"Well, thou hast a bold heart, then. I wish thee joy of thy task."
"Lives she all by herself?"
Richard colored. "Nay, her granddaughter, Matilda, is an angel if ever one walked this earth. She does devote herself to the old woman, and yet never is word of complaint suffered to pass her lips."
"And that is all?"
"Oh," he replied, with a shrug of his shoulders, "no one counts the other granddaughter, a sullen, proud beauty, the illegitimate daughter of the old Baron de Leaufort, uncle of the present one, and long since gone to Hell if ever sinner went there."
"Poor woman! she seems to have had trouble enough."
"Trouble! Ay! And yet, alas, the tale is not a rare one. It is hard to have faith in the goodness of God when one sounds all the misery on earth."
"The works of God are hidden among men," replied Annys, gravely, as they came to one of the humblest of the wattled huts that made up the village, and paused before it.
"'They shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.' The poor shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Ha! ha!"
The voice came from within.