among the brush, but the bulk of Dick's command had simply melted at the
rumour of their coming.

Dick stood for a moment, bitterly recognising the fruits of his
precipitate and unwise valour. Sir Daniel had seen the fire; he had
moved out with his main force, whether to attack his pursuers or to take
them in the rear if they should venture the assault. His had been
throughout the part of a sagacious captain; Dick's the conduct of an
eager boy. And here was the young knight, his sweetheart, indeed,
holding him tightly by the hand, but otherwise alone, his whole command
of men and horses dispersed in the night and the wide forest, like a
paper of pins in a bay barn.

"The saints enlighten me!" he thought. "It is well I was knighted for
this morning's matter; this doth me little honour."

And thereupon, still holding Joanna, he began to run.

The silence of the night was now shattered by the shouts of the men of
Tunstall, as they galloped hither and thither, hunting fugitives; and
Dick broke boldly through the underwood and ran straight before him like
a deer. The silver clearness of the moon upon the open snow increased,
by contrast, the obscurity of the thickets; and the extreme dispersion of
the vanquished led the pursuers into wildly divergent paths. Hence, in
but a little while, Dick and Joanna paused, in a close covert, and heard
the sounds of the pursuit, scattering abroad, indeed, in all directions,
but yet fainting already in the distance.

"An I had but kept a reserve of them together," Dick cried, bitterly, "I
could have turned the tables yet! Well, we live and learn; next time it
shall go better, by the rood."

"Nay, Dick," said Joanna, "what matters it? Here we are together once
again."

He looked at her, and there she was--John Matcham, as of yore, in hose
and doublet. But now he knew her; now, even in that ungainly dress, she
smiled upon him, bright with love; and his heart was transported with
joy.

"Sweetheart," he said, "if ye forgive this blunderer, what care I? Make
we direct for Holywood; there lieth your good guardian and my better
friend, Lord Foxham. There shall we be wed; and whether poor or wealthy,
famous or unknown, what, matters it? This day, dear love, I won my
spurs; I was commended by great men for my valour; I thought myself the
goodliest man of war in all broad England. Then, first, I fell out of my
favour with the great; and now have I been well thrashed, and clean