“I am he. Come close in, your knee to mine.”
Fulk edged his horse closer, and he of the red cap sat and stared at him, and at every part of him from eyebrows to hands. He traced every line, every trick of the body, and the more he looked the more he seemed to marvel.
“Monstrous! You have steady eyes, young man.”
“And an easy conscience!”
“Come, tell me now, Master Ferrers, whither do you ride, and for what purpose?”
“I ride nowhere, and I keep my own counsel.”
“Tsst, no fencing with me. I am to be trusted.”
“To be honest with you, sir, I have had to run for my life from certain people who were for making me dance like a doll on a wire.”
“And how was the doll to be dressed?”
“In a King’s robes, and with a crown on its head.”