ere partly closed. He put his face close to Farr's.

"Thee is as cheeky as a crow and as prying as a magpie and I venture
to say thee is a roving scamp. But I may as well talk to thee as to
anybody."

With armor rattling and squeaking, the son started toward them.

"I do not care to have thee talk about me, father," he warned.

Farr noted that the son had eyes as keen and as gray as those of the
elder. The armored citizen was sturdy and of middle age and the face
under the vizor revealed intelligence and self-possession.

The father paid no heed to the son.

"Has thee traveled around the world much?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thee has met many men?"

"Many and of all sorts and conditions."

"Then I want to ask thee what thee thinks of the good wit of a man who
declares that he will go forth into the world, faring here and there,
to try to do good to all men, to try to settle the troubles between men,
free of all price?"

Farr turned gaze from the father to the earnest countenance of the son,
and then stared again into the searching eyes of the old man. Prolonged
and embarrassed silence followed.

"Thy looks speak louder than words," declared the father. "Thy eyes say
it--he is a fool."

"It may be as well not to say so with thy tongue," advised the son. "I
might not be as patient with a stranger as I am with my father. He is
wholly practical, without imagination, and so I excuse him."

"I offer no comments," said Walker Farr with a frank smile which won an
answering flicker from the face under the vizor. "I do not understand."

"I would not expect a vagabond to understand anything or to be brave
enough to say what he thinks," piped the father. He turned on his son.
"Here's a scalawag of a tramp. Go along with him and be another such."

"I may be a peripatetic philosopher, for all you know," said Farr,
teasingly. "There are knights in fustian as well as knights in armor."

"I think thee is of more account than thy clothing indicates," stated
the son, regarding the stranger keenly. "And thee carries a rose in thy
hand. Little things tell much."

Farr put the flower into his pocket. "Don't fool yourself about me," he
said, roughly.

"Thy speech has betrayed thee," insisted the other.

"I have met crib-crackers who were college men--and pocket dictionaries
are cheap. And so good day to you, gentlemen."

"Wait one moment!" appealed the man in armor. His face softened when he
approached his father.

"We have