"'The funeral was on Saturday. And as often as I hear the bell ring, I cannot help thinking of the dear, good Breyhan and the kindly duke George William, and the saying recurs to me--"The memory of the just is blessed." "'Finally, I remark once more, that from this story I have taken up a thorough disgust for the new-fashioned _law of redemptions_. By this law the above-mentioned farm has lately been detached from the benefice. Before that, I was the most distinguished man in the kingdom of Hannover, for the king was my parochial tenant and I was lord of the manor to him; _now_ I am an insignificant country pastor and such, it is well known, have neither form nor beauty.'" CHAPTER XX. Fenton had been crying out that the kettle was boiling; and yet, when Meredith stopped reading nobody was in a hurry to move. The little group lying there upon the pine branches was as quiet as the day; and there is no describing the beauty of that rest in which nature for the moment seemed to be still. The delicate clear blue overhead; the still racks of white cloud here and there upon it, doing nothing and going nowhere, only lying fair on the blue; the breathless atmosphere in which an aspen leaf would have hung motionless; the broad river below moving its strong current so silently and so unobtrusively; there was no token of motion, unless in a vessel which was slowly drifting down while her sails hung windless by the mast; the profound quiet had something imposing. I cannot tell how, some grave, sweet influence seemed to press upon every heart in the company; and for a few minutes after the reader's voice ceased, the stillness was significant. "We seem to be out of the world!" Flora remarked at last in an undertone. "Why?" Mr. Murray asked. "I don't know. Confusions and disturbance are nowhere in sight. It is all peace." "And purity," added Meredith. "How nice if one could live so!" Flora went on. "You may, to a great degree, live so," said Mr. Murray. "It will not be always October, and your couch may not always be such a feathery one; and yet, Miss Flora--I fancy that Pastor Breyhan lived in very much such an atmosphere all his life." "The story is just in harmony with the day and the place; isn't it?" said Meredith. "It is odd that one can be interested in such a story," said Flora. "And yet I have been interested." "For that very reason, I suppose," said Mr. Murray. "There is something breathing out, both from the story and the day, which we all know we want,--unless we have got it already." "But, Mr. Murray, one cannot live in the world and be quiet," said Flora. "There is a promise or two, however, to that effect. 'When He giveth quietness, then who can make trouble?' And the Master said to His disciples, 'Peace I leave with you.' 'He that cometh to me shall never hunger.'" "I wish I knew what it means!" said Flora, furtively getting rid of a tear which had somehow found its way into her eye.