little bits.

The gentlemen had their choice of smoked meats; fat half-geese, hams, and
slices of tongue--all choice, all cured in home fashion in the chimney with
juniper smoke. Finally they brought in stewed beef with gravy43 as the
last course: such was breakfast in the Judge's house.

In adjoining rooms two separate companies had gathered. The older people,
grouped about a small table, talked of new ways of farming, and of the new
imperial edicts, which were growing more and more severe. The Chamberlain
discussed the current rumours of war and based on them conclusions as to
politics. The Seneschal's daughter, putting on blue spectacles, amused the
Chamberlain's wife by telling fortunes with cards. In the other room the
younger men talked over the hunt in a more calm and quiet fashion than was
usually the case; for the Assessor and the Notary, both mighty orators,
the foremost experts on the chase and the best huntsmen, sat opposite each
other glum and angry. Both had set on their hounds well, both had felt
certain of victory, when in the middle of the field there turned up a
patch of unreaped spring corn belonging to a peasant. Into this the hare
fled; Bobtail and Falcon were each about to seize it, when the Judge
checked the horsemen at the border of the field; they had to obey,
although in great wrath. The dogs returned without their prey, and no one
knew for sure whether the beast had escaped or had been caught; no one
could guess whether it had fallen into the clutches of Bobtail, or of
Falcon, or of both at once. The two sides held different opinions, and the
settlement of the quarrel was postponed to the future.

The old Seneschal passed from room to room, glancing absentmindedly about
him; he mixed neither in the talk of the hunters nor in that of the old
men, and evidently had something else on his mind. He carried a leather
flapper; sometimes he would stop, meditate long, and--kill a fly on the
wall.

Thaddeus and Telimena, standing on the threshold in the doorway between
the rooms, were talking together; no great distance divided them from
hearers, so they whispered. Thaddeus now learned that Aunt Telimena was a
rich lady, that they were not so near of kin as to be separated by the
canons of the Church; that it was not even certain that Aunt Telimena was
any blood relation of her nephew, although his uncle called her sister,
because their common kindred had once so styled them despite the
difference o