tongue."

"Is not he the son of one of your wealthy Englishmen?" asked the
one-eyed Squire, carelessly.

"Ha! Why should you think so?" said Gaston, turning sharply;
"because he shows so much good nurture?"

"Because his brains are grown fat with devouring his father's
beeves, fare on which you seem to thrive, le Maure," said the
one-eyed, "though you were not wont to like English beef and
English discipline better than Gascon wine and Gascon freedom.
I begin to think that the cub of the Black Wolf of the Pyrenees
is settling down into a tame English house-dog."

"He has teeth and claws at your service," replied Gaston.

"Ay?" said the Squire interrogatively; then, changing his tone, "But
tell me honestly, Gaston, repent you not of having taken service with
gallant Sir Perduccas?"

"Why, you have left him yourself."

"Yes, because we had sharp words on the spoil of a Navarrese
village. My present leader, Sir William Felton, is as free and
easy as d'Albret, or Aymerigot Marcel himself. And is not yon
ungainly varlet the hope of some rich English house?"

"I must see their hopes meet with no downfall," said Gaston, walking
away, and muttering to himself. "A plague upon it! To train two