Ere donning my coat and boots I made shift to cleanse them in so far as possible from the mud stains of the previous day and to make such poor means of a toilet as the room afforded. It was in doing this that I accidentally caught sight of myself in a little square of cracked glass that hung upon the wall beside the window.
Across my brow ran a purple weal, terminating in a great bruise of black and yellow, where my lady’s whip had fallen, and at sight of the discoloured flesh my rage against her broke out anew.
I buckled on my sword with a grim smile. She had yet to learn whether she could beat me like a hound with impunity. Downstairs in the hall I found the landlord already up, who greeted me with a cheery “good-morning.”
I questioned him closely as to the road, and found, as I expected, that the one running down the valley was the direct road to Exeter, which lay to the north, some thirty miles distant.
On my inquiring further for Cornet Graham, he led me once more to the kitchen. Upon one side of the open fireplace I found the cornet asleep in an old-fashioned, leather-covered chair. On a table near, a pack of greasy cards and a couple of empty wine flasks betokened the means that he and the marquis had taken to while away some portion of the night, and testified to the good fellowship existing between them. It was not without difficulty that I awoke the cornet sufficiently to understand my orders. For the fatigues of the previous day, combined with the effects of the potations he had freely imbibed, still lay heavily upon his brain.
He sat up at last, his eyes dull and heavy with sleep. I explained briefly to him my intentions, and bade him follow with as little loss of time as possible, and I then drew a chair to the table and sat down to a light meal that the landlord speedily laid out for me.
My hunger satisfied, I rose from my seat and bade him show me where my horse was stalled.
He hesitated for a moment.
“But my bill!” he said slowly.
“As to that,” I answered, “we ride upon the king’s service, so you would do well to present it to my Lord Danvers, at Exeter. You do not think that I shall pay it, man!” I cried sharply, as he still hesitated. And I smiled to myself at the thought of the few broad pieces remaining in my pocket.