"Besten?!" Brook ejaculated with surprise.
Lloyd nodded his head and with a smile, he detailed.
"Besten, the 'Hopeless City', as the ArchBishop calls it. We have no tyrant rulers there and no monastic institutions, and because of this we are called 'evil', by him. Well …" he shrugged at his thought.
"Why are you here, if Besten is so free?" asked Dearborne, confused and now becoming interested about his motives.
Lloyd took another drink from the goblet on his lap tray while Lord and Lady Scullion waited, in anticipation, for him to explain why he had come to Phoride.
Boy stood by. He watched and listened. His face showed its usual bewilderment. He handed Lloyd a large napkin and Lloyd wiped his mouth. After the wiping he sighed and finally explained his presence here in their land.
"My people (my father, Harvard Bartlet, especially), had sent me to try to alter the ArchBishop's trade embargo on Besten. I suppose that I went about it the wrong way by trying to talk to the people first!"
Brook put his hand on Lloyd's shoulder and assured him that he made no mistake. Dearborne agreed with her husband's opinion and she released her suspicions.
"It wouldn't have made much of a difference. Actually, avoiding the talk, directly with the ArchBishop probably saved your life and I believe that you may be fortunate enough to have created a question in some of the citizen's minds. Your injury, I suppose, may be considered a payment for giving men new ideas!"
"I think it to be a little too expensive!" added Lloyd, with humour, laughing at his own pains and inequities while he touched his bandaged chest.