man striding along beside him like a stork.

"Why do you dub me Knight?" he asked, his eyes searching the face of the
old man.

"Why shouldna aw call thee Knight if the King calls thee Knight? It is
the dooty of a common man to call thee Sir John, and tak off his hat at
saying o' it." His hat came off, and he nodded in such an odd way that
Enderby burst out into a good honest laugh. "Dooth tha rememba little Tom
Dowsby that went hoonting wi' thee when tha wert not yet come to age?"
continued the stilt-walker. "Doost tha rememba when, for a jest, thee and
me stopped the lord bishop, tha own uncle, in the highway at midnight,
and took his poorse from him, and the rich gold chain from his neck? And
doost tha rememba that tha would have his apron too, for tha said that if
it kept a bishop clean, wouldna it keep highwaymen clean, whose work was
not so clean as a bishop's? Sir John Enderby, aw loove thee better than
the King, an' aw loove thee better than my Lord Rippin'dale-ay, theere's
a sour heart in a goodly body!"

John Enderby reined up his horse and looked the stilt-walker in the face.

"Are you little Tom Dowsby?" exclaimed he. "Are you that scamp?" He
laughed all at once as though he had not a trouble in the world. "And do
you keep up your evil practices? Do you still waylay bishops?"

"If aw confessed to Heaven or man, aw would confess to thee, Sir John
Enderby; but aw'll confess nowt."

"And how know you that I am Sir John Enderby?"