expect?" I said. "That was the one time when you
might have worked one of your charms, instead of running into three
times your weight."

'"I didn't think," he says. "But I caught the man one on the head that
was as good as any charm. Did you see it work, Robin?"

'"Mind your nose," I said. "Bleed it on a dockleaf--not your sleeve, for
pity's sake." I knew what the Lady Esclairmonde would say.

'He didn't care. He was as happy as a gipsy with a stolen pony, and the
front part of his gold coat, all blood and grass stains, looked like
ancient sacrifices.

'Of course the People of the Hills laid the blame on me. The Boy could
do nothing wrong, in their eyes.

'"You are bringing him up to act and influence on folk in housen, when
you're ready to let him go," I said. "Now he's begun to do it, why do
you cry shame on me? That's no shame. It's his nature drawing him to his
kind."

'"But we don't want him to begin that way," the Lady Esclairmonde
said. "We intend a splendid fortune for him--not your flitter-by-night,
hedge-jumping, gipsy-work."

'"I don't blame you, Robin," says Sir Huon, "but I do think you might
look after the Boy more closely."

'"I've kept him away from Cold Iron these sixteen years," I said. "You
know as well as I do, the first time he touches Cold Iron he'll find
his own fortune, in spite of everything you intend for him. You owe me
something for that."

'Sir Huon, having been a man, was going to allow me the right of it, but
the Lady Esclairmonde, being the Mother of all Mothers, over-persuaded
him.

'"We're very grateful," Sir Huon said, "but we think that just for the
present you are about too much with him on the Hill."

'"Though you have said it," I said, "I will give you a second chance."
I did not like being called to account for my doings on my own Hill. I
wouldn't have stood it even that far except I loved the Boy.

'"No! No!" says the Lady Esclairmonde. "He's never any trouble when he's
left to me and himself. It's your fault."

'"You have said it," I answered. "Hear me! From now on till the Boy has
found his fortune, whatever that may be, I vow to you all on my Hill, by
Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, and by the Hammer of Asa Thor"--again Puck made
that curious double-cut in the air--'"that you may leave me out of
all your counts and reckonings." Then I went out'--he snapped his
fingers--'like the puff of a candle, and though they called and cried,
they made nothing by it. I didn't pr