to, nurse," says she. "Dost thou
not see I am even i' th' same case with thyself? I too would gossip a
little. Come, word it--word it!"

So Marian told her all that she had heard, together with a little
prophesying here and there, which boded no good to my Lord Denbeigh. She
told how he had e'en been a brave lad, but how in Spain he had wed with
a wife who played him false; how then he had vowed vengeance on all
womankind, becoming a brawler and a haunter o' taverns; how death was in
his sword and lightnings in his eye.

My lady listened, and now and again she would pinch her eyelids softly
with her thumb and ring-finger, as one who is deep in thought. But when
Marian paused for breath, she turned to her, and quoth she,

"Nurse, thou hast often preached unto me; listen now to my preachings.
Thou shalt often hear a man abused, nurse, but chiefly for that which
he hath never done. This wild lord, I doubt not, hath been guilty of
sorry deeds. What man hath not? But the half that thou hast told me is
not to be believed."

Then went she to her room, taking Marian with her, but I saw that she
was moved.

It was but the next day that my lady's uncle, Sir John Trenyon, came
riding into the court. He often came in such wise, to bide for a day or
two with his niece. A most courteous gentleman; red of face, blue of
eye, and blithe of tongue. He had a jest for each tick o' th' clock, and
a kind word for all.

"Ah, Butter," saith he, "and where is thy mistress? And thy wife, the
good Dame Marian--where is she? And how about thy family? Hast thou no
better prospects than of yore?"

Whereat I looked sorrowful enough, I doubt not, for he did bid me take
heart, as my first-born might have had a hare-lip or a crook-back. Then
did he toss me his bridle-reins, and my lady, having heard his voice,
came forth to meet him.

"So, lady-bird!" quoth he, clasping her. "I am come for no less than
three reasons this time. First, to see thy bonny face. Second, to ride
thy bonny Robin. Third, to inquire and seek out a certain villain of
mine acquaintance, of whom you have doubtless heard;" and forthwith did
he say to her of how the wicked Lord Denbeigh was the son of a friend
and comrade, and of how he had known him when a lad, together with much
more, at which my lady pricked up her ears, as 'twere, having all a
lady's love for stories of wicked men who are not yet either old or
ill-favored.

"By my troth," declared the old knight in end