as to the sounds! Larks
sang high up in the sky, wood pigeons cooed around, nightingales,
thrushes, every bird of the wood seemed to be trying to make music and
melody.

And in the midst the grey-haired priest stood close to an ivy-covered
rock, with the white covered Altar, and the bright golden vessels which
he had carefully looked to in the night, and the little congregation
knelt close round him on cloaks and mats, the women hooded, the old
Cavalier's long thin locks, the merchant's dark ones, and the close
cropped heads of the servant and of Steadfast bared to the morning
breeze in its pure, dewy, soft freshness, fit emblem of the Comforter.
No book was produced, all was repeated from memory. They durst not raise
their voices, but the birds were their choir, and as they murmured
their _Gloria in Excelsis_, the sweet notes rang out in that unconscious
praise.

When the blessing of peace had been given there was a long hush, and no
one rose till after the vessels had been replaced in their casket, and
Stead was climbing up with it again to the hiding place. Then there
was a move to the front of the hut, where Rusha was just awakening, and
Emlyn feigned to be still asleep. It was not yet four o'clock, but the
sweet freshness was still around everything. Young Mistress Alice Rivett
and her brother were enchanted to gather flowers, and ran after their
hosts to see the cows milked, and the goats, pigs, and poultry fed,
sights new to them; but the elder ladies shivered and were glad to warm
themselves at the little fire Patience hastily lighted, after cleaning
the hut as fast as she could, by rolling up the bedding, and fairly
carrying Ben out to finish his night's rest in the cow-house.

The guests had brought their provisions, and insisted that their young
hosts should eat with them, accepting only the warm milk that Patience
brought in her pail, and they drank from the horn cups of the family.
Dr. Eales observed to the Cavalier that it was a true _Agape_ or
love-feast like those of the ancient Church, and the gentleman's
melancholy, weather-beaten face relaxed into a smile as he sighed and
hoped that the same endurance as that of the Christians of old would be
granted in this time of persecution.

Emlyn was gratified at being a good deal noticed by the company as so
unlike the others. She was not shy and frightened like Rusha, who hung
her head and had not a word to say for herself, but chattered away to
the young