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the estate and the superior was his older brother.
He had begun to feel a little better, when the man-at-armscame running back
with the wine flask that Jim had drunk from earlier. Sir Brian had him swallow
a fair amount of the straight wine; and Jim, after a few moments, found that
either it did make him feel better, or else it helped him to imagine he was
feeling better. Gradually he was recovering, and in the process straightening
up, so that he did not advertise his mishap to everyone within sight.
This was just as well because Danielle and Dafydd were upon them, now flanked
by Giles o'the Wold himself and Jim knew Danielle. She would have no
inhibitions about inquiring as to what had happened to him; and would probably
laugh just as uproariously as Brian had on hearing what the cause was.
As it happened, Danielle did not get a chance to ask any questions after all;
because Sir Brian spoke first.
"Welcome friends! Welcome, and my thanks!" he said. "Without the help of all
of you I don't know how Castle Smythe could have been saved!"
"It couldn't have," said Aragh, who had just now joined the rest of them.
"Indeed, Sir Wolf," said Brian, "I think you may be right. Nonetheless, it is
saved; and this is a festive occasion. Let us all repair within my castle,
where I can feast you and entertain you in proper style "
He was interrupted by a large, rather fat man, in clothing that was a walking
structure of grease stains, and who carried a strange knife in his hand, one
that was either a very odd axe or a rather ornate cleaver.
"What ?" began Sir Brian irritably, as the other man plucked at the elbow of
his sleeve and whispered in hisear. "There must be "
He stopped speaking, and allowed himself to be drawn off to one side by the
man with the cleaver. From a little distance the rest of them could see a sort
of violent, whispered argument going on between Brian and this man, who was
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
plainly one of his people from the castle.
"Winning a battle may be one thing," said Aragh grimly, "feasting your
guests, something else."
"Hush," said Danielle.
The truth suddenly burst upon Jim's mind. He should have realized it before
this. It was the most ordinary sort of hospitality for the owner of a castle
to invite inside those who had just helped him save it from raiders. But the
truth would be that there was not the wherewithal in Brian's castle to put
forth the kind of feast he had in mind. Jim was fairly sure that the knight
drank small beer and ate coarse bread as an ordinary dinner repast by himself,
right along with the rest of his people in the castle.
Jim knew how indifferent Brian was to his hard life, ordinarily. He would
think nothing of such a diet for himself. But when it came to entertaining
guests, it would be a totally different matter. His family pride, let alone
his own, would be shamed utterly if he had to bring guests into a ruined hall
and feed them the sort of rough fare that kept him alive from day to day. Jim
had an inspiration.
"Sir Brian!" he called, "if I could interrupt your talk with your man there
for just a moment "
Brian turned an unhappy face to him, muttered an order to his retainer to
stay put, and came back to the rest of them, trying to smile as he approached.
"I just had an idea, Brian," Jim said. "I didn't get a chance to tell you
sooner; but after you left so suddenly and I had to follow after you, the Lady
Angela made me promise that I would bring Danielle to her immediately.
'Without any delay,' she said, as soon as Danielle and Dafydd should be met
with. I wouldn't miss this feast of yours, myself, on any account, but I can
hardly disobey my Lady.Though it seems equally impossible to take away, not
only myself, but one of the other guests, perhaps two of the other guests. I
was at my wits' end just now; and then this idea came to me."
"James, I'm sure " Brian began, unhappily, but Jim hurried to cut him short.
"But listen to this notion of mine first, Brian," he said. "Why shouldn't you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]