"He came half an hour ago." "He is in the hall ?" "Yes, sir; they are at supper." * * * * * The hall at Matstead was such as that of most esquires of means.

Its dais was to the south end, and the buttery entrance and the screens to the north, through which came the servers with the meat.

In the midst of the floor stood the reredos with the fire against it, and a round vent overhead in the roof through which went the smoke and came the rain.

The tables stood down the hall, one on either side, with the master's table at the dais end set cross-ways.

It was not a great hall, though that was its name; it ran perhaps forty feet by twenty.