"Ay," answered Dick, laughing and blushing hotly. "And, would you believe it, 'twas the King!" The landlady lifted her hands in amazement. "Eh!" she cried, as Dick proceeded to tell his adventures, "but my Lionel will have trouble for this." "No," put in Giles reassuringly. "My Lord Newcastle will not have a word to say. And if your Lionel loses his place ever, send him to me, mistress. But no heads will fall for Sir Richard Chester. He shakes his Sovereign by the hand--" "Giles, I didn't know," interrupted Dick. "'Tis all one to him," Giles proceeded. "He knows he's bound to be every man's favourite, and every lady's also, it seems," and he smiled at the landlady. Then he paid her bill several times over, with a trifle also for Susan, did she ever care to set up house-keeping, as, from something Sir Richard had said, seemed likely. Dick laughed, and the landlady bobbed curtsies and blessed his lordship's good heart. "And won't the young gentleman tell us his name?" she asked; "that we may remember him always." She looked at Dick, who thought she meant his generous companion. "This is Gi--the Earl of Lumley," he said. She curtsied again. "I recognized my lord," she said. "'Twas yourself, I meant, sir." "This is Sir Richard Chester," said Giles, as he turned Dick to the door, since he seemed unable to tear himself away. "He held a castle for His Majesty last year--" "'Twas you, Giles!" Dick interrupted. "For a week," Giles continued calmly. "And then he was lost, and we find him again now, facing a great danger for a lady's sake." "There was no danger, really," Dick said, with a flush of pride and pleasure. "You thought there was, which, I take it, amounts to the same thing." The landlady did not quite understand this speech, but as they stood together she thought they made a very pretty picture, so she held up her hands again, and said: "Bless us and save us, now, just to look at that!" Outside, Dick found Fairy; and as the pony whinnied to him, and rubbed its nose against his shoulder, the boy's conscience pricked him. "Oh, Giles," he said, wringing his hands, "I'm forgetting Cousin Dorothy! She'll be wondering, and--and--can't we start?" "Don't do that!" said Giles hurriedly, catching his hands and drawing them apart. "Here! we're all ready! Get up!" He held Dick's stirrup, and then swung himself into his own saddle. As they rode out of the yard, followed by the earl's servants, he laid his hand suddenly on the boy's. "Did they murder you often at that inn, Dickie?" he asked, in a voice that made Dick start. "Yes--I mean--no, Giles! Do you care?" Giles nodded. "Then they didn't," said Dick firmly. "And if they did, I don't care now--I don't care,--not a rush!" "Well," said Giles grimly, "you used to work your hands so when they did it; and if we pass the miserable pig-sty I'm going to break the man's neck." Dick laughed rather unsteadily.