"No, Mistress Alice; no, my pretty maid!" replied the man. "Only take care of your sweet self, lady. I came up to be at the conference--wherever there is a conference, there am I; and I heard you and Harold talking when I was on the other side of the bushes; and now, lo! the conference seems over."
"It is so for to-day, at least, John," replied Lord Harold; "so now let us pass, my good man."
"Call me not good, Harold," he replied.
"'There yet was good but One,
That trod this cold earth's breast.
And now to heaven he's gone
For our eternal rest.'
"But you see I was right, Harold. They call me silly; but I am not silly in matters of love. I told you how it would be this morning as you crossed the bridge."
"My good man, I heard you say something," replied the young nobleman; "but what, I did not know."
"You should have listened, then," replied the madman. "Always listen when any one speaks to you. Did you not learn that at school? Always listen, especially to the masters. Now, if you had listened, you would have heard. I told you she would not have you."