_Fra._ In that hut. [_STRANGER goes into the Hut._] A good master, though one almost loses the use of speech by living with him. A man kind and clear--though I cannot understand him. He rails against the whole world, and yet no beggar leaves his door unsatisfied. I have now lived three years with him, and yet I know not who he is. A hater of society, no doubt; but not by Providence intended to be so. Misanthropy in his head, not in his heart. _Enter the STRANGER and PETER, from the Hut._ _Pet._ Pray walk on. _Stra._ [_To FRANCIS._] Fool! _Fra._ So soon returned! _Stra._ What should I do there? _Fra._ Did you not find it as I said? _Stra._ This lad I found. _Fra._ What has he to do with your charity? _Stra._ The old man and he understand each other perfectly well. _Fra._ How? _Stra._ What were this boy and the countryman doing? _Fra._ [_Smiling, and shaking his head._] Well, you shall hear. [_To PETER._] Young man, what were you doing in that hut? _Pet._ Doing!--Nothing. _Fra._ Well, but you couldn't go there for nothing? _Pet._ And why not, pray?--But I did go there for nothing, though.--Do you think one must be paid for every thing?--If Mrs. Haller were to give me but a smiling look, I'd jump up to my neck in the great pond for nothing. _Fra._ It seems then Mrs. Haller sent you? _Pet._ Why, yes--But I'm not to talk about it. _Fra._ Why so? _Pet._ How should I know? "Look you," says Mrs. Haller, "Master Peter, be so good as not to mention it to any body." [_With much consequence._] "Master Peter, be so good"--Hi! hi! hi!--"Master Peter, be so"--Hi! hi! hi!-- _Fra._ Oh! that is quite a different thing. Of course you must be silent then. _Pet._ I know that; and so I am too. For I told old Tobias--says I, "Now, you're not to think as how Mrs. Haller sent the money; for I shall not say a word about that as long as I live," says I. _Fra._ There you were very right. Did you carry him much money? _Pet._ I don't know; I didn't count it. It was in a bit of a green purse. Mayhap it may be some little matter that she has scraped together in the last fortnight. _Fra._ And why just in the last fortnight? _Pet._ Because, about a fortnight since, I carried him some money before. _Fra._ From Mrs. Haller? _Pet._ Ay, sure; who else, think you? Father's not such a fool. He says it is our bounden duty, as christians, to take care of our money, and not give any thing away, especially in summer; for then, says he, there's herbs and roots enough in conscience to satisfy all the reasonable hungry poor. But I say father's wrong, and Mrs. Haller's right. _Fra._ Yes, yes.--But this Mrs. Haller seems a strange woman, Peter. _Pet._ Ay, at times she is plaguy odd. Why, she'll sit, and cry you a whole day through, without any one's knowing why.--Ay, and yet, somehow or other, whenever she cries, I always cry too--without knowing why. _Fra._ [_To the STRANGER._] Are you satisfied? _Stra._ Rid me of that babbler.