'Where did you come from?' Raymond asked.
'I was here before you,' replied the dwarf.
'People do overlook me sometimes,' rejoined the other, with a chuckle; 'but they are more apt to spend their lives in trying to find me. Once in a great while I appear without being asked--as I do now!'
The dwarf made a low bow. 'I am an Appanage of Royalty!' said he.
'Then it was you who brought the King's silk stocking to be washed! But were you not a great deal taller then than now?'
'What of that? Were not you a great deal shorter?'
'That is true,' murmured Raymond, struck by the justness of the remark.
'True as gold!' added the dwarf, with another chuckle. 'And so you want to go to London?' he continued suddenly.
Raymond started. 'I have been thinking of it,' he said; 'but now----'
'Nonsense! You want to go now as much as before you went to the Brindled Cow, and I am the only person in the world that can help you do it.'
'Pooh! I know everything. Weren't you thinking of me at the very moment you kissed her? There--no more words! Are you ready to start? Speak up.'
But Raymond drew back, startled and mystified. Seeing this, the dwarf altered his tone, and from being abrupt and overbearing became friendly and familiar.
'Come, my dear boy,' he said, laying his great claw on Raymond's arm. 'Men must be men; we mustn't let ourselves be ordered about by a parcel of women. Would you let a few kisses and keepsakes stand in the way of your ambition? How many years has she waited for you? Let her wait twenty-four hours longer. Besides, if you don't go now you will never go at all. Rosamond--trust me--will like you none the less when she sees you the greatest man in England. Come, now. I can put in your hands a power before which the whole world bows: will you take it or not? I shan't offer it twice.'
Now, Raymond had a secret suspicion that something was wrong in all this; for why should a stranger be so anxious to confer an inestimable boon upon him? And yet London was but seven miles off. He could get back that very night if need be. It would be a pity to lose this chance after having waited for it so long. It could do no harm; it was worth trying. 'I think I will,' passed through Raymond's mind.