As for Paul, he had seen and heard little of the new religion, as he called it, and looked upon it as a terrible and deadly sin.  At the same time, he had knocked about the world enough to have won a larger toleration for all sorts and conditions of men than he would have done had he remained master of the ancestral estates at home; and after a momentary thrill of dismay and repulsion, he decided to take no notice of what he had inadvertently overheard.

These people had been kind and friendly.  If they desired him to remain a short time beneath their roof until his wounds were healed, he saw no particular reason against doing so.  A spell of rest and quiet would suit him and Sultan very well, and with their private beliefs he had no concern; the less he knew of them the better.

So he finished his toilet, whistling a gay tune to drown the sound of the unauthorized prayer nigh at hand; and when he had finished he opened his door, and made his way down the narrow, winding stairs, into the great kitchen he had entered the previous evening.

The big place looked cheerful enough this bright morning:  the door standing wide open to the October sunlight—­the huge fire of logs crackling and blazing on the wide hearth and roaring up the vast open chimney—­the rude metal and wooden utensils as clean as scrubbing could make them—­and the brick floor clean enough to eat off, as the saying goes.  And this cleanliness was not so common in those days of partial civilization as it is now:  there were farmhouses enough and to spare in the England of that day where men and animals herded together amid filth that we should hardly condemn pigs to in this enlightened age.  Wherefore Paul was both pleased and surprised by all he saw, and his dim misgivings fled away promptly.

In the wide inglenook before the oak settle a small table had been drawn up, and upon this table stood one wooden platter, and some homely viands sufficiently tempting to a hungry man, and a huge joram of home-brewed ale.  Paul did not doubt for a moment that this was his own breakfast thus temptingly spread for him; and he was fully disposed to do it ample justice, for he had eaten little during the past four-and-twenty hours, and had ridden far and done some good hard fighting to boot.  But he did not like to sit down uninvited, and as he stood warming his hands at the pleasant blaze, there tripped into the room the girl he had last clearly seen, gun in hand, in the forest, and she greeted him with the prettiest smile and blush.

“Good morrow, fair sir.  I am pleased indeed to see you thus afoot, and hope you feel little the worse for your brave encounter yesterday.  We know not how to thank you; in truth, I scarce slept all last night, thinking what my fate must have been but for your timely rescue.  But I pray you be seated, and try this pie of mother’s own making, with a slice of home-cured ham (father is a great rearer of pigs; and the brothers of Leighs Priory, who know what good living is, always come to him for his primest bacon and ham).  You look as if you needed a good meal, for your face is but wan this morning.  Mother scarce looked to see you on your feet so soon.”