The house seemed no longer a fit place
for me, and her husband was as one distracted; yet I had nowhere else to
go to.
It was then that a woman whom I had seen before and liked little came to
my assistance. Her name was Elizabeth Gaunt.
She was an Anabaptist and, as I thought, fanatical. She spent her life
in good works, and cared nothing for dress, or food, or pleasure. Her
manner to me had been stern, and I thought her poor and of no account;
for what money she had was given mostly to others. But when she knew of
my trouble she offered me a place in her house, bargaining only that I
should help her in the work of it.
"My maid that I had has left me to be married," she said; "'twould be
waste to hire another while you sit idle."
I was in too evil a plight to be particular, so that I went with her
willingly. And this I must confess, that the tasks she set me were
irksome enough, but yet I was happier with her than I had been with my
cousin Alstree, for I had the less time for evil and regretful thoughts.
Now it befell that one night, when we were alone together, there came a
knocking at the house door.
[Sidenote: A Strange Visitor]
I went to open it, and found a tall man standing on the threshold. I was
used to those that came to seek charity, who were mostly women or
children, the poor, the sick, or the old. But this man, as I saw by the
light I carried with me, was sturdy and well built; moreover, the cloak
that was wrapped about him was neither ragged or ill-made, only the hat
that he had upon his head was crushed in the brim.
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