"Why, you know you saw me at Appuldurcombe Priory."
"Marry, so I did, but I was busy with my Lord Captain then."
"Ay, and with some one else, too. No marvel you had no eyes for me."
This was a remark Ralph did not appreciate.
"And what are you doing there?"
"I'm being brought up by the nuns. But, do you know, Sister Agnes--'twas she who brought out the hippocras--has been ill ever since you came? She did nothing but sigh and weep, and weep and sigh, from the time she got in till now. The only thing that comforts her is when I am with her, and I ought never to have left her to-day, only father sent orders for me to come here."
"Why, your poor old father sending orders to the Prioress of Appuldurcombe! that is a likely tale," said Ralph, smiling incredulously.
"And who do you think my father is?"
"Why, that poor old beggar whom I put on my pony, sure enough."
The girl broke out into a merry laugh.