In return for this, Kate bestowed on Catherine one of the prettiest presents in nature--the composite kiss, i.e., she imprinted on her cheek a single kiss, which said-- 1. Quite correct. 2. Good, clever mother, for guessing so right and quick. 3. How sweet for us twain to be' of one mind again after never having been otherwise. 4. Etc. “Now then, speak thy mind, child, Gerard is not here. Alas, what am I saying? would to Heaven he were.” “Well then, mother, she is comely, and wrongs her picture but little.” “Eh, dear; hark to young folk! I am for good acts, not good looks. Loves she my boy as he did ought to be loved?” “Sevenbergen is farther from the Stadthouse than we are,” said Kate thoughtfully; “yet she was there afore me.” Catherine nodded intelligence. “Nay, more, she had got him out ere I came. Ay, down from the captive's tower.” Catherine shook her head incredulously. “The highest tower for miles! It is not feasible.” “'Tis sooth though. She and an old man she brought found means and wit to send him up a rope. There 'twas dangling from his prison, and our Giles went up it. When first I saw it hang, I said, 'This is glamour.' But when the frank lass's arms came round me, and her bosom' did beat on mine, and her cheeks wet, then said I, ''Tis not glamour: 'tis love.' For she is not like me, but lusty and able; and, dear heart, even I, poor frail creature, do feel sometimes as I could move the world for them I love: I love you, mother. And she loves Gerard.” “God bless her for't! God bless her!” “But “But what, lamb?” “Her love, is it for very certain honest? 'Tis most strange; but that very thing, which hath warmed your heart, hath somewhat cooled mine towards her; poor soul. She is no wife, you know, mother, when all is done.” “Humph! They have stood at the altar together.” “Ay, but they went as they came, maid and bachelor.” “The parson, saith he so?” “Nay, for that I know not.” “Then I'll take no man's word but his in such a tangled skein.” After some reflection she added, “Natheless art right, girl; I'll to Sevenbergen alone. A wife I am but not a slave. We are all in the dark here. And she holds the clue. I must question her, and no one by; least of all you. I'll not take any lily to a house Wi' a spot, no, not to a palace o' gold and silver.” The more Catherine pondered this conversation, the more she felt drawn towards Margaret, and moreover “she was all agog” with curiosity, a potent passion with us all, and nearly omnipotent with those who like Catherine, do not slake it with reading. At last, one fine day, after dinner, she whispered to Kate, “Keep the house from going to pieces, an ye can;” and donned her best kirtle and hood, and her scarlet clocked hose and her new shoes, and trudged briskly off to Sevenbergen, troubling no man's mule.