THE "LOVE-BOON" I5
John thought it was time for him also to get home, for there
was a good day's work to do with the hay on the morrow, and
with a "Good-night" to his friends set off quickly. He soon*
came to the church, which seemed very tall and new in the fast
fading light, and then, in a few minutes, he was once again at his
door. The house was dark, since for some time now their scanty
stock of rush-lights had been spent, though this was of small
moment for they were seldom to be found out of bed long after
dusk. He turned to go in, when a glance down the street showed
him Walter, the beadle, going from door to door. He knew well
what that meant, and had half feared his coming, so that he
waited only for a moment while Walter called out to him that the
lord had asked for a " love-boon " on the morrow. His own hay,
he reflected, would have to wait, and with a last look at the sky
and a hope for a few fine days, he went in and closed the
door.
The next morning saw another early start, for John knew well
the Lord Prior's officers would be on the look-out for late-
comers; and indeed, it was only a few years since they had tried
to insist on every one appearing at dawn. Though that had been
declared contrary to the custom of the manor when it had been
discussed at the Manor Court, and therefore had been quietly
dropped, nevertheless, it was still unwise to appear much later
than the neighbours. So John roused up the two boys, and Alice
as well, for on these days every one, save the housewife, had to
appear, and help with the lord's hay. As they started they soon
met many neighbours: it was a far larger party than that of
yesterday, all making their way to the lord's great meadow (for
on this manor all the Prior's pasture was in one immense field)
which lay in the little valley to the west of the village, and through
the midst of which the streamlet flowed so sweetly. Soon after
they arrived they had been divided up into groups, and placed
in different parts of the field by the reeve and the hayward, who
bustled about from place to place to see that all was well and that
work was beginning in good earnest.