Without
making her an entire confidante, Sir Jocelyn told her enough of what had
occurred to make her comprehend his position; and highly indignant she
was at the treatment he had experienced. She did her best to console
him; and so far succeeded, that he was prevailed upon to partake of some
delicacies which she caused Cyprien to set before him, together with a
flask of the best vintage in her cellar; and the discussion of these
good things, coupled with the hostess's assiduities, certainly operated
as a balm upon his wounded feelings.
The repast over, the good-natured dame thought it best to leave him to
himself; and drawing his chair to the open window, he began to ruminate
upon the many strange events that had happened to him since he first
beheld that fair prospect almost from the same place; and he was
indulging in this retrospect, when his own name, pronounced in tones
familiar to him, caught his ear, and looking forth, he perceived Dick
Taverner, seated on a bench in front of the house, drinking in company
with some half dozen other apprentices, his boon companions.
The conversation of these roysterers was held in so loud a key that it
could not fail to reach his ears; and he soon ascertained that his own
dismissal from court was the theme of their discourse, and that they
rightly attributed it--doubtless owing to information derived from their
hostess--to the instrumentality of De Gondomar.
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