On reaching the armourer's they found a retainer of the Earl of Talbot awaiting them, with the message that the Lady Alice Vernon wished the attendance of Walter Fletcher, whose name she had learned from the Lord Mayor as that of the lad to whom she and her daughter owed their lives, at noon on the following day, at the residence of the Earl of Talbot.
"That is the worst of an adventure," Walter said crossly, after the retainer had departed.

"One can't have a bit of excitement without being sent for, and thanked, and stared at.

I would rather fight the best swordsman in the city than have to go down to the mansion of Earl Talbot with my cap in my hand." Geoffrey laughed.

"You must indeed have your cap in your hand, Walter; but you need not bear yourself in that spirit.

The 'prentice of a London citizen may have just as much honest pride and independence as the proudest earl at Westminster; but carry not independence too far.
Remember that if you yourself had received a great service you would be hurt if the donor refused to receive your thanks; and it would be churlish indeed were you to put on sullen looks, or to refuse to accept any present which the lady whose life you have saved may make you.