If only Neville had looked at Elinor! but he steered as straight for destruction as any rudderless bark in a storm on a rocky coast.
"This day," he went on, "the friar asked the goodwife had she any meat."
"'Devil a taste!' she said.
"'Well,' quoth the friar, 'have you a whetstone?'
"'Yes.'
"'Marry, I'll eat that.'
"So when she had brought the whetstone, he bade her fetch a frying-pan, and when he had it, he set it on the fire and laid the whetstone in it.
"'Cock's body!' said the poor wife, 'you'll burn the pan!'
"'No! no!' quoth the friar; 'you shall see a miracle. It shall not burn at all if you bring me some eggs.'