"Well, that's fair-spoken enough, I can't deny," responded Isel; "and I'm not like to say I shan't be glad of a rest. There's nought but hard work in this world, without it's hard words: and which is the uglier of them I can't say. It'll be done one of these days, I reckon." "And then, friend?" asked Gerhardt quietly. "Well, if you know the answer to that, you know more than I do," said Isel, dishing up her salt fish. "Dear saints, where ever is that boy Romund? Draw up the form, Haimet, and let us have our supper. Say grace, boy." Haimet obeyed, by the short and easy process of making a large cross over the table, and muttering a few unintelligible words, which should have been a Latin formula. The first surprise received from the foreign guests came now. Instead of sitting down to supper, the trio knelt and prayed in silence for some minutes, ere they rose and joined their hosts at the table. Then Gerhardt spoke aloud. "God, who blessed the five barley loaves and the two fishes before His disciples in the wilderness, bless this table and that which is set on it, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." "Oh, you do say your prayers!" remarked Isel in a tone of satisfaction, as the guests began their supper. "But I confess I'd sooner say mine while the fish isn't getting cold." "We do, indeed," answered Gerhardt gravely. "Oh, by the way, tell me if you've ever come across an English traveller called Manning Brown? My husband took the cross, getting on for three years now, and I've never heard another word about him since. Thought you might have chanced on him somewhere or other." "Whither went he, and which way did he take?" "Bless you, I don't know! He went to foreign parts: and foreign parts are all one to me." Gerhardt looked rather amused. "We come from Almayne," he said; "some of us in past years dwelt in Provence, Toulouse, and Gascony." "Don't tell me!" said Isel, holding up her hands. "It's all so much gibberish. Have you met with my man?--that's all I want to know." "I have not," replied Gerhardt. "I will ask my friends, and see if any of them have done so." Supper over, a second surprise followed. Again Gerhardt offered his special blessing--"God, who has given us bodily food, grant us His spiritual life; and may God be with us, and we always with Him!" Then they once more knelt and silently prayed. Gerhardt drew his wife and sister into a corner of the house, and opening his book, read a short portion, after which they engaged in low-toned conversation. Derette, with the baby in her arms, had drawn near the group. She was not at all bashful. "I wish I could understand you," she said. "What are you talking about?" Gerhardt lifted his cap before answering. "About our blessed Lord Christ, my maiden," he said. Derette nodded, with an air of satisfaction at the wide extent of her knowledge. "I know. He's holy Mary's Son." "Ay, and He is our Saviour," added Flemild.