as
lodged alone."

"Newgate!" cried Mr Underhill. "And how doth mine old friend
Alisaunder, and my most gentlest mistress his wife?"

"I saw not her," replied Robin; "but to judge from his face, I should
say he doth rarely well. Here, then, in Newgate, I lay, marvelling that
I was never sentenced and burned; but I knew nothing of the cause nor of
what passed, until this even all the doors were unlocked, and we
prisoners all were bidden to go forth, whither we would, for Queen
Elizabeth reigned, and this was her Coronation Day. How strange it was
to be free!"

"I marvelled what thou wert suffering, Robin dear," said Isoult, "but we
never thought of Little Ease. We took thee for dead."

"So I thought you would," said he. "And now that I am returned to men's
life again, tell me, I pray you, what day is this--of the month and
week?"

"'Tis the 15th of January," said she, "and Sunday."

"And the year," he resumed, pausing, "I suppose, is Fifteen Hundred and
Fifty-Eight?" [By the old reckoning from Easter to Easter.]

"It is so, dear heart," answered Isoult.

"It seemeth me," said Robin, "a little picture of the resurrection."

"Come, friends!" cried Mr Underhill, springing up, "I must be going, and
I will not be balked of my _Te Deum_. Jack, thou promisedst it me."

"So I did," answered he, smiling. "Strike up, and we will all follow."

He struck up the chant, in his fine deep voice, and all joined in. Then
Mr Underhill took his leave, and went home; after which the rest sat a
little while in silence. Mr Rose was the first to break it.

"Robin, hast thou still a purpose to receive orders?"

"More than ever!" cried Robin, eagerly. "I never could before have told
the people one-half of what I can tell now. I knew that God was
sufficient for some things, but now I see Him all-sufficient and for
all. I knew He could lift man up to Him, like a mother learning a child
day by day; but I scantly knew how He could come down to man, like the
same mother bending her sense down to the stature of her child, entering
into his difficulties, feeling his troubles, making her a child for him.
`I, even I, am He that comforteth you;' `I will comfort you, and ye
shall be comforted;' yea, `as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I
comfort you.'"

"I think thou art right," said Mr Rose, softly.

Again they sat in silence till the clock struck eight--the hour at which
they commonly parted for the night. Before any