rest sing them.
"Drink to me only with thine eyes
And I will pledge with mine:
Or leave a kiss within the cup
And I'll not look for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove's nectar sup,
I would not change for thine."
Lubin appeared, bearing a funny, fat, black bottle, a black cup (both
appeared to be of leather), and a kind of leaden plate on which was a
small funnily-shaped loaf of bread.
"'Tis well you want none," observed the tall gentleman, "I had asked
you to help me crush a flask else," and on the word the singer emerged
from the tent.
"Jest not on solemn subjects, Seymour," he said soberly, "Wine may
carry me over one more pike-parade.... Good lad.... Here's to thee....
Why should gentlemen drill?... I came to fight for the King, not to
... But, isn't this thy day for de Warrenne? Oh, ten million fiends!
Plague and pest! And I cannot see thee stick him, Seymour ..." and the
speaker dashed the black drinking-vessel violently on the ground,
having carefully emptied it.
The boy did not much like him.
His lace collar was enormous and his black velvet coat was embroidered
all over with yellow silk designs, flowers, and patterns. It was like
the silly mantel-borders and things that Mrs. Pont, the housekeeper,
did in her leisure time. ("Cruel-work" she called it, and the boy
quite agreed.)
This man's face was pink and fair, his hair golden.
"Warn him not of the hilt-thrust, Seymour, lad," he said suddenly.
"Give it him first--for a sneering, bullying, taverning, chambering
knave."
The tall gentleman glanced at his down-flung cup, raised his eyebrows,
and drank from the bottle.
"Such _would_ annoy _you_, Hal, of course," he murmured.
A man dressed in what appeared to be a striped football jersey under a
leather waistcoat and steel breast-plate, high boots and a steel
helmet led up a great horse.
The boy loved the horse. It was very like "Fire".
The gentleman (called Seymour) patted it fondly, stroked his nose, and
gave it a piece of his bread.
"Well, Crony Long-Face?" he said fondly.
He then put his left foot in the great box-stirrup and swung himself
into the saddle--a very different kind of saddle from those with which
the boy was familiar.
It reminded him of Circuses and the Lord Mayor's Show. It was big
enough for two and there was a lot of velvet and stuff about it and a
fine gold _C.R._--whatever that might mean--on a big p
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