Chapter Five
Taking Hansel by the hand, Lady Eleanor led him into the great hall. The company, a dozen or so guests and officials of the castle, rose in honour of their lady, who took her seat at the head of the table, placing Hansel beside her. Several of the ladies, all finely dressed in low-cut gowns (for that was the fashion of the place), eyed him with unabashed concupiscence, while the men-folk stared at him with a jealousy which they attempted to disguise as indifference. Evidently Lady Eleanor was an object of admiration, and lust, for many of them.
Servants brought wine, and huge dishes of food. Lady Eleanor served him, putting before Hansel a plate of food such as he had never seen: pieces of roast chicken, a slice of beef, part of a roasted fish, beans and squash, salad and ev
