mal, to rush in upon boar or stag at bay, to break up or
disembowel the captured quarry.

It was his to learn how to thread the pathless forests, like that
of Arden; by observing the prevalent direction of the wind, as
indicated by the way in which the trees threw their thickest
branches, or the side of the trunk on which the mosses grew most
densely; to know the stars, and to thread the murky forest at
midnight by an occasional glimpse of that bright polar star, around
which Charley's Wain revolved, as it does in these latter days.

It was his to learn that wondrous devotion to the ladies, which was
at the foundation of chivalry, and found at last its reductio ad
absurdum in the Dulcinea of Don Quixote; but it was not a bad thing
in itself, and softened the manners, nor suffered them to become
utterly ferocious.

He was taught to abhor all the meaner vices, such as cowardice or
lying--no gentleman could live under such an imputation and retain
his claim to the name. But it must be admitted that there were
higher duties practised wheresoever the obligations of chivalry
were fully carried out: the duty of succouring the distressed or
redressing wrong, of devotion to God and His Church, and hatred of
the devil and his works.

Alas! how often one aspect of chivalry alone, and that the worst,
was found to exist; the ideal was too high for fallen nature.

To Hubert the new life which opened before him was full of promise
and delight; he seemed to have found a paradise far more after his
own heart than Eden could ever have been: but it was otherwise with
Martin.

They had not been unkindly received by their companions, although,
as the other pages were nearly all the sons of nobles, there was a
marked restraint in the way in which they condescended to boys who
had only one name {6}. Still, the earl's will was law, and
since he had willed that the newcomers should share the privileges
of the others, no protest could be made.

And as for Hubert there was no difficulty; he was one of nature's
own gentlemen, and there was something in his brave winning ways,
in which there was neither shyness nor presumption, which at once
found him friends; besides, his speech was Norman French, and he
was au fait in his manners.

But poor little Martin--the lad from the greenwood--surely it was
a great mistake to expose him to the jeers and sarcasms of the lads
of his own age, but of another culture; every time he opened his
mouth h