And to think, Francis! Lady Anne herself
bade me hold the Lady Alice as my true lady, and to serve her in all
knightliness!" Then he told his friend that he was going to the privy
garden again on the next Saturday, and that the Lady Anne had given him
permission so to do.
Gascoyne gave a long, wondering whistle, and then sat quite still,
staring into the sky. By-and-by he turned to his friend and said, "I
give thee my pledge, Myles Falworth, that never in all my life did I
hear of any one that had such marvellous strange happenings befall him
as thou."
Whenever the opportunity occurred for sending a letter to Crosbey-Holt,
Myles wrote one to his mother; and one can guess how they were treasured
by the good lady, and read over and over again to the blind old Lord as
he sat staring into darkness with his sightless eyes.
About the time of this escapade he wrote a letter telling of those
doings, wherein, after speaking of his misadventure of falling from the
wall, and of his acquaintance with the young ladies, he went on to speak
of the matter in which he repeated his visits. The letter was worded
in the English of that day--the quaint and crabbed language in which
Chaucer wrote. Perhaps few boys could read it nowadays, so, modernizing
it somewhat, it ran thus:
"And now to let ye weet that thing that followed that happening that
made me acquaint with they two young Damoiselles.
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