"And," spake Sir Benedict, stroking his square chin, "there is a fear can be quelled but by ridicule, so may thy wit, sir archer, avail more than our wisdoman thou canst make these pale-cheeked townsfolk laugh indeed.

Their lives were no more valuable than those of thousands of their fellow townsfolk who in Rheims were carrying on the daily routine.

Indignation against the inhabitants of the neighboring town is what has torn us from our morning dreams, the greedy townsfolk, by whom, on every previous occasion, we have found our meadow rifled before we could reach it.

The party was five in number, consisting of the bride and bridegroom, a rosy, middle-aged peasant woman, evidently the mother of the bride, and an elderly couple who looked like humble townsfolk, and were probably related to one or other of the newly-married pair.

But it did not, and it could not, also conciliate the lesser townsfolk and the habitants.

The prudent townsfolk dared not utter any names and many mothers pinched their daughters for letting slip expressions that might compromise them.

" So saying, Orson brought them to a house beside the wall, wherein, upon a pallet, the white friar lay with Jenkyn beside him, and the white-haired Reeve and many other of the sturdy townsfolk about him.