Master Sorel had invited him to become his guest at a very elaborate
ornamental festival meal in honour of the great holiday, at which
were to be present several wealthy citizens with their wives and
families, old connections of the Sorel family. Ebbo had resolved
upon treating them with courteous reserve and distance; but he was
surprised to find his cousin of Wildschloss comporting himself among
the burgomasters and their dames as freely as though they had been
his equals, and to see that they took such demeanour as perfectly
natural. Quick to perceive, the boy gathered that the gulf between
noble and burgher was so great that no intimacy could bridge it over,
no reserve widen it, and that his own bashful hauteur was almost a
sign that he knew that the gulf had been passed by his own parents;
but shame and consciousness did not enable him to alter his manner
but rather added to its stiffness.
"The Junker is like an Englishman," said Sir Kasimir, who had met
many of the exiles of the Roses at the court of Mary of Burgundy; and
then he turned to discuss with the guildmasters the interruption to
trade caused by Flemish jealousies.
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