At the foot of the inn signpost beggars squatted--here a leper whining monotonously, there lustier vagrants dicing for supper.

At the main door a knot of young squires stood talking in whispers--impatient, if one judged from the restless clank of metal, but on duty, as appeared when a new-comer sought entrance and was brusquely denied.

For in an upper room there was business of great folk, and the commonalty must keep its distance.
That upper room was long and low-ceiled, with a canopied bed in a corner and an oaken table heaped with saddle-bags.

A woman sat in a chair by the empty hearth, very bright and clear in the glow of the big iron lantern hung above the chimney.

She was a tall girl, exquisitely dressed, from the fine silk of her horned cap to the amethyst buckles on her Spanish shoes.