They passed out of the city gates into the open country beyond, the soldier striding along at a pace which would have been too much for his already wearied companion, had not the renewed hope, and prospect of assistance where he had least expected it, excited him, so as to make him almost forget his fatigue. They discussed the whole situation of affairs as they went along, and Dick at first seemed much relieved, but presently his voice sank to the old hoarse whisper. "What if it is _too late_! TOO LATE! Judas repented, Judas went and flung the pieces down, and tried to save Him, but the blood was on his head and on his children’s! You see I know it all; the old man read it out of a book that night I was watching, and then the little one told the whole story upon the cliff. The blood is on my head, I tell you, and if I cannot save them, I shall do as Judas did. I will! I must!" Bertrand strove to calm the agitated man by preaching to him some of the Lollard doctrines, but found his memory much at fault, and he longed for either his young or his old master to pour the balm of consolation into the heart of this their former enemy, whom he had begun to pity sincerely. But this talk served to beguile the time, till they arrived at a lonely cottage in the forest. A light twinkled in the window to welcome them, and both were glad to enter the cheerful-looking room, and warm themselves at the bright fire. Joan had a warm supper ready for her husband, though it was quite late, and she was glad to divide it with the man whom she thought most able to help her husband in his distress. She was what might be called a picture of comfort, for the middling class of those times. She was dressed in petticoat of dark blue cloth, surmounted by a waist or bodice of crimson, that showed in full perfection her well-rounded form. Above this again was a snowy kerchief and cap, so jauntily arranged as to display to the best advantage the clean white skin of her throat and neck, and the brilliant bloom of her round fat cheeks. A pair of bright black eyes looked out over a rather short nose, somewhat on the retroussé order, unless when she happened to laugh, when the visual orbs disappeared, and you became rather interested in her well-set teeth, which she took care should every one appear. On a solid oaken table, which she drew as close as possible to the fire, she spread a steaming supper, talking all the while, as she moved from the board to the fire, sometimes to her husband, sometimes to his guest, and sometimes to the cooking utensils, the fire, or the meat. "There!" as she set down one smoking dish before Bertrand’s hungry gaze; "there’s not such another pair of hares in the county. Lie still on your backs, ye fools; lie still, I say, like Christians! Little Dick caught them himself, with his new net, in the forest." At the sound of his name, up popped a little black head, from a bed on the floor in the farthest corner.