"
William swore yet more. Ivo Taillebois was a butcher and a churl.
"Call me not butcher and churl too often, Lord King, ere thou hast found
whether thou needest me or not. Rough I may be, false was I never."
"That thou wert not," said William, who needed Taillebois much, and feared
him somewhat; and remarked something meaning in his voice, which made him
calm himself, diplomat as he was, instantly. "But burn Torfrida thou shalt
not."
"Well, I care not. I have seen a woman burnt ere now, and had no fancy for
the screeching. Beside, they say she is a very fair dame, and has a fair
daughter, too, coming on, and she may very well make a wife for a Norman."
"Marry her thyself."
"I shall have to kill Hereward first."
"Then do it, and I will give thee his lands."
"I may have to kill others before Hereward."
"You may?"
And so the matter dropped. But William caught Ivo alone after an hour, and
asked him what he meant.
"No pay, no play. Lord King, I have served thee well, rough and smooth."
"Thou hast, and hast been well paid. But if I have said aught hasty--"
"Pish, Majesty. I am a plain-spoken man, and like a plain-spoken master.
But, instead of marrying Torfrida or her daughter, I have more mind to her
niece, who is younger, and has no Hereward to be killed first,"
"Her niece? Who?"
"Lucia, as we call her,--Edwin and Morcar's sister,--Hereward's niece,
Torfrida's niece.
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