ent with him. He, too, became a hermit, and spent his time in
praise and prayer.

Together they lived, and worked, and helped the poor. And when, after
two years, the man who had been a clown died, the hermit felt that he
had lost a brother more holy than himself.

For ten years more the hermit lived in his mountain hut, thinking always
of God, fasting and praying, and doing no least thing that was wrong.
Then, one day, the wish once more came, to know how his work was
growing, and once more he prayed that he might see a being--

"Whose soul in the heavenly grace had grown
To the selfsame measure as his own;
Whose treasure on the celestial shore
Could neither be less than his nor more."

Once more his prayer was answered. The angel came to him, and told him
to go to a certain village on the other side of the mountain, and to a
small farm in it, where two women lived. In them he should find two
souls like his own, in God's sight.

When the hermit came to the door of the little farm, the two women who
lived there were overjoyed to see him, for everyone loved and honoured
his name. They put a chair for him on the cool porch, and brought food
and drink. But the hermit was too eager to wait. He longed greatly to
know what the souls of the two women were like, and from their looks he
could see only that they were gentle and honest. One was old, and the
other of middle age.

Presently he asked them about their lives. They told him the little
there was to tell: they had worked hard always, in the fields with their
husbands, or in the house; they had many children; they had seen hard
times,--sickness, sorrow; but they had never despaired.

"But what of your good deeds," the hermit asked,--"what have you done
for God?"

"Very little," they said, sadly, for they were too poor to give much. To
be sure, twice every year, when they killed a sheep for food, they gave
half to their poorer neighbours.

"That is very good, very faithful," the hermit said. "And is there any
other good deed you have done?"

"Nothing," said the older woman, "unless, unless--it might be called a
good deed----" She looked at the younger woman, who smiled back at her.

"What?" said the hermit.

Still the woman hesitated; but at last she said, timidly, "It is not
much to tell, father, only this, that it is twenty years since my
sister-in-law and I came to live together in the house; we have brought
up our families here; an