10
KING JAMES AND THE ROBBERS,
of the kindness of the female who sat next him, occupied himself in surveying the motley group before him. His eye soon rested on a man seated next the damsel who occupied the place immediately to the left of the chief, and the moment he did so, he became anxious and interested. The individual was a man of rather more than middle height, of a muscular, though by no means brawny frame. His countenance was ruddy, and of a pleasant mirthful expression; his eyes were full, of a dark hazel colour; his nose, though prominent, gracefully formed; and his mouth small and piquant. His beard was of a dark auburn hue, and he wore moustachios of the same colour. He was dressed in a hodden-grey doublet and hose, which were fastened round his body by a strong leathern girdle, from which hung a broadsword of the two-edged shape. The manner of this individual was evidently different from those of his present companions, and that from the very pains which he took to assimilate it. There was all their mirth without their grossness, and his kind, affable demeanour to the female part of the company differed widely from the blunt and sometimes brutal behaviour of his comrades.
'Who is that on the left of the old man?' whispered Arthur to the man who had introduced him.
'That—that's his favourite dell,' replied the man.
'Nay, I mean not the woman—the man upon her left.'
'Why, I know not—he's none of us—strayed in like you to share the revelry, I fancy—though, if he takes not the better care of his eyes and hands, an inch or two of cold iron will pay his reckoning. I think he dallies too much with the mort.'
The cool even tone in which this annunciation of probable murder was uttered, rendered the communication more startling to Arthur than if it had been made with a vindictive exclamation or suppressed groan; and he looked anxiously and steadily on the stranger, whose gallant bearing more and more attracted him. The latter had observed him more than once bending his eyes on him, and was not apparently pleased with the strictness of his scrutiny. Twice, when their eyes met, the stranger had checked a rising frown by emptying the horn which he held in his hand; the third time he set it down untasted, and, fixing on Arthur a look of calm commanding dignity, which seemed more native to him than aught around, exclaimed, in a deep and powerful accent,
'Friend, wherefore peer you so steadily this way? If you have aught to say, out with't—if not, reserve your ogling for some of the fair eyes near you.'
