"Gramercy, Hungerford!" he said; "these are perilous times, which break through courtesies and abridge ceremonies. Fazely is in possession of my merry men. It is an open undefended village, and I will let none into it, but my own people."
"Why, you do not look on me as a spy," replied Hungerford, in an offended tone; "your hospitality is scanty, my lord Chartley."
"If you have to return to Tamworth to-night, Hungerford, it is not hospitality you seek," answered Chartley; "true, I do not look on you as a spy, or ought, but the best-dressed man of honour in the land; but I do hold it a point of prudence, in times like these, to let no one know the numbers and disposition of my little force, when one can never tell in what ranks one may see him next. In a word, my gentle friend, I have heard that you have been of late with good Lord Fulmer, down in Dorsetshire; and Lord Fulmer is much doubted at the court, let me tell you--of his love for me there is no doubt. Now, if you were seeking me at Atherston and elsewhere, you can speak your errand here as well as at Fazely."
"But you cannot read a billet here as well as at Fazely," replied Hungerford, "no, nor smell out the contents--though I had it scented before I brought it, which he had omitted."
"Who is he?" asked Chartley.
"My noble friend, Lord Fulmer, to be sure," answered the gay knight.
"Ah, then, I guess your errand," replied Chartley; "here, let us dismount and step aside. Mundy, hold my horse." Springing to the ground, he walked to a little distance from his men, with Sir Edward Hungerford.
"Now my good friend," he said, "let me have it in plain words, and as briefly as may suit your courtly nature."
The message, which Hungerford delivered in somewhat circuitous terms, and with many fine figures of speech, was what Chartley anticipated; and he replied at once--
"I will not baulk him, Hungerford, though good faith, he might have chosen a more convenient season. Yet I will not baulk him; but, as the person challenged, I will dictate my own terms."