De Poininges
and his companion turned aside into a smaller chamber, where mine host
was speedily summoned for a flagon of stout liquor. This being supplied,
they addressed themselves to the wooden utensil with right goodwill; and
as the draughts began to quicken, so did the clerk's tongue not fail to
wag the faster. De Poininges adroitly shifted the discourse upon the
business of which he was in quest, whenever there was a tendency to
diverge, no rare occurrence, Thomas being somewhat loth for a while to
converse on the subject. The liquor, however, and his own garrulous
propensities, soon slipped open the budget, and scraps of intelligence
tumbled out which De Poininges did not fail to lay hold of as hints for
another line of examination.
"I reckon so, at any rate, and so said Geoffrey," replied the clerk,
after a pause, subsequent to some close question.
"Sir Thomas, the Lord of Lathom, as you may have heard, he is a
good-hearted soul, and this Margaret de la Bech was companion to his
daughter Isabel. She was ever held as a dame of good family and descent,
though a stranger in these parts. Then she was passing fair, so that
both squire and gentleman, as they looked on her, were nigh devoured
with love.
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