“Yes, except my brother: he was our leader, and they served him worse. I do not think the children were branded.”
“Children!”
“Ay, there were eight children with us.”
“One minds one’s manners when one has the angels in company, or else maybe I should speak my mind a bit straight. And what was it for, child?”
“They said we were heretics.”
“I’ll be bound they did! But what had you done?”
“My brother and some others had preached the Gospel of Christ in the villages round, and further away.”
“What mean you by that, now?”
“The good news that men are sinners, and that Jesus died for sinners.”
“Ah! I used to know all about that once. But now—He’s forgotten me.”