"The King's business, Ralph; ask me no more at present… His Majesty is in the castle?"
"Aye! and in the best of fettle," De Wilton answered good-naturedly. "Here are your quarters; and that they are saved for you shows your position in the Court. The place is crowded to the roof."
"I fancy I can thank you rather than my position—at any rate, Ralph, squire me out of these clothes; they cling like Satan's chains."
"I would I could cast those same chains off as easily," De Wilton replied, as he unlaced the rain-soaked doublet and flung it on the couch. "Tell me, Aymer, did you find aught of … of her?"
"No and yes," De Lacy answered, after a silence, "I did not find the Countess nor any trace of her, but I saw Flat-Nose."
"The Devil! … And took him?"
De Lacy shook his head.
"Killed him?"
"Nor that, either—he escaped me."
"Damnation! … However it is better than that he die with tale untold."