I assented to this. "And since one may sleep anywhere," I reasoned, "why not here?" Thereupon, for I was somewhat puzzled at his bearing, I lay down upon the gravel and snored.
"Fool," he said. I opened one eye. "I have business here"—I opened the other—"with the Lady Adeliza." He tossed me a coin as I sprang to my feet.
"Sir—!" I cried out.
"Ho, she expects me."
"In that case—" said I.
"The difficulty is to give a signal."
"'Tis as easy as lying," I reassured him; and thereupon I began to sing.
Sang I:
_"Such toll we took of his niggling hours
That the troops of Time were sent
To seise the treasures and fell the towers
Of the Castle of Content.
"Ei ho! Ei ho! the Castle of Content,
With flaming tower and tumbling battlement
Where Time hath conquered, and the firelight streams
Above sore-wounded Loves and dying Dreams,—
Ei ho! the vanished Castle of Content!"_