RICARDE,said the preceptor,you must forthwith (which is PROFECTO)set forth so far as the top of the hill,and show this man of worship Wayland Smith's workshop.A proper errand of a morning,said the boy,in better language than Tressilian expected;and who knows but the devil may fly away with me before I come back?Ay,marry may un,said Dame Sludge;and you might have thought twice,Master Domine,ere you sent my dainty darling on arrow such errand.It is not for such doings I feed your belly and clothe your back,I warrant you!Pshaw--NUGAE,good Gammer Sludge,answered the preceptor;Iensure you that Satan,if there be Satan in the case,shall not touch a thread of his garment;for Dickie can say his PATER with the best,and may defy the foul fiend--EUMENIDES,STYGIUMQUENEFAS.
Ay,and I,as I said before,have sewed a sprig of the mountain-ash into his collar,said the good woman,which will avail more than your clerkship,I wus;but for all that,it is ill to seek the devil or his mates either.My good boy,said Tressilian,who saw,from a grotesque sneer on Dickie's face,that he was more likely to act upon his own bottom than by the instructions of his elders,I will give thee a silver groat,my pretty fellow,if you will but guide me to this man's forge.The boy gave him a knowing side-look,which seemed to promise acquiescence,while at the same time he exclaimed,I be your guide to Wayland Smith's!Why,man,did I not say that the devil might fly off with me,just as the kite there(looking to the window)is flying off with one of grandam's chicks?The kite!the kite!exclaimed the old woman in return,and forgetting all other matters in her alarm,hastened to the rescue of her chickens as fast as her old legs could carry her.
Now for it,said the urchin to Tressilian;snatch your beaver,get out your horse,and have at the silver groat you spoke of.Nay,but tarry,tarry,said the preceptor--SUFFLAMINA,RICARDE!Tarry yourself,said Dickie,and think what answer you are to make to granny for sending me post to the devil.The teacher,aware of the responsibility he was incurring,bustled up in great haste to lay hold of the urchin and to prevent his departure;but Dickie slipped through his fingers,bolted from the cottage,and sped him to the top of a neighbouring rising ground,while the preceptor,despairing,by well-taught experience,of recovering his pupil by speed of foot,had recourse to the most honied epithets the Latin vocabulary affords to persuade his return.But to MI ANIME,CORCULUM MEUM,and all such classical endearments,the truant turned a deaf ear,and kept frisking on the top of the rising ground like a goblin by moonlight,making signs to his new acquaintance,Tressilian,to follow him.
The traveller lost no time in getting out his horse and departing to join his elvish guide,after half-forcing on the poor,deserted teacher a recompense for the entertainment he had received,which partly allayed that terror he had for facing the return of the old lady of the mansion.Apparently this took place soon afterwards;for ere Tressilian and his guide had proceeded far on their journey,they heard the screams of a cracked female voice,intermingled with the classical objurgations of Master Erasmus Holiday.But Dickie Sludge,equally deaf to the voice of maternal tenderness and of magisterial authority,skipped on unconsciously before Tressilian,only observing that if they cried themselves hoarse,they might go lick the honey-pot,for he had eaten up all the honey-comb himself on yesterday even.