"My thanks for the errand. May I ask a second boon, your Highness?"
"Oh, I think one would grant you anything in reason. A man with your merry eyes is privileged."
"I had a sutler's donkey with me in the first attempt. She brought me luck, undoubtedly—we had the like temperament, she and I—but we lost her during these forced marches. Can I have Christopher here to share the venture?"
Kit reddened, then laughed the jest aside. And the Prince, as he looked at these two, so dissimilar and yet so full of comradeship, thought of his own brother Maurice, and wished that he were here.
"Ay, take him with you," he said; "he will steady your venture. And, gentlemen, take your route at once."
"You heard what he said?" asked Christopher, after the Prince had spurred forward to the main body. "I shall steady your venture. There's a counter for your talk of donkeys, Michael."
Michael said nothing. As one who knew his brother's weakness, he waited till they were well on their way to York, and had reached a finger-post where four cross-roads met.
"We might go by way of Ripley," he hazarded, pointing to the left-hand road.
"Why, yes," said Kit unguardedly. "It is the nearest way, and the road better—
"The road even viler, and the distance a league more. I said we might take the Ripley way. In sober earnest, we go wide of Mistress Joan."