“We have escaped divers dangers by wit — thy wit — but I have bethought me that it were but prudence if I bore a weapon, too.

Thine might fail thee in some pinch.”

“But people of our condition are not allowed to carry arms. What would a lord say — yes, or any other person of whatever condition — if he caught an upstart peasant with a dagger on his person?”

It was a lucky thing for us that nobody came along just then. I persuaded him to throw the dirk away; and it was as easy as persuading a child to give up some bright fresh new way of killing itself. We walked along, silent and thinking. Finally the king said:

“When ye know that I meditate a thing inconvenient, or that hath a peril in it, why do you not warn me to cease from that project?”