Chapter 20

I hope you'll give me cause to think you noble.
And do me right with your sword, sir, as becomes
One gentleman of honour to another;

All this is fair, sir--let us make no days on't,
I'll lead your way.

LOVE'S PILGRIMAGE.


The look and sign of warning which the Sub-Prior gave to Halbert
Glendinning as they parted, went to his heart; for although he had
profited much less than Edward by the good man's instructions, he had
a sincere reverence for his person; and even the short time he had for
deliberation tended to show him he was embarked in a perilous
adventure. The nature of the provocation which he had given to Sir
Piercie Shafton he could not even conjecture; but he saw that it was
of a mortal quality, and he was now to abide the consequences.

That he might not force these consequences forward by any premature
renewal of their quarrel, he resolved to walk apart for an hour, and
consider on what terms he was to meet this haughty foreigner. The time
seemed propitious for his doing so without having the appearance of
wilfully shunning the stranger, as all the members of the little
household were dispersing either to perform such tasks as had been
interrupted by the arrival of the dignitaries, or to put in order what
had been deranged by their visit.

Leaving the tower, therefore, and descending, unobserved as he
thought, the knoll on which it stood, Halbert gained the little piece
of level ground which extended betwixt the descent of the hill, and
the first sweep made by the brook after washing the foot of the
eminence on which the tower was situated, where a few straggling birch
and oak-trees served to secure him from observation. But scarcely had
he reached the spot, when he was surprised to feel a smart tap upon
the shoulder, and, turning around, he perceived he had been closely
followed by Sir Piercie Shafton. When, whether from our state of
animal spirits, want of confidence in the justice of our cause, or any
other motive, our own courage happens to be in a wavering condition,
nothing tends so much altogether to disconcert us, as a great
appearance of promptitude on the part of our antagonist. Halbert
Glendinning, both morally and constitutionally intrepid, was
nevertheless somewhat troubled at seeing the stranger, whose
resentment he had provoked, appear at once before him, and with an
aspect which boded hostility. But though his heart might beat somewhat
thicker, he was too high-spirited to exhibit any external signs of
emotion.--"What is your pleasure, Sir Piercie?" he said to the English
knight, enduring without apparent discomposure all the terrors which
his antagonist had summoned into his aspect.

"What is my