'GOD'S PEACE' 313
saying, 'Here's the strange gentleman; you see, father, he has come after all.' His heavy brown hand pressed mine cordially, and immediately I felt at home in the miller's house.
Never have I felt so at home anywhere. I sat thinking : ' Have I seen all this before in a dream, or is it a dream which my soul's longing has con- jured up.' ' It seemed to me I had lived for many years amongst these curious surroundings, in this cabin which looks like a wreck thrown up on the land of this hospitable hill. I seem to have known so long this old blind man with his wise talk, and this young girl who calmly adorns and makes cosy our hermit existence.
I listened to the old man's tales, while filling my joyous soul with Greta's image. Dressed in a simple grey indoor gown and a coloured peasant apron, she went in and out, bringing us sandwiches and fruit-wine of her own making, afterwards filling our pipes and mixing our toddy from old West-Indian rum. Every time she returned, sun- shine seemed to stream into the room. That the old man also felt this I could see from the glint of light which her entrance brought to his eyes.
While Greta was getting these things ready, the miller said : ' Before I settled down here, I travelled far and wide. I steered ships across the seas both for my own and others' benefit. But the day came when I thought I had had enough. I had seen more than I cared to see, times became bad for sailing ships, and I did not think I would make
