"You may have known my shield in more gaudy trim. Did I not turn grave-digger for you some years ago?"
"Oh, oh! you are Prosper le Gai?"
"That is my name, Madam Maulfry. You know me at last."
"Yes, I know you. Take care. You are in no friendly country."
"I am a very friendly soul, but I will take care. You, I think, have many friends in these parts—one in special, a holy person, a man of religion. Is it so?"
"He is a man of many parts, Prosper. He hath an arm."
"He hath a gullet, I know," said Prosper cheerfully. "It is of him I would speak, dame, at this moment. I shall meet him before long, I hope, and should like to be advised by an old acquaintance. Will you tell me why he chose out the arms of the man you and I put into the ground?"
"Why would you know that, Prosper?"
"It seems to me an odd choice. There is a story about them. I am curious."
"What is your story, Prosper? I will tell you this, that I tried to dissuade him."