droll was the
disguise.

"Yet I would it were but summer and a clear day," grumbled the outlaw,
"that I might see myself in the mirror of a pool. There be many of Sir
Daniel's men that know me; and if we fell to be recognised, there might
be two words for you, brother, but as for me, in a paternoster while, I
should be kicking in a rope's-end."

Thus they set forth together along the road to Shoreby, which, in this
part of its course, kept near along the margin or the forest, coming
forth, from time to time, in the open country, and passing beside poor
folks' houses and small farms.

Presently at sight of one of these, Lawless pulled up.

"Brother Martin," he said, in a voice capitally disguised, and suited to
his monkish robe, "let us enter and seek alms from these poor sinners.
_Pax vobiscum_! Ay," he added, in his own voice, "'tis as I feared; I
have somewhat lost the whine of it; and by your leave, good Master
Shelton, ye must suffer me to practise in these country places, before
that I risk my fat neck by entering Sir Daniel's. But look ye a little,
what an excellent thing it is to be a Jack-of-all-trades! An I had not
been a shipman, ye had infallibly gone down in the Good Hope; an I had
not been a thief, I could not have painted me your face; and but that I
had been a Grey Friar, and sung loud in the choir, and ate hearty at the
board, I could not have carried this disguise, but the very dogs would
have spied us out and barked at us for shams."

He was by this time close to the window of the farm, and he rose on his
tip-toes and peeped in.

"Nay," he cried, "better and better. We shall here try our false faces
with a vengeance, and have a merry jest on Brother Capper to boot."

And so saying, he opened the door and led the way into the house.

Three of their own company sat at the table, greedily eating. Their
daggers, stuck beside them in the board, and the black and menacing looks
which they continued to shower upon the people of the house, proved that
they owed their entertainment rather to force than favour. On the two
monks, who now, with a sort of humble dignity, entered the kitchen of the
farm, they seemed to turn with a particular resentment; and one--it was
John Capper in person--who seemed to play the leading part, instantly and
rudely ordered them away.

"We want no beggars here!" he cried.

But another--although he was as far from recognising Dick and
Lawless--inclined to more mode