With whom does he talk?"
"None come to seek him, lord, except one of the housecarls--the big
man to whom you spoke tonight. Seldom does he go into the town, and then
only the porters seem to know him, for he was among them, as a stranger,
when I met him first."
"A big man will always make an acquaintance with another," Alsi said,
"and the porters are the lowest in the place. One may be sure that he
has left his friends in some starving village in the marsh, and has none
here. That will do, Berthun. Take care of him, for I may have use for
him. But next time you hire a man, use your wits to learn somewhat of
him, if it is too much trouble to ask."
So Berthun was dismissed, and went out in a bad temper with himself. Yet
he knew that he would have been laughed at for a fool if he had said
that he thought Curan more than he seemed.
Now Alsi was alone, and he fell to thought again. By-and-by it was plain
to be understood what his thoughts had been, and they were bad. And
after he had slept on them they were no better, seeing what came of
them. But I think that he was pleased to find that Havelok was, as he
thought, a Welsh marshman, and well-nigh friendless, for so he would be
the more ready to do what he was bidden; though, indeed, there seemed
little doubt that the plan Alsi made for himself would find no stumbling
block in Curan, if it might meet with a check elsewhere.
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