ed." In that, Bryan might have anticipated _Benedick_, as
well as in the resolution. "Rich she shall be, that's certain." He went
abroad to the wars. Perhaps he was with Henry V at Agincourt, and
thenceforward, till the king's death in 1422, saw more of France than of
England. In any case, to the unbounded wonder of the countryside, when
at length he did return, Bryan brought back with him a foreign bride to
Blenkinsopp. And what added to the wonder, the bride brought with her a
chest of treasure so heavy that twelve of Bryan's retainers could with
difficulty bear it into the castle.

Naturally, all this gave rise to endless talk; what prattling little
busybody but would relish so succulent a morsel! Ere long the local
gossip-mongers revelled in a perfect feast of petty scandal. Stories in
minute detail spread quickly from mouth to mouth. The eccentricities and
shortcomings of the foreign bride were a priceless boon to the scanty
population of the district; in castle and in peel tower little else for
a time was talked of. To begin with, the mere fact that she was a
foreigner, and that neither she nor any of her immediate followers could
speak English, told heavily against the lady in the estimation of the
countryside. Then, hardly anyone ever saw her (which in itself was an
offence, and the cause of still further tattle). She was very little,
folk said who professed to be well informed, and her face and hands
showed strangely brown against the white robes that she habitually wore;
her eyes were like stars; her temper quick to blaze up without due
cause. Backstairs gossip, no doubt; but there were even pious souls who,
in strictest confidence, went so far as to hazard the opinion that the
lady was not quite "canny"; she might, they thought, quite possibly turn
out to be an imp of the Evil One sent with her gold to wile Bryan's soul
to perdition. The belief was not more fantastic than many another that
prevailed at that day, and later; and the fact that she was never known
to go to mass, nor had been seen to cross the threshold of a sacred
building, lent some weight to it. This was the kind of "clash" that
floated about the countryside.

But assuredly there was this much foundation for talk: Bryan and his
foreign bride were far from happy together. As time went on, their
quarrels, indeed, became notorious. It was whispered that the fount from
which flowed all the trouble was nothing more nor less than that chest
of gold