"Think of his effrontery! Does he imagine that God or man has forgotten the mystery of that night in Martinmas ?" The blacksmith realized that some response was expected from him.

With eyes bent on the ground, he muttered, "He's getting above with himself, sir." "Getting above himself! I should think so, forsooth.

But verily a reckoning day is at hand.

Woe to him who carries a load of guilt at his heart and thinks that no man knows of it.

Better a millstone were about his neck, and he were swallowed up in the great deep." The parson turned away.