... had their men, as Cicely Elliott had the old knight. One of them had even six, who one day fought a melee for her favours on an eyot before the manor windows. These men came by barge in the evenings, or rode over the flats with a spare horse to take their mistresses a-hawking after the herons in the swampy places. So that each of them had her channel by which true gossip might reach her. But Katharine had none. ... — The Fifth Queen • Ford Madox Ford
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