"Spoke like a Christian woman!" said my mother, and then the conversation was ended by the return of my Lady.
Well, we stayed that day and that night, and in the afternoon the matter was concluded; and Sir John, calling for Joyce, formally surrendered her to my father's keeping.
"And a good riddance, I'm sure!" quoth my Lady, with her hard, affected laugh. "I wish Sir Stephen joy of his bargain! I am only too glad to get rid of her, the ungrateful witch!"
"Hold your tongue, Sarah!" said Sir John. "See that the child's things are got together. Where are the gold chain and the string of pearls I gave into your keeping? Bring them hither, and give them over to Sir Stephen!"
"Lack-a-daisy, Sir John, how should I know?" answered my Lady, reddening and casting anything but a friendly glance at her husband. "I have not seen the trumpery for ages."
"You will find them, unless you want me to find them for you!" said the knight, in a peremptory voice. "You had them in your cabinet among your own gewgaws, I know, for I saw them. Go and fetch them here."
"Oh, very well, Sir John! So that is the way you treat your wife, that brought you all you had, and whose wealth you have wasted, and that before strangers! Alas, the day that ever I saw you!"
And with that she began to weep and cry aloud, and then to scream, till she fell into a fit of the mother.
Her husband, with an impatient "Here, women, see to your mistress!" strode out of the hall and returned presently with the jewels—a fine heavy gold chain and a necklace of fair large pearls.
"There, take her away out of sight!" said he, thrusting the things into my mother's hands. "Take her away, and keep her by you this night. Maybe I have not done right by her. I wanted to wed her to my son, and do well by her, but they would none of each other—I dare say 'twas not her fault, after all, poor wench! There, there—go, child, go!" For at the first kind word Joyce was at his feet and kissing his hand, with tears and sobs. "Go with thy new friends, be a dutiful maid, and take my blessing with thee, if the blessing of such a wretch be worth anything."