And so they came slowly down the Rhine, sometimes drifting a few miles down the stream; but in general walking by the banks preaching, and teaching, and confessing sinners in the towns and villages; and they reached the town of Dusseldorf.
There was the little quay where Gerard and Denys had taken boat up the Rhine, The friars landed on it. There were the streets, there was “The Silver Lion.” Nothing had changed but he, who walked through it barefoot, with his heart calm and cold, his hands across his breast, and his eyes bent meekly on the ground, a true son of Dominic and Holy Church.
CHAPTER LXXXI
THE HEARTH
“Eli,” said Catherine, “answer me one question like a man, and I'll ask no more to-day. What is wormwood?”
Eli looked a little helpless at this sudden demand upon his faculties; but soon recovered enough to say it was something that tasted main bitter.
“That is a fair answer, my man, but not the one I look for.”
“Then answer it yourself.”
“And shall. Wormwood is—to have two in the house a-doing nought, but waiting for thy shoes and mine,” Eli groaned. The shaft struck home.