"That is to be seen yet."
I looked at him, for his voice was strange, and I saw that he seemed to
have the same puzzled look in his eyes as he had last night when we came
first into the city. I asked if anything was amiss.
"Nothing," he said; "but this is a place of dreams. I think that I shall
wake presently in Grimsby."
We walked on, and past the straggling houses outside the stockade, and
so into the fields; and little by little he told me what was troubling him.
Berthun the steward had said nothing until the palace was reached, and
had led him to the great servants' hall, and there had bidden him set
down his load and rest. Then he had asked if he would like to see the
place, and of course Havelok had said that he would, wondering at the
same time if this was all the pay that the porters got. So he was shown
the king's hall, and the arms on the wall, and the high seat, and the
king's own chamber, and many more things, and all the while they seemed
nothing strange to Havelok.
"This Berthun watched me as a cat watches a mouse all the while," he
said, "and at last he asked if I had ever seen a king's house before. I
told him that I had a dream palace which had all these things, but was
not the same. And at that he smiled and asked my name. 'Curan,' I said,
of course; and at that he smiled yet more, in a way that seemed to say
that he did not believe me.
Pages:
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129