The smiles which surrounded him were of his own creation, and he participated
in the happiness he had bestowed.
The casements began to rattle in the wind, and the rain to beat upon
the windows. The wind swelled to a hurricane, and the rain dashed
like a flood against the glass. The boy retired to his little bed,
the wife trimmed the lamp, the husband heaped logs upon the fire:
Robin broached another flask; and Marian filled the baron's cup,
and sweetened Robin's by touching its edge with her lips.
"Well," said the baron, "give me a roof over my head, be it never so humble.
Your greenwood canopy is pretty and pleasant in sunshine; but if I were doomed
to live under it, I should wish it were water-tight."
"But," said Robin, "we have tents and caves for foul weather,
good store of wine and venison, and fuel in abundance."
"Ay, but," said the baron, "I like to pull off my boots of a night, which you
foresters seldom do, and to ensconce myself thereafter in a comfortable bed.
Your beech-root is over-hard for a couch, and your mossy stump is somewhat
rough for a bolster."
"Had you not dry leaves," said Robin, "with a bishop's surplice over them?
What would you have softer? And had you not an abbot's travelling cloak
for a coverlet? What would you have warmer?"
"Very true," said the baron, "but that was an indulgence to a guest, and I
dreamed all night of the sheriff of Nottingham.
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