"It is a large place, no doubt, and we have as yet seen but a small portion thereof," replied the merchant. "There are the far-off parts of India and China, and those lands over the sea which have been discovered of late by the Spaniards, and which are described as a kind of earthly paradise by those who have seen them. But here we are, as I think, at our destination. Are not those the roofs of Bridgewater?" "They are so, and that tall steeple is that of the Church of St. Mary. I will guide you to the house of Sir William Leavett, which is by the waterside. I could wish our journey were to be longer." "I shall remain with my cousin for a month or more, and hope to see you many times," said the merchant, "as well as to make the acquaintance of your good father. And is this my cousin's house? Truly it is a modest one." "That large house farther up the street should be by right," said Jack, "but the old priest of St. Mary's lives in it, and hath done for forty years. He is very old and infirm, and our Father William will not let the old man be disturbed. He never thinks of himself or his own comfort." "He was always self-sacrificing, sometimes almost recklessly so," replied the merchant. "Well, my young friend, I must bid you farewell for a time, but I will see you again. Remember what I have said to you, and be careful, for your own sake and that of others; yet let not your care lead you to the baseness of denying your Lord, be the risk what it may. Better a hundred deaths in one than that. May the Lord have you in His keeping." Arrived in Bridgewater, Jack could almost have thought his absence a dream, everything looked so entirely unchanged. On entering the shop, however, he noticed two or three alterations. A great bowpot of sweet flowers and herbs stood on one end of the counter. The cakes and other matters in which Master Lucas dealt were arranged with more than usual neatness and taste, and an elderly kind-faced woman, dressed in black, whom Jack had never seen before, was arranging on a tray in the window some confections of a more delicious and choice description than Jack had ever seen there before. She started as he entered, and nearly let fall her tray. "Lady! How you startled me, lad!" she exclaimed in a brisk, cheery voice. "You will be wanting Master Lucas now?" "Is my father well, madam?" asked Jack, using unconsciously the title he would have employed in addressing a lady of rank, for there was something superior in the stranger's whole appearance. "Good lack! You are then young Master Jack come home again. Your father will be right glad to see you. Here, Anne! Dame Cicely! Here is Master Jack come home."