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The vile smell which had greeted us outside was very much worse within the chamber, and arose apparently from the fumes of the boiling, bubbling contents of the brazen pot. 'Ye behold in me, said our host, bowing courteously to us, 'the last of an ancient family. I am Sir Jacob Clancing of Snellaby Hall.
He then laid a white cloth upon the table, and taking from a cupboard a dish of cold trout and a large meat pasty, he placed them upon it, and invited us to draw up our settles and set to work. 'I would that I had more toothsome fare to offer ye, said he. 'Were we at Snellaby Hall, ye should not be put off in this scurvy fashion, I promise ye.
"Sir Jacob Glancing, late of Snellaby Hall, sends greeting and a pledge of affection. Carry out the good work. A hundred more such ingots await you when you have crossed Salisbury Plain." Bravely promised, Sir Jacob! I would that you had sent them. Well, gentlemen, ye see how support and tokens of goodwill come pouring in upon us. Is not the tide upon the turn?
'Thanks to good Sir Jacob Clancing, once of Snellaby Hall and now of Salisbury Plain, their rapiers did no more than scratch my plate of proof. But how is it with the maid? 'The maid? said I. 'Aye, it was to save her that I drew. She was beset by these night walkers. See, she rises! They threw her down when I set upon them.
For where now is the noble castle of Snellaby, and where those glades and woods amidst which the Clancings have grown up, and lived and died, ere ever Norman William set his foot on English soil? A man of trade a man who, by the sweat of his half-starved workers, had laid by ill-gotten wealth, is now the owner of all that fair property.
"Ah," said he, greeting me with the cordiality which he could assume so well, "you are, if I mistake not, Sir Jasper Killigrew?" "Nay, your Majesty," I answered, "I am Sir Jacob Clancing, formerly of Snellaby Hall, in Staffordshire;" and with that I reminded him of Worcester fight and of many passages which had occurred to us in common. "Od's fish!" he cried, "how could I be so forgetful!
And how are all at Snellaby?" I then explained to him that the Hall had passed out of my hands, and told him in a few words the state to which I had been reduced. His face clouded over and his manner chilled to me at once. "They are all on to me for money and for places," he said, "and truly the Commons are so niggardly to me that I can scarce be generous to others.