ick steadily in the face, and never moved. Dick took a step, swinging
the belt. Then he paused, embarrassed by the large eyes and the thin,
weary face of his companion. His courage began to subside.

"Say ye were in the wrong, then," he said, lamely.

"Nay," said Matcham, "I was in the right. 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 Matcham winced and
drew himself together with so cruel an apprehension, that his heart
failed him yet again. 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 mass! the measure is
filled, and runneth over. 'Tis a great 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 may the man not take his own again;--y'are
weak, forsooth! Nay, then, if one cometh charging at you with a lance,
and crieth he is weak, ye must let him pierce your body through! 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, methinks, and yet ye have the makings of some good, and,
beyond all question, saved me from the river. Nay, I had forgotten it; I
am as thankless as thyself. But, come, let us on. An we be for Holywood
this night, ay, or to-morrow early, we had best set forward speedily."

But though Dick had talked himself back into his usual good-humour,
Matcham had forgiven him nothing. 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.

"I will thank you, for the form's sake," said Matcham. "But, in sooth,
good Master Shelton, I had liever find my way alone. Here is a wide
wood; prithee, let each choose his path; I owe you a dinner and a
lesson. Fare ye well!"

"Nay," cried Dick, "if that be your tune, so be it, and a plague be with
you!"

Each turned aside, and they began walking off severally, with no thought