idst thou hurt thyself?" asked Lady Anne.

"Nay," said Myles, giving himself a shake; "seest thou not I be whole,
limb and bone? Nay, I have had shrewdly worse falls than that. Once I
fell out of an oak-tree down by the river and upon a root, and bethought
me I did break a rib or more. And then one time when I was a boy in
Crosbey-Dale--that was where I lived before I came hither--I did catch
me hold of the blade of the windmill, thinking it was moving slowly, and
that I would have a ride i' th' air, and so was like to have had a fall
ten thousand times worse than this."

"Oh, tell us more of that!" said the Lady Anne, eagerly. "I did never
hear of such an adventure as that. Come, coz, and sit down here upon the
bench, and let us have him tell us all of that happening."

Now the lads upon the other side of the wall had been whistling
furtively for some time, not knowing whether Myles had broken his neck
or had come off scot-free from his fall. "I would like right well to
stay with ye," said he, irresolutely, "and would gladly tell ye that and
more an ye would have me to do so; but hear ye not my friends call me
from beyond? Mayhap they think I break my back, and are calling to see
whether I be alive or no. An I might whistle them answer and toss me
this ball to them, all would then be well, and they would know that I
was not hurt, and so, haply, would go away."

"Then answer them," said the Lady Anne, "and tell us of that thing thou
spokest of anon--how thou tookest a ride upon the windmill. We young
ladies do hear little of such matters, not being allowed to talk with
lads. All that we hear of perils are of knights and ladies and jousting,
and such like. It would pleasure us right well to have thee tell of thy
adventures."

So Myles tossed back the ball, and whistled in answer to his friends.

Then he told the two young ladies not only of his adventure upon the
windmill, but also of other boyish escapades, and told them well, with
a straightforward smack and vigor, for he enjoyed adventure and loved to
talk of it. In a little while he had regained his ease; his shyness and
awkwardness left him, and nothing remained but the delightful fact that
he was really and actually talking to two young ladies, and that with
just as much ease and infinitely more pleasure than could be had in
discourse with his fellow-squires. But at last it was time for him to
go. "Marry," said he, with a half-sigh, "methinks I did never ha' s