Take thou a friar's gown from our chest of strange garments, and don the same, and I will stop the first
beggar I meet and change clothes with him.
Then Ulysses said, "Sir, I do not want to stay here; a
beggar can always do better in town than country, for any one who likes can give him something.
But it is the fault of this gadding up and down Hind that a king's widow must jostle all the scum of the land, and be made a mock by
beggars.'
Let's go after him." And she led him out of the room, unnoticed by the rest of the party, who were wholly absorbed in watching the old
Beggar.
"But I ain't no
beggar!" he added, with sudden spirit.
"Especially nowadays," answered the voluntary
beggar: "at present, that is to say, when everything low hath become rebellious and exclusive and haughty in its manner--in the manner of the populace.
Promptly afterwards, fresh sounds of astonishment arose; the window of the captain's room was thrown open with a slam and a jingle of broken glass, and a man leaned out into the moonlight, head and shoulders, and addressed the blind
beggar on the road below him.
Gondy looked at the spot indicated and perceived a
beggar seated in a chair and leaning against one of the moldings; a little basin was near him and he held a holy water brush in his hand.
I approached the
beggar in question, and handed him the coin.
"The
beggar! the
beggar!" yelled the crowd; "another bull for the
beggar!" In truth his shaft was nearer the center than any of the others.
Of what use would my alms be if I treated you so ill?" And as he spoke he tried to loosen the grasp of the blind
beggar.
