Then the first word that the Prior said to him was “Hast thou brought my money?”

“Alas!  I have not so much as one penny upon my body,” said the Knight; whereat the Prior’s eyes sparkled.

“Now, thou art a shrewd debtor, I wot,” said he.  Then, “Sir Sheriff, I drink to thee.”

But still the Knight kneeled upon the hard stones, so the Prior turned to him again.  “What wouldst thou have?” quoth he sharply.

At these words, a slow red mounted into the Knight’s cheeks; but still he knelt.  “I would crave thy mercy,” said he.  “As thou hopest for Heaven’s mercy, show mercy to me.  Strip me not of my lands and so reduce a true knight to poverty.”

“Thy day is broken and thy lands forfeit,” said the man of law, plucking up his spirits at the Knight’s humble speech.

Quoth Sir Richard, “Thou man of law, wilt thou not befriend me in mine hour of need?”

“Nay,” said the other, “I hold with this holy Prior, who hath paid me my fees in hard gold, so that I am bounder to him.”

“Wilt thou not be my friend, Sir Sheriff?” said Sir Richard.

“Nay, ’fore Heaven,” quoth the Sheriff of Nottingham, “this is no business of mine, yet I will do what I may,” and he nudged the Prior beneath the cloth with his knee.  “Wilt thou not ease him of some of his debts, Sir Prior?”

At this the Prior smiled grimly.  “Pay me three hundred pounds, Sir Richard,” said he, “and I will give thee quittance of thy debt.”

“Thou knowest, Sir Prior, that it is as easy for me to pay four hundred pounds as three hundred,” said Sir Richard.  “But wilt thou not give me another twelvemonth to pay my debt?”

“Not another day,” said the Prior sternly.

“And is this all thou wilt do for me?” asked the Knight.

“Now, out upon thee, false knight!” cried the Prior, bursting forth in anger.  “Either pay thy debt as I have said, or release thy land and get thee gone from out my hall.”

Then Sir Richard arose to his feet.  “Thou false, lying priest!” said he in so stern a voice that the man of law shrunk affrighted, “I am no false knight, as thou knowest full well, but have even held my place in the press and the tourney.  Hast thou so little courtesy that thou wouldst see a true knight kneel for all this time, or see him come into thy hall and never offer him meat or drink?”

Then quoth the man of law in a trembling voice, “This is surely an ill way to talk of matters appertaining to business; let us be mild in speech.  What wilt thou pay this knight, Sir Prior, to give thee release of his land?”

“I would have given him two hundred pounds,” quoth the Prior, “but since he hath spoken so vilely to my teeth, not one groat over one hundred pounds will he get.”