hy
dirk with thee?" and the lad answered that he had both sword and dagger.

"Not that there is any danger," quoth the earl, "but that thou mayest
feel easy."

But the lad said, "There is danger, as I have told thee; and thou art
putting thy life in jeopardy." At this Lord Denbeigh only laughed; but
as they went out into the street I marked that he kept the lad close at
his side, almost as a mother keeps a child.

The night was still and cold, and the sky full of little white clouds
that lapped the one over the other, like shells on a seashore. Now and
again the moon would strike through, in a long, bright ray, that seemed
like a keen blade or lance severing the misty air. The three went on and
on, through many winding ways, and still I followed, for I knew not into
what danger the lad might be hastening.

All at once, in a dark turning, there came the clang of swords and a
rushing and scuffling, but no cry of any kind; and methought the silence
was more hideous than sound. Stiff as were my old joints with disuse, I
drew my sword and lay about me lustily, striving to get between the
villains and my young master (which is no credit to me, as I was so
wrought with rage that I verily believe I would have no more felt the
thrust of a rapier than Marian's housewife the prick of a needle). But
there was no method in aught, neither could anything be seen; for the
moon had withdrawn behind the clouds, and we seemed to be fighting
underneath clear water, so pale and ghastly was the light shed about us
from the pale clouds. And as I struck out with my sword I saw a fellow
in a mask close with Lord Denbeigh, lifting a dagger high in his hand,
while another rascal pinned the earl's hands to his sides. And even as I
looked, the lad leaped between, and the thin knife went deep into his
breast. At the same time there was a louder clash of swords, and a
thudding of men's bodies together, and the masked wretches turned about
and did take to their heels with a good will. So I sheathed my sword and
ran forward.

Lord Denbeigh and his friend were bending over the lad, who lay
out-stretched between them, with his white face turned up to the white
sky, looking like the face of a dead man at the bottom of a clear pool.
Then could I not withhold my grief, but cried aloud, "My master, my
master!" and tried to feel with my trembling old hands for the wound.

Then said the earl, "Not here! I will carry him to a place of safety."
And he lif