“I never was so thankful in all my life--I never was; I never was. My pretty dear, what is your name, that I may bless you every night?” “My name is Mabel Lovejoy, sir. And I hope that you will excuse me, for having nothing better to bring than this. Most fishermen prefer duck, I know; but we happened only to have in the larder this half, or so, of a young roast goose----” “A goose! An infinitely finer bird. And so much more upon it! Thank God it wasn’t a duck, my dear. Half a duck would scarcely be large enough to set my poor mouth watering. For goodness’ sake, give me a drop to drink! What is it--water?” “No, sir, ale; some of our own brewing. But you must please to eat a mouthful first. I have heard that it is bad to begin with a drink.” “Right speedily will I qualify,” said the parson, with his mouth quite full of goose; “delicious,--most delicious! You must be the good Samaritan, my dear; or at any rate you ought to be his wife. Your very best health, Mistress Mabel Lovejoy; may you never do a worse action than you have done this day; and I never shall forget your kindness.” “Oh, I am so glad to see you enjoy it. But you must not talk till you have eaten every mouthful. Why, you ought to be quite famishing.” “In that respect I fulfil my duty. Nay more, I am downright famished.” “There is a little stuffing in here, sir; let me show you; underneath the apron. I put it there myself, and so I know.” “What most noble, most glorious, most transcendent stuffing! Whoever made that was born to benefit, retrieve, and exalt humanity.” “You must not say that, sir; because I made it.” “Oh, Dea certe! I recover my Latin under such enchantment. But how could you have found me out? And what made you so generously think of me?” “Well, sir, I take the greatest interest in fishermen, because--oh, because of my brother Charlie: and one of our men passed you this afternoon, and he said he was sure that you had caught nothing, because he heard you--he thought he heard you----” “No, no, come now, complaining mildly,--not ‘swearing,’ don’t say ‘swearing.’” “I was not going to say ‘swearing,’ sir. What made you think of such a thing? I am sure you never could have done it; could you? And so when you did not even come to supper, it came into my head that you must want refreshment; especially if you had caught no fish to comfort you for so many hours. And then I thought of a plan for that, which I would tell you in case I should find you unlucky enough to deserve it.” “I am unlucky enough to deserve it thoroughly; only look here, pretty Mistress Mabel.” With these words he lifted the flap of his basket, and showed its piteous emptiness. “West Lorraine!” she cried--“West Lorraine!” For his name and address were painted on the inside wicker of the lid. “Oh, I beg your pardon, Mr. Hales: I had no right to notice it.”