll not budge,—a common wench, a stroller.”
“Oh, father, wilt thou so shame us?” moaned Eleyne.
“'T is but another jest, dear father; say 't is thy sport,” Custance pleaded.
But for answer he took up his riding-whip and laid it about their shoulders so smartly that they fled from the hall shrieking and cursing him.