and his friend in Thee, and his
enemy for Thy sake.'--AUGUSTINE._

_'Eternity is just the real world
for which we were made, and which
we enter through the door of
love.'--RUFUS M. JONES._

V. 'THE MAN IN LEATHER BREECHES'

22nd Dec. 1651.

'Rough Moll, the worst-tempered woman in all Yorkshire.' It was thus
her neighbours were wont to speak behind her back of Mistress Moll,
the keeper of the 'George and Dragon' Inn at Hutton Cranswick near
Driffield in the East Riding. Never a good word or a kind deed had she
for anyone, since her husband had been called away to serve in King
Charles's army. In former days, when mine host was at home, the
neighbours had been encouraged to come early and stay late at night
gossipping over the home-brewed ale he fetched for them so cheerily;
for Moll's husband was an open-hearted, pleasant-mannered man, the
very opposite of his shrewish wife. But now, since his departure for
the wars, the neighbours got to the bottom of their mugs with as
little delay as possible, vowing to themselves in whispers that they
would seek refuge elsewhere another night, since Moll's sour looks
went near to give a flavour of vinegar even to the ale she brewed.
Thus, as speedily as might be, they escaped from the reach of their
hostess's sharp tongue.

But the lasses of the inn, who were kept to do the rough work of the
house, found it harder to escape from the harsh rule of their
mistress. And for little Jan, Moll's four-year-old son, there was
still less possibility of escape from the tyrant whom he called by the
name of Mother.

Nothing of true mother-love had ever yet been kindled in Rough Moll's
heart. From the very beginning she had fiercely resented being
burdened with what she called 'the plague of a brat.' Still, so long
as his father remained at home, the child's life had not been an
unhappy one. As soon as ever he could stand alone he drew himself up
by his father's trousers, with an outstretched hand to be grasped in
the big fist. As soon as he could toddle, he spent his days wandering
round the Inn after his daddy, knowing that directly he grew tired
daddy would be ready to stop whatever he might be doing, in order to
lift the small boy up in his arms or to give him a ride on his knee.

'Wasting your time over the brat and leaving the Tavern to go to rack
and ruin'--Moll would say, with a sneer, as