l as mine; and I have done my share. He will soon be too much for me,
and I look to Gouda's parson to teach him true piety and useful lore. Is
he not of more value than many sparrows?"

Gerard started and stammered an affirmation. For she waited for his
reply.

"You wonder," continued she, "to hear me quote holy writ so glib. I have
pored over it this four years, and why? Not because God wrote it, but
because I saw it often in thy hands ere thou didst leave me. Heaven
forgive me, I am but a woman. What thinkest thou of this sentence? 'Let
your work so shine before men that they may see your good works and
glorify your Father which is in heaven!' What is a saint in a sink
better than 'a light under a bushel!'

"Therefore, since the sheep committed to thy charge bleat for thee and
cry, 'Oh desert us no longer, but come to Gouda manse;' since I, who
know thee ten times better than thou knowest thyself, do pledge my soul
it is for thy soul's weal to go to Gouda manse--since duty to thy child,
too long abandoned, calls thee to Gouda manse--since thy sovereign, whom
holy writ again bids thee honour, sends thee to Gouda manse--since the
Pope, whom the Church teaches thee to revere hath absolved thee of thy
monkish vows, and orders thee to Gouda manse--"

"Ah!"

"Since thy grey-haired mother watches for thee in dole and care, and
turneth oft the hour-glass and sigheth sore that thou comest so slow to
her at Gouda manse--since thy brother, withered by thy curse, awaits thy
forgiveness and thy prayers for his soul, now lingering in his body, at
Gouda manse--take thou in thine arms the sweet bird wi' crest of gold
that nestles to thy bosom, and give me thy hand; thy sweetheart erst and
wife, and now thy friend, the truest friend to thee this night that ere
man had, and come with me to Gouda manse!"

"IT IS THE VOICE OF AN ANGEL!" cried Clement loudly.

"Then hearken it, and come forth to Gouda manse!"

The battle was won.

Margaret lingered behind, cast her eye rapidly round the furniture, and
selected the Vulgate and the psaltery. The rest she sighed at, and let
it lie. The breastplate and the cilice of bristles she took and dashed
with feeble ferocity on the floor.

Then seeing Gerard watch her with surprise from the outside,
she coloured and said, "I am but a woman: 'little' will still be
'spiteful.'"

"Why encumber thyself with those? They are safe."

"Oh, she had a reason."

And with this they took the road t