uffed and wiped his head.

'He pinched the child's cheek, and looked at our cattle in the flat by
the river.

"'Both fat," said he, rubbing his nose. "This is craft and cunning
such as I love. What did I tell thee when I rode away, boy?"

"'Hold the Manor or hang," said I. I had never forgotten it.

"'True. And thou hast held." He clambered from his saddle and with his
sword's point cut out a turf from the bank and gave it me where I
kneeled.' Dan looked at Una, and Una looked at Dan. 'That's seisin,'
said Puck, in a whisper.

"'Now thou art lawfully seised of the Manor, Sir Richard," said
he--'twas the first time he ever called me that--"thou and thy heirs
for ever. This must serve till the King's clerks write out thy title
on a parchment. England is all ours--if we can hold it."

"'What service shall I pay?" I asked, and I remember I was proud beyond
words.

"'Knight's fee, boy, knight's fee!" said he, hopping round his horse on
one foot. (Have I said he was little, and could not endure to be
helped to his saddle?) "Six mounted men or twelve archers thou shalt
send me whenever I call for them, and--where got you that corn?" said
he, for it was near harvest, and our corn stood well. "I have never
seen such bright straw. Send me three bags of the same seed yearly,
and furthermore, in memory of our last meeting--with the rope round thy
neck--entertain me and my men for two days of each year in the Great
Hall of thy Manor."

"'Alas!" said I, "then my Manor is already forfeit. I am under vow not
to enter the Great Hall." And I told him what I had sworn to the Lady
Aelueva.'

'And hadn't you ever been into the house since?' said Una.

'Never,' Sir Richard answered, smiling. 'I had made me a little hut of
wood up the hill, and there I did justice and slept ... De Aquila
wheeled aside, and his shield shook on his back. "No matter, boy,"
said he. "I will remit the homage for a year."'

'He meant Sir Richard needn't give him dinner there the first year,'
Puck explained.

'De Aquila stayed with me in the hut, and Hugh, who could read and
write and cast accounts, showed him the Roll of the Manor, in which
were written all the names of our fields and men, and he asked a
thousand questions touching the land, the timber, the grazing, the
mill, and the fish-ponds, and the worth of every man in the valley. But
never he named the Lady Aelueva's name, nor went he near the Great
Hall. By night he drank with