When the knight left his chamber on the next morning, he did not feel very well. His eyes were bloodshot from crying for a long time, and then he had fallen asleep on the floor in front of his bed, so now his whole body ached. As he made his way down to the Great Hall, he was, understandably, not in a particularly good mood, although his appearance helped him to continue what he had started last night. The sheriff took just one look at him and was immediately convinced that he had indeed been drinking the day before.
"What are you up to today?" he inquired with false friendliness in his voice. But then he already carried on without waiting to see if the knight would answer him. "You don't look very well this morning. You are not ill, are you? In that case, I'd rather you didn't come near me."
"I'm fine", Gisburne replied to him in a rough voice and poured himself a cup of wine, which he also emptied immediately. "I will set out to visit the villages in a moment." He pretended that he had not claimed to have already done just that last night. Then he turned and left the hall without waiting to see if the sheriff had anything to say about it. Nor did he turn around when de Rainault yelled after him. Instead, he hurried to get to the stables, where he ordered the stable hands to hurry up and saddle his stallion. Before the sheriff could send someone after him to retrieve him, he had already vanished from the castle. The knight was aware, however, that he would not be so lucky the next time.
When he returned to the castle in the evening, he again stank of ale, just as he had the day before. This time the sheriff couldn't hold back any longer and he was busy yelling at his steward for quite a while and in the end, he also threw a full goblet of wine at him. However, since the knight did not really react to this tantrum, the sheriff threw him out of the hall without giving him the opportunity to participate in the evening meal. Fitz Edgar had remained in the background all the time keeping quiet, but not quite succeeding in not grinning after all, but fortunately for him, de Rainault hadn't noticed any of this. This was, of course, due to the fact that he had been fully focused on his steward, even as the latter was already striding with unsteady steps towards the exit, struggling desperately to keep himself upright. What the sheriff couldn't see was the steward's effort not to grin.
Gisburne did not mind being excluded from the evening meal. He knew the sheriff, and so had anticipated such a situation and had already had something to eat. Now he wanted to do no more than retire to his chamber before the sheriff might get the idea of calling him back. While he reeled through the hallways - he didn't want any of the servants to tell on inquiry that Gisburne had seemed sober - he thought about whether the sheriff had gone to see his prisoner that day and then discovered that he had disappeared. In any case, this would explain why he had immediately started yelling at him. That was just fine with Gisburne. The sooner he could get the sheriff to relieve him of his duties, the better it would be. After all, in the last few days he had noticed that he had not felt comfortable in the castle for a long time. Until now, he had just not wanted to admit this to himself, as he could not have done anything about his situation.
He entered his chamber, put the latch in place and then occupied himself with the same activities as he had done the night before - or as he had done every evening when he returned to the castle. Certain routines in the life of a soldier did not vary under any circumstances. But while he was cleaning his chain mail, he could not avoid reflecting again on what had happened the previous night. He asked himself whether he had been dreaming or not. On the one hand, he was well aware that he could have bitten himself, but on the other hand, he realized that he wished it had not been a dream. Besides, he also wished that Loxley would come to visit him again that night. Was this perhaps a sign that he was going mad. In that case, he could be of no help to the earl, but with as little luck as he had had in his life so far, it would not surprise him. He would be very sorry about this, however, especially on Huntingdon's account.
Then, as he lay down in bed, he vowed not to be alarmed this time should he again be awakened in the middle of the night by Loxley. He found this intention somehow reassuring, and it helped him to fall asleep quickly. But he was not disturbed during that night, which made him feel very sorry when he realized it the next morning. This was mainly on account of the fact that he was now convinced that he had only dreamed the visit the night before.
When he finally found his way to the Great Hall, he noticed that the sheriff's mood had deteriorated even further. That day, de Rainault obviously had no intention of letting him out of the castle. However, Gisburne had already expected this, especially after the sheriff's outburst last night, so he was now able to sit down at the table with his mind at ease. Taking his time, he helped himself to some of the food, not only just because he was actually hungry, but also because he couldn't miss the fact that he was pissing off the sheriff by doing so.
"Don't you think you've stuffed yourself enough, Gisburne?" the sheriff demanded to know from him after a time.
The other looked blankly at him. "My Lord?"
"You've been acting even more idiotic than usual these last few days!"
"My Lord!" the knight got indignant. "I will not be insulted by you either."
De Rainault leapt up angrily and threw a wine goblet at his steward. The latter managed to dodge the cup, but not its contents. "If that's what I want to do", screeched the sheriff, "I'll insult you as often as I like. And there's nothing you can do about it."
Gisburne grabbed his own goblet and refilled it with wine. He didn't actually intend to get drunk, but he had to respond to de Rainault's outburst or the latter would realize something was wrong. The knight downed the contents of the goblet and filled it right back up, emptying it again immediately.
"Don't you dare get drunk, Gisburne!" the sheriff raged.
Gisburne turned slowly to stare at the sheriff. Then he took the jug of wine and very slowly refilled his goblet. All the while he kept his eyes on the sheriff, who had already turned red from being so furious.
"If you drink this wine, you will have been my steward for the longest time, Gisburne. I warn you, I will dismiss you from my service immediately and throw you out of the castle." De Rainault's voice cracked.
"You cannot do that, my Lord. You need me. You have needed me all these years. You will not kick me out." Could he bait the man with this, or might this have the opposite effect? He didn't know, but he had to take the risk. Therefore, he downed the contents of the wine goblet.
De Rainault stared at him, too stunned - but probably also too enraged - to say anything right away.
Finally, he did manage to pull himself together to the point where he was able to speak again. "That's it now, Gisburne. You have been my steward for the longest time. Once fitz Edgar is back in the castle, he will take over your post. By then you should have left Nottingham or I will have him throw you into the dungeon."
The knight rose and immediately found that he did not have to pretend to be unsteady on his feet at that moment. The wine he had just downed ensured that he would now actually have to hold onto the table if he didn't want to find himself on the floor. It took him a moment before he was able to leave the hall.
"You'll be sorry for this, de Rainault", he brought out, trying to give the appearance of being incensed. The sheriff would certainly notice if he didn't react appropriately to his eviction, though in reality he had to stifle a grin. After all, he hadn't expected to succeed so quickly, and now he had to be careful not to fall out of character. Lest something else go wrong, he turned carefully and then left the hall as quickly as his state allowed.
"No way, Gisburne!" the sheriff called after him. "I won't take you in again this time if you come crawling back to me." He laughed, but he couldn't help it coming off as a wee bit hysterical.