"I shall do no such thing," said Mary Dean. "Much beholden to you for your advice, neighbor; but I am not yet so poor as to turn a poor shipwrecked sailor out of my house. I wonder you dare think of such a thing after the sermon Sir William preached to us only yesterday about the poor man that fell among the thieves." "Oh, Sir William, Sir William," returned the woman, scornfully. "Sir William had better look out for himself. He is an arrant Gospeller and Lutheran, unless he is much miscalled; and we all know what that comes to. Just as you like, but you are a fool for your pains. The next time your children want bread, don't come to me, that's all." "I am not likely to do so, since the only time I ever asked you for anything you gave me a flat refusal," said Mary Brent. "I trust my children will never be the poorer for my kindness to this poor lad, but if they are, I can't help it." "And if they should be, you have enough of warm friends who will not let them or you want, my good Mary," said Jack, who had stood quietly listening to this conversation. Dame Higgins started violently, as did Mary herself, for in the heat of discussion and the gathering twilight, they had not noticed Jack's approach. "Is that you, Master Jack? I am right glad to see you," said Mary. "I felt sure you would come, or I should not have been so bold as to send." "You did quite right," said Jack. "The folks at home have sent some delicacies for the sick man, and also something for your own table. Let me carry it in for you, the basket is heavy." "Good lack, so it is," said Dame Higgins, casting an envious eye on the contents of the basket, as Jack lifted the clean white cloth which covered it. "What luck some folks have, to be sure! Such baskets never come to our house." "But I thought your motto was that every herring should hang by its own head," said Jack, as he entered the house. Dame Higgins only replied by a prodigious sniff, and some remarks; apparently spoken to the air, concerning folk who knew which side their bread was buttered, and how to turn their charities to good account. "Dame Higgins is out of humor," observed Jack. "She is seldom anything else, save when she has made an uncommonly good bargain, or some unexpected gain hath come to her," replied Mary Brent. "She and her husband seem to care for nothing but saving and making money. I have been poor enough, as you know; but I never saw the day I would exchange lots with Joan Higgins; with all her wealth, she is poorer this day, than ever I was in my worst times." "She would always be poor, if she had the revenues of the cardinal himself," said Jack. "But what is this about your lodger?"