"It is difficult, very often, Maggie," her uncle said smiling. "Human testimony is a strange thing, and very susceptible of getting confused."
"What will you read next, Ditto? About the minister who was converted?"
"Oh, no," said Flora. "Let the catechism alone. Haven't you got some more Saxon stories, Meredith?"
"Plenty. Which shall it be, Mr. Murray?"
"Saxon, for this time."
"'THE REMMIGA FARM.
"'As in my former narrations I have told of the glorious victory which with God's help Landolf gained over the old priest Heinrich and his children, I will tell you now of a third victory which the Lord granted him. An hour from here was a farm which in the chronicle is called the Remmiga manor; it was inhabited by a free man named Walo. His wife's name was Odela, sometimes the chronicle calls her Adela. The name is one, for the word Adel is often written and spoken as Odel in the old manuscripts. The pair had a son, who bore his father's name.
"'As owner of a head manor, Walo was at the same time priest of the community, which dignity always went along with the possession of a chief manor among the old Saxons. All the councils and courts of the community were held under his presidency; he brought the sacrifices thereto pertaining; and it is easy to imagine what consideration on all these accounts he enjoyed. This consideration was still further heightened by the fact of his knowledge of the old laws and customs, and by his incorruptible truth and uprightness. Like Heinrich, he too was at the beginning a determined enemy of the Christian religion. Landolf visited him frequently and told him about the Lord Jesus, but Walo's ear was deaf to the truth of the gospel. He knew from old legends that once upon a time two brothers, the white and the black Ewald, who had preached Christianity among the Saxons, had been by them sacrificed to their idols. And so, with Saxon tenacity holding fast to the old traditions, he told Landolf to his face that in justice he ought to suffer the same fate which had fallen upon the two Ewalds; and that it could not be carried out upon him, simply because the decision of the people, taken by the national assembly at the stone-houses, once taken became a law, according to which the free preaching of the gospel was permitted. Landolf did not allow himself to be daunted by this, but continued his visits and his teachings; for he observed that Walo, in spite of all that, always listened with attention when he told about the Lord Christ.
"'One day Landolf came again to Remmiga. He found Walo sitting in front of his dwelling, by the place of sacrifice, where the assemblies of the district were wont to be held, still and sunk in his own thoughts. Near him stood his wife Odela and his little son, who was perhaps twelve years old. The boy ran joyously to meet Landolf and said—"It is nice that you have come. I have just been asking father to let me go away with you; I would like to hear a great deal about the Lord Jesus; I want to be His disciple. Mother is glad; and," he whispered softly, "she loves the Son of God too; but father feels very troubled, and don't like it; he says he has lost his wife and his son to-day!" Odela gave Landolf her hand and spoke aloud. "Yes, I love Jesus; I want to be His disciple; but Walo will have none of it; and so I too will go with you, that I may hear about Jesus and be baptized."
"'Landolf hardly knew where he stood. Until this time Odela and her son had listened in silence when he talked about Jesus, but never a word had they spoken. Now they told him how, while he talked, the Lord Jesus had so grown in their hearts that they could not get loose from Him again; and they did not wish to get loose; for they wanted to be saved and to come into the Christian's heaven, where Jesus is and the holy angels.