necks, and when we could speak - he thought we'd been fighting -
we told the Master. Yes, we told Torrigiano, and he laughed till
he rolled on the new cold pavement. Then he knocked our heads together.

'"Ah, you English!" he cried. "You are more than pigs. You
are English. Now you are well punished for your dirty fishes. Put
the draft in the fire, and never do so any more. You are a fool, Hal,
and you are a fool, Benedetto, but I need your works to please this
beautiful English King."

'"And I meant to kill Hal," says Benedetto. "Master, I meant
to kill him because the English King had made him a knight."

'"Ah!" says the Master, shaking his finger. "Benedetto, if you
had killed my Hal, I should have killed you - in the cloister. But
you are a craftsman too, so I should have killed you like a
craftsman, very, very slowly - in an hour, if I could spare the
time!" That was Torrigiano - the Master!'

Mr Springett sat quite still for some time after Hal had finished.
Then he turned dark red; then he rocked to and fro; then he
coughed and wheezed till the tears ran down his face. Dan knew
by this that he was laughing, but it surprised Hal at first.

'Excuse me, sir,' said Mr Springett, 'but I was thinkin' of some
stables I built for a gentleman in Eighteen hundred Seventy-four.
They was stables in blue brick - very particular work. Dunno as
they weren't the best job which ever I'd done. But the gentleman's
lady - she'd come from Lunnon, new married - she was all
for buildin' what was called a haw-haw - what you an' me 'ud call