We pass over the greetings and questionings, the exclamations and rejoicings on the part of the whole household. Jack soon found himself seated at the family supper table, bountifully spread as in old days, with as many of his favorite dishes as Cicely could provide at such short notice.
"You did not expect to find a step-dame, did you, Jack?" asked his father.
"Why, no, not exactly," replied Jack. "And yet I was no ways surprised, but greatly pleased to find that you had taken our good Madam Barbara to wife. You know I always liked the notion."
"You see the house was very lonely, latterly," said Master Lucas; "and we were both growing older. Then the convents were all broken up, and the nuns had leave to do what they would, so I even broke the matter to the lady, and she was content to take up her living with us. Then our good Father John grew infirm and lonely in his house at Holford, and so we brought him home here, where he is as happy as the day is long. His mind hath grown somewhat dazed the last year, some time ago, and, above all things, he loves the Bible readings. Father John, do you not know our Jack—Jack Lucas, whom you did so much for?"
"Ay, ay," returned the old man readily. "I remember Jack Lucas. A towardly boy he was, and full of good gifts, though he was careless in throwing stones, I remember. They said he was a heretic and that the devil carried him off, but I never believed that."
"If he did, he brought him back," said the baker, laughing, "for here he sits, as you see."
"But Jack was only a lad, and this is a grown man," returned the old priest in a puzzled tone.
"He will get hold of the matter presently," said Dame Lucas, as we must now call her. "I would not trouble him. Never mind, dear father, you will understand all by and by."
"And where have you been all this time, that we have not heard from you?" asked Master Lucas. "We have written again and again, but have heard nothing, and had almost given you up for lost."
"I have been in many lands," replied Jack. "I have been hearing medical lectures in Padua and Milan, and travelling all over Germany—even so far as Hungary and Bohemia. But I have my diploma now, and can settle where like; so I have even come to see whether this town of Bridgewater can afford a living to a poor surgeon."