Silence fell on the company, and the
chapman who had been searching amongst his goods for something
wherewith to pay his hospitality, was hastily putting them back,
when the man, looking up, caught sight of a bundle of oaten pipes
among the miscellaneous wares. He plucked one to him, and in a
moment the air was full of tender liquid notes--a thrush's
roundelay. Then a blackbird called and his mate answered; a cuckoo
cried the spring-song; a linnet mourned with lifting cadence; a
nightingale poured forth her deathless love.
Mine host came in with a dish piled high and a stoop of mead; the
man threw the pipe from him with a rough oath and fell to
ravenously on the victuals. He held his head low and ate brutishly
amid dead silence; then he looked up and cursed at them for their
sorry mood.
"What! Hugh pipes and never a word of thanks nor a jest? Damn you
all for dull dogs!"
The blind friar rose and fixed his withered eyes on the man's
dreadful face.
"Piping Hugh of Mildenhall," he said, and at his voice the man
leapt to his feet and thrust his arm out as if for protection.
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