'Then,' she said, 'we must see in these birds and blossoms, and that great blossom in the sky, so many prophets of a peaceful time and a better country, sent to remind us that we pass away and go to them.' 'Nay, my dear mistress Dorothy!' returned the all but obsequious doctor; 'such thoughts do not well befit your age, or rather, I would say, your youth. Life is before you, and life is good. These evil times will go by, the king shall have his own again, the fanatics will be scourged as they deserve, and the church will rise like the phoenix from the ashes of her purification.' 'But how many will lie out in the fields all the year long, yet never see blossoms or hear nightingales more!' said Dorothy. 'Such will have died martyrs,' rejoined the doctor. 'On both sides?' suggested Dorothy. Again for a moment the good man stood checked. He had not even thought of the dead on the other side. 'That cannot be,' he said. And Dorothy looked up again at the moon. But she listened no more to the songs of the nightingales, and they left the orchard together in silence. 'Come, Rowland, we must not be found here alone,' said Amanda, who saw them go. 'But tell me one thing first: is mistress Dorothy Vaughan indeed your cousin?' 'She is indeed. Her mother and mine were cousins german--sisters' children.' 'I thought it could not be a near cousinship. You are not alike at all. Hear me, Rowland, but let it die in your ear--I love not mistress Dorothy.' 'And the reason, lovely hater? "Is not the maiden fair to see?" as the old song says. I do not mean that she is fair as some are fair, but she will pass; she offends not.' 'She is fair enough--not beautiful, not even pleasing; but, to be just, the demure look she puts on may bear the fault of that. Rowland, I would not speak evil of any one, but your cousin is a hypocrite. She is false at heart, and she hates me. Trust me, she but bides her time to let me know it--and you too, my Rowland.' 'I am sure you mistake her, Amanda,' said Scudamore. 'Her looks are but modest, and her words but shy, for she came hither from a lonely house. I believe she is honest and good.'