Master Nicless, in his endeavour to soften matters down, let slip, although he would gladly have omitted, this plural, "their honours"—respectful to the group, but mortifying, perhaps, to the chief, confounded therein, to some degree, with his subordinates.
Ursus started like a man falling off a bed, on which he was sound asleep.
"What is the matter?" said he.
He saw the police, and at the head of the police the justice. A fresh and rude shock.
But a short time ago, the wapentake, now the justice of the quorum. He seemed to have been cast from one to the other, as ships by some reefs of which we have read in old stories.
The justice of the quorum made him a sign to enter the tavern. Ursus obeyed.
Govicum, who had just got up, and who was sweeping the room, stopped his work, got into a corner behind the tables, put down his broom, and held his breath. He plunged his fingers into his hair, and scratched his head, a symptom which indicated attention to what was about to occur.
The justice of the quorum sat down on a form, before a table. Barkilphedro took a chair. Ursus and Master Nicless remained standing. The police officers, left outside, grouped themselves in front of the closed door.
The justice of the quorum fixed his eye, full of the law, upon Ursus. He said,—
"You have a wolf."