The Nest of the Sparrowhawk | Page 2

fully accounted for the
high color in his cheeks.
He had long, lanky hair of a pale straw-color, a thin face and high
cheek-bones, and was dressed--as was also Master Hymn-of-Praise
Busy--in a dark purple doublet and knee breeches, all looking very
much the worse for wear; the brown tags and buttons with which these
garments had originally been roughly adorned were conspicuous in a
great many places by their absence, whilst all those that remained were
mere skeletons of their former selves.
The plain collars and cuffs which relieved the dull color of the men's
doublets were of singularly coarse linen not beyond reproach as to
cleanliness, and altogether innocent of starch; whilst the thick brown
worsted stockings displayed many a hole through which the flesh
peeped, and the shoes of roughly tanned leather were down at heel and
worn through at the toes.
Undoubtedly even in these days of more than primitive simplicity and
of sober habiliments Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy, butler at Acol Court
in the county of Kent, and his henchman, Master Courage Toogood,
would have been conspicuous for the shabbiness and poverty of the
livery which they wore.
The hour was three in the afternoon. Outside a glorious July sun spread
radiance and glow over an old-fashioned garden, over tall yew hedges,
and fantastic forms of green birds and heads of beasts carefully cut and
trimmed, over clumps of late roses and rough tangles of marguerites
and potentillas, of stiff zinnias and rich-hued snapdragons.
Through the open window came the sound of wood knocking against
wood, of exclamations of annoyance or triumph as the game proceeded,
and every now and then a ripple of prolonged laughter, girlish, fresh,
pure as the fragrant air, clear as the last notes of the cuckoo before he
speaks his final farewell to summer.
Every time that echo of youth and gayety penetrated into the
oak-raftered dining-room, Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy pursed his

thick lips in disapproval, whilst the younger man, had he dared, would
no doubt have gone to the window, and leaning out as far as safety
would permit, have tried to catch a glimpse of the skittle alley and of a
light-colored kirtle gleaming among the trees. But as it was he caught
the older man's stern eyes fixed reprovingly upon him, he desisted from
his work of dusting and polishing, and, looking up to the heavy
oak-beam above him, he said with becoming fervor:
"Lord! how beautifully thou dost speak, Master Busy!"
"Get on with thy work, Master Courage," retorted the other relentlessly,
"and mix not thine unruly talk with the wise sayings of thy betters."
"My work is done, Master."
"Go fetch the pasties then, the quality will be in directly," rejoined the
other peremptorily, throwing a scrutinizing look at the table, whereon a
somewhat meager collation of cherries, raspberries and gooseberries
and a more generous bowl of sack-posset had been arranged by
Mistress Charity and Master Courage under his own supervision.
"Doubtless, doubtless," here interposed the young maid somewhat
hurriedly, desirous perhaps of distracting the grave butler's attention
from the mischievous oglings of the lad as he went out of the room, "as
you remark--hem--as thou remarkest, this place of service is none to the
liking of such as ... thee ..."
She threw him a coy glance from beneath well-grown lashes, which
caused the saintly man to pass his tongue over his lips, an action which
of a surety had not the desire for spiritual glory for its mainspring. With
dainty hands Mistress Charity busied herself with the delicacies upon
the table. She adjusted a gooseberry which seemed inclined to tumble,
heaped up the currants into more graceful pyramids. Womanlike, whilst
her eyes apparently followed the motions of her hands they
nevertheless took stock of Master Hymn-of-Praise's attitude with regard
to herself.
She knew that in defiance of my Lord Protector and all his Puritans she

was looking her best this afternoon: though her kirtle was as threadbare
as Master Courage's breeches it was nevertheless just short enough to
display to great advantage her neatly turned ankle and well-arched foot
on which the thick stockings--well-darned--and shabby shoes sat not at
all amiss.
Her kerchief was neatly folded, white and slightly starched, her cuffs
immaculately and primly turned back just above her round elbow and
shapely arm.
On the whole Mistress Charity was pleased with her own appearance.
Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse and the mistress were seeing company this
afternoon, and the neighboring Kentish squires who had come to play
skittles and to drink sack-posset might easily find a less welcome sight
than that of the serving maid at Acol Court.
"As for myself," now resumed Mistress Charity, after a slight pause,
during which she had felt Master Busy's admiring gaze fixed
persistently upon her, "as for myself,