"
"And if they be lions?"
"Nay, fair sir, I am not like to meet several lions in Woolmer
Forest."
"Aye, lad, but there are other forests besides Woolmer, and other
lands besides England, and who can tell how far afield such a
knight errant as Nigel of Tilford may go, when he sees worship to
be won? We will say that you were in the deserts of Nubia, and
that afterward at the court of the great Sultan you wished to say
that you had seen several lions, which is the first beast of the
chase, being the king of all animals. How then would you say it?"
Nigel scratched his head. "Surely, fair sir, I would be content
to say that I had seen a number of lions, if indeed I could say
aught after so wondrous an adventure."
"Nay, Nigel, a huntsman would have said that he had seen a pride
of lions, and so proved that he knew the language of the chase.
Now had it been boars instead of lions?"
"One says a singular of boars."
"And if they be swine?"
"Surely it is a herd of swine."
"Nay, nay, lad, it is indeed sad to see how little you know. Your
hands, Nigel, were always better than your head. No man of gentle
birth would speak of a herd of swine; that is the peasant speech.
If you drive them it is a herd. If you hunt them it is other.
What call you them, then, Edith?"
"Nay, I know not," said the girl listlessly. A crumpled note
brought in by a varlet was clinched in her right hand and her blue
eyes looked afar into the deep shadows of the roof.
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