Kings & rulers > Kenilworth > Volume 1

KENILWORTH.
Thong had no sinecure of it with our friend, af¬
ter all.”
“ Voto a dios !” exclaimed Lambourne, his pa¬
tience appearing to fail him, as he snatched his
broad slouched hat from the table and placed it
on his head, so that the shadow gave the sinister
expression of a Spanish bravo, to eyes and fea¬
tures which naturally boded nothing pleasant.
“ Harkee, my masters—all is fair among friends,
■and under the rose; and I have already permit¬
ted my worthy uncle here, and all of you, to use
your pleasure with the frolics of my nonage. But
I carry sword and dagger, my good friends, and
can use them lightly too upon occasion—I have
learned to be dangerous upon points of honour
ever since I served the Spaniard, and I would
not have you provoke me to the degree of fall¬
ing foul.”
“ Why, what would you do ?” said the clerk.
“ Ay, sir, what would you do ?” said the mer¬
cer, bustling up on the other side of the table.
“Slit your throat, and spoil your Sunday’s
quavering, Sir Clerk,” said Lambourne, fiercely ;
“ Cudgel you, my worshipful dealer in flimsy
sarsenets, into one of your own bales.”
“ Come, come,” said the host, interposing, “ I
will have no swaggering here.—Nephew, it will
become you best to show no haste to take offence;
and you, gentlemen, will do well to remember,
that if you are in an inn, still you are the inn¬
keeper’s guests, and should spare the honour of
his family.—I protest your silly broils make me
as oblivious as yourself; for yonder sits my si¬
lent guest, as I call him, who hath been my two
days inmate, and hath never spoken a word, save
to ask for his food and his reckoning—gives no
more trouble than a very peasant—pays his shot
like a prince royal—looks but at the sum total of
the reckoning, and does not know what day he