Part 10 (2/2)
All this time the noise in the distance had continued to increase; the rureat, confused ru on the wind; and it was plain that the rout of a whole ar, like an inundation, down the road
dick stood sohway till the turn for Holywood, and now he had to change his plan But above all, he had recognised the colours of Earl Risinghaainst the rose of Lancaster Had Sir Daniel joined, and was he now a fugitive and ruined? or had he deserted to the side of York, and was he forfeit to honour? It was an ugly choice
”Coan to walk forward through the grove, with Matcha in his rear
For some time they continued to thread the forest in silence It was noing late; the sun was setting in the plain beyond Kettley; the tree-tops overhead glowed golden; but the shadows had begun to grow darker and the chill of the night to fall
”If there were anything to eat!” cried dick, suddenly, pausing as he spoke
Matchaan to weep
”Ye can weep for your own supper, but when it was to save h,” said dick, contemptuously ”Y' 'ave seven deaths upon your conscience, Master John; I'll ne'er forgive you that”
”Conscience!” cried Matcha fiercely up ”Mine! And ye have the er! And wherefore did ye slay him, the poor soul? He drew his arrow, but he let not fly; he held you in his hand, and spared you! 'Tis as brave to kill a kitten, as a man that not defends himself”
dick was struck dumb
”I slew him fair I ran me in upon his bow,” he cried
”It was a coward blow,” returned Matcham ”Y' are but a lout and bully, Master dick; ye but abuse advantages; let there coer, ill see you truckle at his boot! Ye care not for vengeance, neither--for your father's death that goes unpaid, and his poor ghost that clamoureth for justice But if there come but a poor creature in your hands that lacketh skill and strength, and would befriend you, down she shall go!”
dick was too furious to observe that ”she”
”Marry!” he cried, ”and here is news! Of any two the one will still be stronger The better man throweth the worse, and the worse is well served Ye deserve a belting, Master Matchauidance and unthankfulness to meward; and what ye deserve ye shall have”
And dick, who, even in his angriest tean to unbuckle his belt
”Here shall be your supper,” he said, grimly Matcham had stopped his tears; he was as white as a sheet, but he looked dick steadily in the face, and neverthe belt Then he paused, ee eyes and the thin, weary face of his coan to subside
”Say ye were in the wrong, then,” he said, laht Come, cruel! I be lame; I be weary; I resist not; I ne'er did thee hurt; come, beat me--coward!”
dick raised the belt at this last provocation, but Matchaether with so cruel an apprehension, that his heart failed hiain The strap fell by his side, and he stood irresolute, feeling like a fool
”A plague upon thee, shrew!” he said ”An ye be so feeble of hand, ye should keep the closer guard upon your tongue But I'll be hanged before I beat you!” and he put on his belt again ”Beat you I will not,” he continued; ”but forgive you?--never I knew ye not; ye were my master's enemy; I lent you my horse; my dinner ye have eaten; y' 'ave called me a man o' wood, a coward, and a bully Nay, by the reat thing to be weak, I trow: ye can do your worst, yet shall none punish you; ye may steal a man's weapons in the hour of need, yet ain;--y' are weak, forsooth! Nay, then, if one co at you with a lance, and crieth he is weak, ye h! Tut! fool words!”
”And yet ye beat me not,” returned Matcham
”Let be,” said dick--”let be I will instruct you Y' 'ave been ill-nurtured, ood, and, beyond all question, saved otten it; I am as thankless as thyself But, coht, ay, or to-morrow early, we had best set forward speedily”
But though dick had talked hiiven hi His violence, the recollection of the forester whom he had slain--above all, the vision of the upraised belt, were things not easily to be forgotten