Page:The Rebellion in the Cevennes (Volume 1).djvu/89

Rh clanging after him, and four pistols were stuck in a black leather girdle. On his entrance he approached the host, and said in a deep, sonorous voice, "Pardon me, my lord, the alarm I must have caused you, I was benighted, pursued and in danger, therefore I ventured, certainly rather uuceremoniously, to claim the shelter of your house."

"Oh heavens, it is the terrible hermit!" exclaimed the miller in a hoarse voice, "I am he, indeed," replied the gigantic figure, "but why terrible, my young simpleton? I may surely be permitted to show my face every where, presumptuous fellow; and I have shown it before other physiognomies than yours.—Your pardon! Sir Baron, if I give way to my displeasure at the presumption of this hireling. Yes, reverend sir, I am he, who under the name of the hermit is not unknown in this part of the country; in this character I wished to do homage to my God, but an envious fate thwarts me. To-day my troop has been