CHAPTER XV
MASTER STURGEON, THE GAOLER
Master Sturgeon had walked but a few steps when I came to his side.
"I am a stranger in Bedford, Master Sturgeon," I said, "therefore the company of such a well-known man as yourself is of great interest to me, and if I may, I will e'en walk a little way with you."
"Ah, it is you, Master Stranger?" he made answer, "and you have seen that I am a man of no mean import in the town? Ah, well, you are a youth of great penetration."
"Every one here seems to know you," I said.
"How can it be otherwise?" he said, with half-drunken gravity. "Am I not the father of the town? It is true that many would say that Master Leslie is of greater importance than I, because he is a justice, and because he comes of an old family. But what of that? I am here always and he is only here sometimes. And besides—will not this drag him down, and lift me up? He will say, of course, that Sir Charles Denman egged her on, and not he: that may be true; but why was she on her way to Goodlands, which is the name of Master Leslie's house? You see, she was hardly ever seen at Bedford. None of the family liked the place. Master Leslie came sometimes, and crowed it over people who have made the town, but his wife and children considered themselves too high and mighty to come."
"Master Leslie hath other children, then?"
"Ay, that he hath."
"How many?"