"Thornton"
He heard his masters summons and walked briskly to the downstairs chamber he knew his master and the lady had retired to after supper.
"Yes my lord?" he enquired, entering the room and smiling fondly at the sight of the lady sitting on the master's lap, the babe nestled in her arms. Both mother and child were sound asleep, her head resting on Robin's shoulder and his arms encircling her.
"I'm afraid I'm a little stuck Thornton." He smiled tenderly down at his sleeping wife and child "I can't move them both!"
The old servant chuckled.
"I'll take the young'un upstairs sir," he said, gently removing the infant from his mothers embrace.
"Thank-you Thornton" Robin smiled, gratefully.
The older man inclined his head to his master and left the room.
Thornton glanced down at the babe in his arms as he mounted the stairs to his master's bedchamber, and the boys crib. He did look remarkably like his father had done as a babe. He had known Robin all of his life, from a screaming new born to the present Lord of Locksley and Knighton. He couldn't imagine how the chubby toddler he remembered had grown into the man he saw now. A lord, a husband, a father. He knew that Robin had grown up a lot during the years he spent fighting in the Holy Land, perhaps he had never appreciated quite how much.
He had reached the top of the stairs and turned right to enter the master's bedchamber. Thornton nudged the door open with his foot and crossed the room to where the ornate wooden crib lay.
He shifted the sleeping babe to hold him in one arm as he moved aside the top layers of woollen blankets that lined the crib. He placed the boy down and tucked the blankets around his small body to keep the night chill at bay. The babe squirmed and screwed his face up at the sudden lack of human touch, but thankfully he did not cry. Thornton was sure that the lady (or Robin, for that matter) would not thank him for waking the child when he was, for once, blissfully quiet.
He heard the stairs creak and stood to open the door for his master.
Thornton felt another smile cross his face at the sight of Robin, gallantly carrying the still slumbering Lady Marian up the stairs to their bedchamber.
He murmured his thanks to Thornton as he passed, having to turn sideways to enter the room.
"The babe is settled sir" he informed Robin, as he gently lowered his wife onto the bed.
"Will there be anything else my lord?" Thornton asked from the doorframe.
Robin did not answer him immediately, for he was still leaning over Marian, straightening the bedclothes and placing a soft kiss on her forehead.
Since the birth of their child a few moths previously, Robin had become, if possible, even more protective of his wife, and he had doted on her. She did not always appreciate these displays of chivalry, had frequently shared an exasperated look with Thornton when Robin had been excessively affectionate and he more than once had received a sharp poke and been told sharply that she was 'not an invalid!'
"No, thank-you Thornton."
The old man inclined his head to his master.
"Goodnight my lord"
"Goodnight Thornton"