CHAPTER XXVIISaid Marpasse to Isoult:
“If the Lord had loved us he would have kept the King at Oxford until we came there to drink wine.”
And Isoult, a little woman, the colour of ivory, lithe and strong as a snake, threw a handful of sand at Dame Marpasse, and laughed.
“Since they have taken Young Simon prisoner,” she said, “there will be no chance for the like of us under the banner of the Old Earl. God grant that Simon be soon put under the sods. He would freeze all the young men in the country. God prosper the King.”
Marpasse had taken off one of her stockings, and was darning a hole in the heel, and darning it very clumsily.
“They have slaughtered the Jews in London, and the King should come south again to see after the remnant of his flock. They say his host is moving nearer the
