Clere, who felt deeply the respectful
delicacy with which he had conducted himself towards his sister. The lady
was carefully informed of her obligations to him; and it is left to the
well-judging reader whether even the raillery of Lady Eleanor made her
regret that Heaven had only employed natural means for her security, and
that the guardian angel was converted into a handsome, gallant, and
enamoured knight.
The joy of the company in the hall extended itself to the buttery, where
Gregory the jester narrated such feats of arms done by himself in the
fray of the morning as might have shamed Bevis and Guy of Warwick. He
was, according to his narrative, singled out for destruction by the
gigantic baron himself, while he abandoned to meaner hands the
destruction of St. Clere and Fitzosborne.
"But, certes," said he, "the foul paynim met his match; for, ever as he
foined at me with his brand, I parried his blows with my bauble, and
closing with him upon the third veny, threw him to the ground, and made
him cryrecreant to an unarmed man."
"Tush, man!" said Drawslot, "thou forgettest thy best auxiliaries, the
good greyhounds, Help and Holdfast! I warrant thee that when the
humpbacked baron caught thee by the cowl, which he hath almost torn off,
thou hadst been in a fair plight, had they not remembered an old friend
and come in to the rescue.
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