‘Thou didst notice who sat on either side of me, Sir John, the which I omitted, but didst thou also note the gossips who sat on the bench before me?’ ‘Nay, yea--one was the Bailey’s wife and the other--the Saints bless me--the other----’ ‘The other was the Miller’s.’ ‘Yea, yea.’ ‘They are the two most notorious gossips in the town, good Sir John, as thou knowest full well. Their tongues drop adders and vipers, their mouths are full of backbiting and scandal, so that there is no man or woman in this town, wed or unwed, but hath suffered from their malice and slander. Even of thyself, good father, I have heard them say full often that----’ ‘Pass that over, pass that over,’ interrupted Master Parson hastily. ‘Yea, it is shameful, but I will pass that over,’ said Simon. ‘As these two old women sat before me during the Blessed Mass they chattered together loudly like monkeys, how Cicely’s petticoat was shorter than it had been, how Sir Robert was too often to see the Smith’s bonny daughter, how ’twas somedeal late for Tom the Hedger and Rose of the Crown to patch their sinful bodies together in Holy Matrimony, and a great deal more of such scandalous stuff as made my ears burn and my eyes water to harken to it, so that I could not for their infernal cackling keep my thoughts on thy words or my devotions. Sorely was I vexed with them, and, groaning in spirit, I turned my eyes towards Heaven to invoke the aid of the Blessed Saints, when lo! upon the great beam just above the heads of the two impious women I saw a little black Devil.’ ‘Devil?’ quoth the Parson.