'Aye art thou there?' she answered coldly. 'Ye have me no longer upon lone heaths and moors. Mend thy tongue. Here I have good friends.'
Suddenly he began to entreat:
'Thy mule did stumble—an evil omen. Come away, come away. I know well thou lovest me.'
'I know well I love thee too well,' she answered, as if in scorn of herself.
'Come away to thy father.'
'Why what a bother is this,' she said. 'Thou wouldst to the wars to get thee gold? Thou wouldst trail a pike? Thou canst do little without the ear of some captain. Here is the great captain of them all.'
'I dare not speak here,' he muttered huskily. 'But this King....' He paused and added swiftly: 'He is of an ill omen to all Katharines.'
'Why, he shall give me his old gloves to darn,' she laughed. 'Fond knave, this King standeth on a mountain a league high. A King shall take notice of one for the duration of a raindrop's fall. Then it is done. One may make oneself ere it reach the ground, or never. Besides, 'tis a well-spoken elder. 'Tis the spit of our grandfather Culpepper.'
When Henry came hurrying back, engrossed, to send Culpepper and the mule to the gatehouse for a guide, she laughed gently for pleasure.
Culpepper said tremulously: 'She hath her father's commands to hasten to Dover.'