"We are as Heaven pleases, dear." He paused for a moment, then
suddenly remembering the silver coin which he had confiscated from
the king, he dipped his fingers into his pouch and produced it.
"Here is something for you, mammy," he said, and as the old woman,
with a faint flush on her worn cheeks, seemed about to protest, he
insisted. "Oh, yes. Take it, take it. It was honestly come by, and
you will spend it more honestly than I should." He forced the coin
into her lean, brown hand, and added, "Now run away, mammy, and pray
yourself to sleep, You shall see me soon, I promise you."
He led her gently across the tavern floor to the door, which he
opened for her. As she turned to go, she looked up to him and
repeated two lines of his prayer:
"Woman to woman, make me bold In thy belief to live and die."
As the door closed and Villon turned to come back to his seat, Jehan
le Loup, who had been eyeing him and who was eager to pay off the
score of his cracked crown, rose to his feet, dragging Isabeau with
him, and barred his passage.
"Kiss a young mouth for a change," he said, and thrust the girl
against the poet.
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