"Mercy on me! I have dropped Master Holyday's ring into the street."
"Oh, thou madcap child!" exclaimed Mistress Etheridge.
"Oh, 'tis nothing," said Holyday, confusedly, not yet seeing his way. "I can soon find it."
"Nay, I saw where it fell," said Millicent, quickly. "'Tis right I fetch it back."
Ere any one could say nay, she ran from the room. Holyday, understanding, called out, "Nay, trouble not yourself!" and hastened after her as if to forestall her in recovering the ring. He was upon the stairs in time to see that she went out, not through the shop, but through the door from the passage into Friday Street. He followed, wondering what Ravenshaw would think on seeing the two. When they came into Cheapside she began to search a little at one side of the open shop-front, so as not to be seen from within. Glancing up, however, Holyday saw that Mistress Etheridge and Sir Peregrine were looking down from the window above. He dared not turn his eyes toward the cross, for fear of meeting those of Ravenshaw. Both he and the maid searched the cobble paving, within whispering space of each other.
"'Tis safe in my hand," she said; "so we may be as long finding it as need be. What mean you with this talk of a maid's uncle?"
"I mean thine Uncle Bartlemy," said he, heartened up at the easy turn his task had taken. "He sent me to save you from wedding this old knight. The only escape is by wedding me instead. If you are willing, be at your garden gate in Friday Street this nightfall, ready for a journey by boat. The rest is in my hands."
Thank Heaven, she reflected, it needed but a word from her to settle the matter. She could have swooned for joy at the unexpected prospect of escape. But she was not flattered by this young stranger's unloverlike manner. The word could wait a moment.
"What, does my uncle think I will take the first husband he sends, and go straight to marriage without even a wooing beforehand?"