pay which were not sterling; so that,
one fine morning, the knight found himself sitting on a pleasant bank of
the Trent, with only a solitary squire, who still clung to the shadow
of preferment, because he did not see at the moment any better chance of
the substance.

The knight did not despair because of the desertion of his followers: he
was well aware that he could easily raise recruits if he could once find
trace of his game; he, therefore, rode about indefatigably over hill
and dale, to the great sharpening of his own appetite and that of his
squire, living gallantly from inn to inn when his purse was full, and
quartering himself in the king's name on the nearest ghostly brotherhood
when it happened to be empty. An autumn and a winter had passed away,
when the course of his perlustations brought him one evening into a
beautiful sylvan valley, where he found a number of young women weaving
garlands of flowers, and singing over their pleasant occupation. He
approached them, and courteously inquired the way to the nearest town.

"There is no town within several miles," was the answer.

"A village, then, if it be but large enough to furnish an inn?"

"There is Gamwell just by, but there is no inn nearer than the nearest
town."

"An abbey, then?"

"There is no abbey nearer than the nearest inn."

"A house then, or a cottage, where I may obtain hospitality for the
night?"

"Hospitality!" said one of the young women; "you have not far to
seek for that. Do you not know that you are in the neighbourhood of
Gamwell-Hall?"

"So far from it," said the knight, "that I never heard the name of
Gamwell-Hall before."

"Never heard of Gamwell-Hall?" exclaimed all the young women together,
who could as soon have dreamed of his never having heard of the sky.

"Indeed, no," said Sir Ralph; "but I shall be very happy to get rid of
my ignorance."

"And so shall I," said his squire; "for it seems that in this case
knowledge will for once be a cure for hunger, wherewith I am grievously
afflicted."

"And why are you so busy, my pretty damsels, weaving these garlands?"
said the knight.

"Why, do you not know, sir," said one of the young women, "that
to-morrow is Gamwell feast?"

The knight was again obliged, with all humility, to confess his
ignorance.

"Oh! sir," said his informant, "then you will have something to see,
that I can tell you; for we shall choose a Queen of the May, and we
shall crown her with flowers,