He repeated it. Smiling and curtseying, she replied--
"Yes, sir; and I am sorry for it. Lord bless your handsome face,
though you be a stranger gentleman, it does one's heart good to see
you so devoutly given!"
Thaddeus blushed at this personal compliment, though it came from the
lips of a wrinkled old woman; and begging permission to assist her
down the stairs, he asked when service would begin again.
"At three o'clock, sir, and may Heaven bless the mother who bore so
pious a son!"
While the poor woman spoke, she raised her eyes with a melancholy
resignation. The count, touched with her words and manner, almost
unconsciously to himself, continued by her side as she hobbled down
the street.
His eyes were fixed on the ground, until somebody pressing against
him, made him look round. He saw that his aged companion had just
knocked at the door of a mean-looking house, and that she and himself
were surrounded by nearly a dozen people, besides boys who through
curiosity had followed them from the church porch.
"Ah! sweet sir," cried she, "these folks are staring at so fine a
gentleman taking notice of age and poverty."
Thaddeus was uneasy at the inquisitive gaze of the bystanders; and
his companion observing the fluctuation of his countenance, added, as
the door was opened by a little girl,
"Will your honor walk in out of the rain, and warm yourself by my
poor fire?"
He hesitated a moment; then, accepting her invitation, bent his head
to get under the humble door-way, and following her through a neatly-
sanded passage, entered a small but clean kitchen.
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