hey made the following couplet:--

Cap on--cap and knee!
Cap off--who is he?

It was the same that the dwarf had repeated to him in the river. What
did it mean? The dwarf had said it was full of wisdom; but Raymond had
never been much in the way of wisdom, and perhaps might fail to
recognise it when he saw it. He could not even be sure whether it were
better wisdom to put the cap on again or to keep it off. He was
inclined to keep it off. His head felt much clearer so; he was able to
think lovingly of Rosamund once more, and he longed to see her again.
What if some harm came to her in his absence? Might not that half of
the spade guinea give the dwarf some power over her? He rose to his
feet full of anxiety, and looked back towards Honeymead. Through a
break in the clouds the sun lit up the little village; the cottages
showed clearly in the warm light; and amongst them, with its thatched
and gabled roof, and with the great lime-trees standing over it, was
the Brindled Cow. Rosamund was there, no doubt, wondering where her
Raymond was. Now, perhaps, the dwarf was coming in, with the
half-guinea round his neck. What if he were to assert that he was the
true Raymond, showing the token in proof thereof? When this thought
came into Raymond's mind he started up from the milestone, resolved to
go back to Honeymead without the loss of an instant. How blind and
stupid he had been! Was not Rosamund more precious than a kingdom, or
than all the money in the Bank of England? Of course she was!

But just as Raymond's eyes were sparkling with good resolutions, and
one foot advanced on the way back to the Brindled Cow, he heard a
flourish of trumpets, hautboys, and cymbals, and, behold! a splendid
cavalcade advancing towards him on the way to London. In front rode a
company of knights in glittering armour; then came a long array of
men-at-arms, squires, and attendants, gorgeously attired; then more
knights, riding two-and-two; then a body of courtiers, and in the
midst of these, borne upon the shoulders of some of them, a platform
draped in cloth of gold. Upon the platform was a chair of carved
ivory, and in the chair sat a man with a long white beard falling over
his breast, and an ermine mantle on his shoulders. One foot rested on
a golden footstool, thereby showing a fine silk stocking with
embroidered clocks. The sight of that stocking made Raymond's heart
beat.

By this time the vanguard of knights had reached the milest