Peter's penny."

"And leave me to knock at the gate, and never a doit to pay the porter?"

"Thou shouldst cry and howl till doomsday, though my pouch had the
keeping of a whole congregation of angels.

"Keep out o' my way, cub--unlicked brute!" cried the infuriate Ralph;
"keep back, I say, or I may send thee first on thine errand to St Peter.
Take that, knave, and"--

But the malicious hunchback stepped aside, and the blow, aimed with a
hearty curse at this provoking lump of deformity, fell with a murderous
force upon a writhen stem, which bore witness to the willing disposition
with which the stroke was dealt. Gregory was laughing and mocking all
the while at the impotent wrath of his companion.

"A groat's worth for a penny, I'm not yet boun' for St Peter's blessing,
though, old crump-face!" cried the learing impertinent, one thumb
between his teeth, and the little finger thrust out in its most
expressive form of derision and contempt.

"Hush--softly, prithee," said the offended party, his anger all at once
under the influence of a more powerful feeling. He stood still, in the
attitude of listening, earnestly bending forward with great solicitude
and attention.

He pointed to some object just visible through the arches of the wood,
in the dim twilight.

"There is the grey man o' the mine again, as I live, Gregory; we'd best
turn back, for our companions are gone out of hearing." The terrified
rustic was preparing for immediate flight, but Gregory caught him by the
belt.

"How now! stand to thy ground, man," said he; "I've had speech at him
not long ago. We came upon one another suddenly, to be sure, and I could
not well escape, so I stood still. He did the same, shook his pale and
saintly face, and, with a wave o' the hand, bade me pass on."

"But look thee," replied the other, "I'm bodily certain he walks without
a shadow at his tail. See at that big tree there; why, the boughs bend
before he touches 'em, like as they were stricken wi' the wind. I
declare if the very trees don't step aside as if they're afraid of him.
I'll not tarry here, good man."

Disengaging himself from the other's gripe, Ralph ran through the wood
in an opposite direction, and was soon out of sight. A loud shout from
Gregory followed him as he fled, which only served to quicken his speed;
and the hunchback was left alone. The figure which was the moving cause
of this cowardly apprehension almost immediately disappeared behind a
pr