The man who stepped into the house gave at the threshold a last shake to his traveling boots, which were so covered with snow that he seemed to be clad in white hose. He was of a robust frame, but squat and square, in the full strength of manhood, jovial and of an open yet determined face. Still uneasy, Madalen did not take her eyes from him, and twice she made a sign to her son to return to her side. Removing the hood from his thick, ice-pearled coat, the peddler laid down his bulky bale, a heavy burden that, however, seemed light to his sturdy shoulders. He then removed his cap and stepped towards Araim, the oldest member of the household: "Long life and happy days to hospitable people! This is Hevin the Peddler's wish to yourself and your family. I am a Breton. I was going to Falgoet, when the night and the tempest overtook me on the beach. I saw the light of this house from a distance; I came, I called, and the door was opened to me. Thanks to you all, thanks to hospitable people!" "Madalen, what gives you that absent and pensive look? Do not the peddler's pleasant face and kind words set you at ease?" "Father, to-morrow rests with God--I feel all the more uneasy since the stranger's arrival." "Speak lower, lower still, dear daughter. The poor fellow might overhear you and be grieved. Oh! these mothers! these mothers!" And addressing the stranger: "Draw near the fire, you sturdy peddler. The night is rough. Karadeucq, while we wait for supper, fetch a pot of hydromel for our guest." "I accept, good old man! The fire will warm me from without, the hydromel from within." "You seem to be a gay stroller." "So I am. Joy is my companion; however long or rough my road may be, joy never tires of following me." "Here--drink--" "Your health, good mother and sweet girl; to the health of you all--" And clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth: "This is the best hydromel I ever tasted. A cordial hospitality renders the best of potions still better." "Do you come from afar, gay stroller?" "Do you mean since I started this morning or since the beginning of my journey?" "Yes, since the beginning of your journey." "It is now two months since I departed from Paris." "From the city of Paris?" "Does that surprise you, good old man?" "What! Cross half Gaul in such times as these, when the cursed Franks overrun the country?" "I am an old roadster. For the last twenty years I have crossed Gaul from end to end. Is the main road hazardous, I take the by-path. Is the plain risky, I go over the mountain. Is it dangerous to travel by day, I journey by night." "And have you not been rifled a hundred times by those thievish Franks?"