"Much better," observed Joungevello, the minstrel; "I shall write a
canzonet in her praise, and sing it before the king."
"And get flouted for thy pains by the Lady Anne," said Kit Coo.
"The damsel is not so comely as I expected to find her," observed
Amice Lovekyn, one of the serving-women, to Hector Cutbeard, the
clerk of the kitchen.
"Why, if you come to that, she is not to be compared to you, pretty
Amice," said Cutbeard, who was a red-nosed, red-faced fellow, with a
twinkling merry eye.
"Nay, I meant not that," replied Amice, retreating.
"Excuse my getting up to receive you, fair mistress," cried Simon
Quanden, who seemed fixed to his chair; "I have been bustling about all
day, and am sore fatigued--sore fatigued. But will you not take
something? A sugared cate, and a glass of hypocras jelly, or a slice of
capon? Go to the damsel, dame, and prevail on her to eat."
That will I," replied Deborah. "What shall it be,sweetheart? We have a
well-stored larder here. You have only to ask and have."
"I thank you, but Jam in want of nothing," replied Mabel.
"Nay, that is against all rule, sweetheart," said Deborah; no one enters
the king's kitchen without tasting his royal cheer.
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