I had a glimmering of fear of what might follow; of anxiety as to the remedy which this new age might offer for the missing of something one might set one's heart on.

But now Dick rose to his feet and cried out in his hearty manner: "Neighbour Ellen, are you quarrelling with the guest, or are you worrying him to tell you things which he cannot properly explain to our ignorance ?" "Neither, dear neighbour," she said.

"I was so far from quarrelling with him that I think I have been making him good friends both with himself and me.

Is it so, dear guest ?" she said, looking down at me with a delightful smile of confidence in being understood.
"Indeed it is," said I.
"Well, moreover," she said, "I must say for him that he has explained himself to me very well indeed, so that I quite understand him." "All right," quoth Dick.

"When I first set eyes on you at Runnymede I knew that there was something wonderful in your keenness of wits.