[Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley]@TWC D-Link bookWestward Ho! CHAPTER VIII 10/21
Come, give us thy neif, and let us part in peace.
I was minded to have fought thee this day--" "I should have been most happy, sir," said Coffin. -- "But now I am all love and charity to mankind.
Can I have the pleasure of begging pardon of the world in general, and thee in particular? Does any one wish to pull my nose; send me an errand; make me lend him five pounds; ay, make me buy a horse of him, which will be as good as giving him ten? Come along! Join hands all round, and swear eternal friendship, as brothers of the sacred order of the--of what.
Frank Leigh? Open thy mouth, Daniel, and christen us!" "The Rose!" said Frank quietly, seeing that his new love-philtre was working well, and determined to strike while the iron was hot, and carry the matter too far to carry it back again. "The Rose!" cried Cary, catching hold of Coffin's hand with his right, and Fortescue's with his left.
"Come, Mr.Coffin! Bend, sturdy oak! 'Woe to the stiffnecked and stout-hearted!' says Scripture." And somehow or other, whether it was Frank's chivalrous speech, or Cary's fun, or Amyas's good wine, or the nobleness which lies in every young lad's heart, if their elders will take the trouble to call it out, the whole party came in to terms one by one, shook hands all round, and vowed on the hilt of Amyas's sword to make fools of themselves no more, at least by jealousy: but to stand by each other and by their lady-love, and neither grudge nor grumble, let her dance with, flirt with, or marry with whom she would; and in order that the honor of their peerless dame, and the brotherhood which was named after her, might be spread through all lands, and equal that of Angelica or Isonde of Brittany, they would each go home, and ask their fathers' leave (easy enough to obtain in those brave times) to go abroad wheresoever there were "good wars," to emulate there the courage and the courtesy of Walter Manny and Gonzalo Fernandes, Bayard and Gaston de Foix.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|