.

Of the News from Havant.
Having given my orders that Covenant should be saddled and bridled by daybreak, I had gone to my room and was preparing for a long night's rest, when Sir Gervas, who slept in the same apartment, came dancing in with a bundle of papers waving over his head.
'Three guesses, Clarke!' he cried.

'What would you most desire ?' 'Letters from Havant,' said I eagerly.
'Right,' he answered, throwing them into my lap.

'Three of them, and not a woman's hand among them.

Sink me, if I can understand what you have been doing all your life.
"How can youthful heart resign Lovely woman, sparkling wine ?" But you are so lost in your news that you have not observed my transformation.' 'Why, wherever did you get these ?' I asked in astonishment, for he was attired in a delicate plum-coloured suit with gold buttons and trimmings, set off by silken hosen and Spanish leather shoes with roses on the instep.
'It smacks more of the court than of the camp,' quoth Sir Gervas, rubbing his hands and glancing down at himself with some satisfaction.
'I am also revictualled in the matter of ratafia and orange-flower water, together with two new wigs, a bob and a court, a pound of the Imperial snuff from the sign of the Black Man, a box of De Crepigny's hair powder, my foxskin muff, and several other necessaries.