"Doing! Well, a chap 'at was on the road along of me said that Master Paul had started innkeeper."
"Innkeeper!"
There was a prolonged burst of laughter, amid which one amused patriarch on a stick shouted: "Feel if tha's abed, Gubblum, ma man!"
"And if I is abed, it's better nor being in bed-lam, isn't it?" shouted the peddler.
Then Gubblum scratched his head again, and said more quietly: "It caps all. If it wasn't you, it must ha' been the old gentleman hissel'."
"Are we so much alike? Come, let's see your pack."
"His name was Paul, anyways."
Hugh Ritson had elbowed his way through the group, and was now at Gubblum's elbow listening intently. When the others had laughed, he alone preserved an equal countenance.
"Paul—what?" he asked.
"Nay, don't ax me—I know nowt no mair—I must be an auld maizelin, I must, for sure!"