The
little boy cried on parting with his kind friends, and Margary cried
too.
"I prithee, pretty Margary, do not forget me," said he.
And she promised she never would, and gave him a sprig of rosemary out
of her garden to wear for a breastknot.
The villagers were greatly mortified when they discovered the mistake
they had made. However, the oldest woman always maintained that her
not having her spectacles on, when she met the stranger the second
time, was the reason of her not seeing that he loved butter; and the
schoolmaster gave his poetical abstraction for an excuse. Mine host
of the "Boar's Head" fairly tore his hair, and flung the pewter
porringer, which he had thrown after the stranger and his dog, into
the well. After that he was very careful how he turned away strangers
because of their appearance. Generally he sent for the oldest woman to
put her spectacles on, and try the buttercup test. Then, if she
said they loved butter and were Lindsays, they were taken in and
entertained royally. She generally did say they loved butter--she
was so afraid of making a mistake the second time, herself; so the
village-inn got to be a regular refuge for beggars, and they called it
amongst themselves the "Beggars' Rest," instead of the "Boar's Head."
As for Margary, she grew up to be the pride of the village; and in
time, Lord Lindsay's son, who had always kept the sprig of rosemary,
came and married her.
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