He stepped out; there was nothing else to be done. They had taken the cloak from his eyes now, and he saw presently that they were nearing a coster's barrow. They laid him in the barrow, covered him with the cloak, and put vegetable marrows and cabbages on that. They only left him a little room to breathe. "Now lie still for your life!" said the second voice. "If you stir a inch I'll lick you till you can't stand! And now you know." So he lay still, rigid with misery and despair. For neither of these voices was strange to him. He knew them both only too well. CHAPTER X THE NOBLE DEED WHEN Lord Arden and Elfrida and Edred reached the castle and found that Dickie had not come back, the children concluded that Beale had persuaded him to stay the night at the cottage. And Lord Arden thought that the children must be right. He was extremely annoyed both with Beale and with Dickie for making such an arrangement without consulting him. "It is impertinent of Beale and thoughtless of the boy," he said; "and I shall speak a word to them both in the morning." But when Edred and Elfrida were gone to bed Lord Arden found that he could not feel quite sure or quite satisfied. Suppose Dickie was not at Beale's? He strolled up to the cottage to see. Everything was dark at the cottage. He hesitated, then knocked at the door. At the third knock Beale, very sleepy, put his head out of the window. "Who's there?" said he. "I am here," said Lord Arden. "Richard is asleep, I suppose?" "I suppose so, my lord," said Beale, sleepy and puzzled. "You have given me some anxiety. I had to come up to make sure he was here." "But 'e _ain't_ 'ere," said Beale. "Didn't you pick 'im up with the dog-cart, same as you said you would?" "No," shouted Lord Arden. "Come down, Beale, and get a lantern. There must have been an accident." The bedroom window showed a square of light, and Lord Arden below heard Beale blundering about above. "'Ere's your coat," Mrs. Beale's voice sounded; "never mind lacing up of your boots. You orter gone a bit of the way with 'im." "Well, I offered for to go, didn't I?" Beale growled, blundered down the stairs and out through the wash-house, and came round the corner of the house with a stable lantern in his hand. He came close to where Lord Arden stood--a tall, dark figure in the starlight--and spoke in a voice that trembled. "The little nipper," he said; and again, "the little nipper. If anything's happened to 'im! Swelp me! gov'ner--my lord, I mean. What I meanter say, if anything's 'appened to _'im_! One of the best!" The two men went quickly towards the gate. As they passed down the quiet, dusty road Beale spoke again.