“A bridle upon thy dragon’s tongue!  And do thou, Master Joseph, quit the dormice and glow-worms, and tell us whither did the rogues go.”

Joseph Carnaby.

“I wot not after they had crossed the river they were soon out of sight and hearing.”

Sir Thomas.

“Went they toward Charlecote?”

Joseph Carnaby.

“Their first steps were thitherward.”

Sir Thomas.

“Did they come back unto the punt?”

Joseph Carnaby.

“They went down the stream in it, and crossed the Avon some fourscore yards below where we were standing.  They came back in it, and moored it to the sedges in which it had stood before.”

Sir Thomas.

“How long were they absent?”

Joseph Carnaby.

“Within an hour, or thereabout, all the three men returned.  Will Shakspeare and another were sitting in the middle, the third punted.

“‘Remember now, gentles!’ quoth William Shakspeare, ’the road we have taken is henceforward a footpath for ever, according to law.’

“‘How so?’ asked the punter, turning toward him,

“‘Forasmuch as a corpse hath passed along it,’ answered he.

“Whereupon both Euseby and myself did forthwith fall upon our faces, commending our souls unto the Lord.”

Sir Thomas.

“It was then really the dead body that quivered so fearfully upon the water, covering all the punt!  Christ, deliver us!  I hope the keeper they murdered was not Jeremiah.  His wife and four children would be very chargeable, and the man was by no means amiss.  Proceed! what further?”

“On reaching the bank, ‘I never sat pleasanter in my lifetime,’ said William Shakspeare, ‘than upon this carcass.’”

Sir Thomas.

“Lord have mercy upon us!  Thou upon a carcass, at thy years!”

And the knight drew back his chair half an ell farther from the table, and his lips quivered at the thought of such inhumanity.

“And what said he more? and what did he?” asked the knight.

Joseph Carnaby.

“He patted it smartly, and said, ‘Lug it out; break it.’”

Sir Thomas.

“These four poor children! who shall feed them?”

Sir Silas.

“Sir! in God’s name have you forgotten that Jeremiah is gone to Nuneaton to see his father, and that the murdered man is the buck?”

Sir Thomas.

“They killed the buck likewise.  But what, ye cowardly varlets! have ye been deceiving me all this time?  And thou, youngster! couldst thou say nothing to clear up the case?  Thou shalt smart for it.  Methought I had lost by a violent death the best servant ever man had—­righteous, if there be no blame in saying it, as the prophet whose name he beareth, and brave as the lion of Judah.”