Page:Rewards and Fairies (Kipling, 1910).djvu/34

12 and I’ve wronged neither man, woman nor child in taking him, for he is the son of a dead slave woman."

‘"All to the good, Robin," Sir Huon said. "He’ll be the less anxious to leave us. Oh, we’ll give him a splendid fortune, and he shall act and influence on folk in housen as we have always craved." His Lady came up then, and drew him under to watch the babe’s wonderful doings.’

‘Who was his Lady?’ said Dan.

‘The Lady Esclairmonde. She had been a woman once, till she followed Sir Huon across the fern, as we say. Babies are no special treat to me — I’ve watched too many of them — so I stayed on the Hill. Presently I heard hammering down at the Forge there,’ Puck pointed toward Hobden’s cottage. ‘It was too early for any workmen, but it passed through my mind that the breaking day was Thor’s own day. A slow North-East wind blew up and set the oaks sawing and fretting in a way I remembered: so I slipped over to see what I could see.’

‘And what did you see?’

‘A smith forging something or other out of Cold Iron. When it was finished, he weighed it in his hand (his back was toward me), and tossed it from him a longish quoit-throw down the valley. I saw Cold Iron flash in the sun, but I couldn’t quite make out where it fell. That didn’t trouble me. I knew it would be found sooner or later by some one.’

‘How did you know?’ Dan went on.