第45章 CHAPTER VIII(3)

A jovial knight he is,and hath loved hospitality and open housekeeping more than the present fashion,which lays as much gold lace on the seams of a doublet as would feed a dozen of tall fellows with beef and ale for a twelvemonth,and let them have their evening at the alehouse once a week,to do good to the publican.If you have seen Will Badger,mine host,said Tressilian,you have heard enough of Sir Hugh Robsart;and therefore I will but say,that the hospitality you boast of hath proved somewhat detrimental to the estate of his family,which is perhaps of the less consequence,as he has but one daughter to whom to bequeath it.And here begins my share in the tale.Upon my father's death,now several years since,the good Sir Hugh would willingly have made me his constant companion.There was a time,however,at which I felt the kind knight's excessive love for field-sports detained me from studies,by which I might have profited more;but I ceased to regret the leisure which gratitude and hereditary friendship compelled me to bestow on these rural avocations.The exquisite beauty of Mistress Amy Robsart,as she grew up from childhood to woman,could not escape one whom circumstances obliged to be so constantly in her company--I loved her,in short,mine host,and her father saw it.And crossed your true loves,no doubt?said mine host.It is the way in all such cases;and I judge it must have been so in your instance,from the heavy sigh you uttered even now.The case was different,mine host.My suit was highly approved by the generous Sir Hugh Robsart;it was his daughter who was cold to my passion.She was the more dangerous enemy of the two,said the innkeeper.I fear me your suit proved a cold one.She yielded me her esteem,said Tressilian,and seemed not unwilling that I should hope it might ripen into a warmer passion.There was a contract of future marriage executed betwixt us,upon her father's intercession;but to comply with her anxious request,the execution was deferred for a twelvemonth.During this period,Richard Varney appeared in the country,and,availing himself of some distant family connection with Sir Hugh Robsart,spent much of his time in his company,until,at length,he almost lived in the family.That could bode no good to the place he honoured with his residence,said Gosling.