not one of her sort.” Her head drooped with shame and she added pleadingly, “Mother has used these plants for making tea for sick folks — but — ”

He rode to her side and lifted the unwieldy load to his own horse, “Be ye wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove,” he said, laughing.

“How do you mean?”

“You were wise. You did right where I would only have done harm and been brutal. Can’t you see these have already served their purpose?”

“I don’t understand.”

“You told her to get them because you wished to make her think she was doing something for her husband, didn’t you? And you