Close upon a couple of hours passed away, during which time Mace's heart went out to her lover, for she could not control it; but she herself sat silently sobbing in the corner of her room behind the snowy window curtains, whence she could dimly see the figure of Gil gazing up, the misty starry light of the summer night making it just visible, till tired out and heart-sick she saw it gradually melt away as he went back across the bridge to keep the appointment arranged with Wat Kilby. Volume 1, Chapter XII. HOW MASTER PEASEGOOD ENTERTAINED HIS FRIEND. Master Joseph Peasegood's little parsonage was a humble quiet spot, and accorded well with the moderate income he received as clerk of Roehurst. There were four rooms, and the roof was thatched over the bedchamber casements, which looked like two bright eyes peering from beneath a pair of overhanging brows. There was a pretty garden, in which the parson often worked, sheltered from the lane by a thick hedge, beneath which was his favourite seat, where he sat and read, with a rustic table before him, and a cherry-tree overhead to shade him from the sun. It was a noble cherry-tree, that bore the blackest and juiciest of fruit, though the parson never ate it, the birds taking all the trouble off his hands. Master Peasegood was standing at his door, looking very red and warm, for he had been having a verbal encounter with Mistress Hilberry, his thin acid housekeeper and general servant in one. It began in this wise, the lady being, according to her own account, the most humble and unpresuming of women, but all the same taking upon herself to say things that a less unpresuming person would not have dared. "I don't say anything master," she had exclaimed sharply, "because it would be impertinence in me, but I can't help thinking that Sir Thomas and Master Cobbe, and all the principal people, will be annoyed to see you back-sliding in this way." "Tut--tut--thou silly woman," said the parson. "Father Brisdone is a good and worthy man, and I may convert him to the right faith." "Mind he does not convert thee, master," said the housekeeper. "These priests are as cunning as old sin. Why, I know on good authority that he's made very welcome at the Pool-house, and if they don't mind he'll carry 'em all to Rome." "Not this hot weather, poor things, I hope," said Master Peasegood. "It's warm enough here; I don't know what it would be there." "Much hotter, I know," said the woman, meaningly, as she went on spreading the table with the requisites for a meal--cold pink bacon, a tempting loaf, rich yellow butter, and a couple of ale-horns, with other requisites for the evening repast. Master Peasegood had an angry reply upon his lips, but he wiped it off with his handkerchief, and walked to the window to see if his expected guest was on the way, while Mistress Hilberry went on talking. "They've seen the lights again, Master Peasegood." "Tut, woman: fie on thee! How can you believe such things."