He, too, had had the reward of his relief. If he was not
made sound again, he was relieved and heartened. He had said that, if
he was spared, he was hopeful to stretch to his height again, which
had been six feet all but an inch. The stranger, said he, had put him
in the way of new life, and whatever he might mean--whether that he
were a Salvationist or a quack doctor--he would say no more. After
that, a young woman went to him to get him to name the father of her
child, and returned, and was modest for a month, and a good mother
when the time came. And true it was that her chap came forward and
saw the vicar about it, and that they were asked in church. Out of
such things as these his fame grew.
The hunt struck upon him now and again, when the hounds in full cry
streamed down his steep escarpments and threatened panic to his
browsing goats. At such times he would rise up, white-robed and calm,
as stay with a quiet gesture the scattering beasts. The whips would
cap him, and the Master with his field find themselves in company of
an equal. For his ease of manner never left him, nor that persuasive
smile which made you think that the sun was come out. He had none of
the airs of mystagogue, but talked to men, as he did to beasts, in
the speech which was habitual to them.
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