LONDON TOWN — 95

his eyes as if to sear them with his own. Nick heard his
poniard grating in its sheath, and shut his eyes so that he
might not see the master-player’s horrid stare; for the
opening and shutting, opening and shutting, of the blue
lids made him shudder.

“ And what ’s more,” said Carew, sternly, “I shall call
thee Master Skylark from this time forth—dost hear? And
when I bid thee go, thou’lt go; and when I bid thee come,
thou ‘It come; and when I say, ‘Here, follow me!’ thou ‘It
follow like a dog to heel!” He drew up his lip until his
white teeth showed, and Nick, hearing them gritting to-
gether, shrank back dismayed.

“There!” laughed Carew, scornfully. “He that knows
better how to tame a vixen or to cozen a pack of gulls,
now let him speak!” and said no more until they passed
by Chipping Barnet. Then, “Nick,” said he, in a quiet,
kindly tone, as if they had been friends for years, “ this is
the place where Warwick fell”; and pointed down the
field. “There in the corner of that croft they piled the
noble dead like corn upon a threshing-floor. Since then,”
said he, with quiet irony, “men have stopped making
English kings as the Dutch make dolls, of a stick and a
poll thereon.”

Pleased with hearing his own voice, he would have gone
on with many another thing ; but seeing that Nick listened
not at all to what he said, he ceased, and rode on silently
or chatting with the others.

The country through Middlesex was in most part flat,
and heavy forests overhung the road from time to time.