ark river; for no sooner was he
chained to the stake than a deep sleep from God fell upon him, and he
never woke to feel the fire at all, but slept sweetly as a child while
his body was consuming. "Is any thing too hard for the Lord?"

When Isoult and Thekla came in from the market one morning in March, Dr
Thorpe, who sat in the chimney-corner, asked them to go up to Mrs Rose.

"Yon dolt Carter hath been hither," said he, "and sat with her half an
hour; and from what I heard since over mine head, I am afeard he gave
her to wit some ill news, for she hath been sobbing ever since his
departing. Go you and comfort her."

Thekla was up the stairs in a moment; and Isoult followed. Mr Carter [a
fictitious person] was the clergyman who had stepped into Mr Rose's
place of minister to the Gospellers' gatherings, when they dared to hold
them; a good man, but very cold and harsh.

"O Thekla! Isoult!" cried Mrs Rose when they came in. "Am I so very
wicked as Mr Carter saith me to be?"

Poor soul! she had been weeping bitterly.

"Mother!" cried Thekla, in amazement, "what meanest thou?"

"If you be very wicked, dear Marguerite," said Isoult, "you have hidden
it from me hitherto. But what saith Mr Carter?"

"He saith that I love my husband too much, and it is idolatry, which God
will punish; and (_ay de mi_!) I ought not to grieve for him, but
rather rejoice that he is called unto the high honour of martyrdom.
_M'amie, c'est impossible_! And he saith that by such sinful and
extravagant grieving, I shall call down on me, and on him also, the
great displeasure of God. He saith God alway taketh away idols, and
will not suffer idolatry in His people. It is an abominable sin, which
He hateth; and we ought to pray to be kept from loving overmuch. _Ca
peut-il etre, ma soeur? Que digas, nina_?" [What sayest thou, child?]

Isoult looked at Thekla in dismay; for this was a new doctrine to her,
and a very unpleasant one. Thekla's lip trembled, and her eyes flashed,
but she did not speak; so Isoult answered herself: for poor Mrs Rose's
wailings in French and Spanish showed that she was sorely troubled.

"Well, dear Marguerite," said she, "if it be thus, I fear I am to the
full as guilty as thou. I never prayed in all my life to be kept from
loving Jack or my childre overmuch. I thought in mine ignorance that I
was bound to love them as much as ever I could. Doth not Scripture tell
us to love our neighbour as ourself?"