"Save what, my child?" said Lord Woodville.
"Save that I lost my way, and--" and again he hesitated.
"Well, my page, and what?"
"And I was set on by a base caitiff."
"Ay, marry--who has dared to lay hands on one of my pages?"
"That I know not, my lord," and then Ralph narrated the adventure as best he could.
Lord Woodville listened to the end, his countenance expressing no feeling until Ralph came to the part where the man bid him take a note to the Captain of the Wight. He then looked up gravely, and said,
"Where is it, my child?"
Ralph fumbled in his pocket; he searched everywhere--he could not find it. Seeing his nervousness, the Lord Woodville said, smiling,--
"Nay, fair page, take it quietly; thou mayest have overlooked it. Search each of thy pockets one by one, and so we shall arrive at a just conclusion."