The man soon came up to me, but paid
me no more heed than throwing me a nod. He was clad in armour of
mingled steel and leather, a sword girt to his side, and over his
shoulder a long-handled bill-hook.
His armour was fantastic in form and well wrought; but by this time I
was quite used to the strangeness of him, and merely muttered to
myself, "He is coming to summon the squire to the leet;" so I turned
toward the village in good earnest. Nor, again, was I surprised at my
own garments, although I might well have been from their unwontedness.
I was dressed in a black cloth gown reaching to my ankles, neatly
embroidered about the collar and cuffs, with wide sleeves gathered in
at the wrists; a hood with a sort of bag hanging down from it was on
my head, a broad red leather girdle round my waist, on one side of
which hung a pouch embroidered very prettily and a case made of hard
leather chased with a hunting scene, which I knew to be a pen and ink
case; on the other side a small sheath-knife, only an arm in case of
dire necessity.
Well, I came into the village, where I did not see (nor by this time
expected to see) a single modern building, although many of them were
nearly new, notably the church, which was large, and quite ravished my
heart with its extreme beauty, elegance, and fitness.
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