d house was no holier than another place, and that house was
not the Church, but the people which Christ is head of. And so, after
a while that I had made a stand among the people, the priests came up
to me and I warned them to repent. And one of them said I was mad, and
so they turned away. But many people were glad at the hearing of the
Truth declared unto them that day, which they received gladly.

'And there came one Edward Ward, and he said my very eyes pierced
through him, and he was convinced of God's everlasting truth and lived
and died in it, and many more was convinced there at that time.'

Convinced they were indeed, as they had never been convinced in all
their former lives; and now that they had found the teacher they
wanted, the hungry, thirsty Seekers were not going to let him go
again. Almost overturning the booths of the Fair, these solemn,
sad-eyed men jostled each other like children in their endeavours to
reach their new friend.

There at the back of the crowd solid John Camm, the prosperous
'statesman' farmer of Cammsgill, near Preston Patrick, could be seen
waving his staff like a schoolboy to attract the preacher's attention
as soon as the sermon stopped. 'Come home, young Sir! Come home with
me,' John Camm called out lustily.

But ruddy-cheeked John Audland, the linen-draper of Crosslands, had
been quicker than the elderly farmer. He was a happy bridegroom that
summer, and bringing his wife with him for the first time to Sedbergh
Fair. She--a Seeker like himself--had been known in her maiden days as
gentle Anne Newby of Kendal town: yet the ways of the dalesmen and of
the country people were in a measure strange to her, seeing all her
girlhood had been spent at her aunt's house in London town, where she
had received her education. Possibly she had looked forward not
without dread to the rough merry-making of the Fair; but she too had
kindled at the Stranger's message. Her shyness fled from her as, with
her hand locked fast in her husband's, the two pressed forward. The
crowd seemed to melt away at sight of their radiant faces, and almost
before the sermon was ended the young couple found themselves face to
face with the preacher. The same longing was in both their hearts: the
same words rose unbidden to their lips: 'Come back with us to
Crosslands, Sir! Come back and be the first guest to bless our home.'

George Fox smiled as he met the eager gaze of the young folk, and
stretched out a frie