KENILWORTH - Penn State University

Kenilworthhead off, unless you hear the smith at work within two minutesafter we are seated.”“I may be tempted to take thee at thy word,” said Tressilian,“if you make me do aught half so ridiculous for your ownmischievous sport; however, I will prove your spell. Here,then, I tie my horse to this upright stone. I must lay my silvergroat here, and whistle three times, sayest thou?”“Ay, but thou must whistle louder than an unfledged ousel,”said the boy, as Tressilian, having laid down his money, andhalf ashamed of the folly he practised, made a carelesswhistle—”you must whistle louder than that, for who knowswhere the smith is that you call for? He may be in the King ofFrance’s stables for what I know.”“Why, you said but now he was no devil,” replied Tressilian.“Man or devil,” said Dickie, “I see that I must summonhim for you;” and therewithal he whistled sharp and shrill,with an acuteness of sound that almost thrilled throughTressilian’s brain. “That is what I call whistling,” said he, afterhe had repeated the signal thrice; “and now to cover, to cover,or Whitefoot will not be shod this day.”Tressilian, musing what the upshot of this mummery wasto be, yet satisfied there was to be some serious result, by theconfidence with which the boy had put himself in his power,suffered himself to be conducted to that side of the littlethicket of gorse and brushwood which was farthest from thecircle of stones, and there sat down; and as it occurred to himthat, after all, this might be a trick for stealing his horse, hekept his hand on the boy’s collar, determined to make himhostage for its safety.“Now, hush and listen,” said Dickie, in a low whisper; “youwill soon hear the tack of a hammer that was never forged ofearthly iron, for the stone it was made of was shot from themoon.” And in effect Tressilian did immediately hear the lightstroke of a hammer, as when a farrier is at work. The singularityof such a sound, in so very lonely a place, made him involuntarilystart; but looking at the boy, and discovering, by thearch malicious expression of his countenance, that the urchinsaw and enjoyed his slight tremor, he became convinced thatthe whole was a concerted stratagem, and determined to knowby whom, or for what purpose, the trick was played off.Accordingly, he remained perfectly quiet all the time thatthe hammer continued to sound, being about the space usu-124