not doom
him for sin he did not. And if he knew, who are we, that we should cast
stones at him, or say any thing unto him (confessing and amending)
beyond `Go, and sin no more'?"

"Nay," she said, "it is not we that flout him, but these Papistical
knaves which do flout us for his sake."

"Not for his sake," replied John, solemnly; "for an Other's sake. We
know that the world hated Him before it hated us. Bishop Poynet is not
the man they aim at; he is but a commodious handle, a pipe through which
their venom may conveniently run. He whom they flout thus is an other
Man, whom one day they as well as we shall see coming in the clouds of
Heaven, coming to judge the earth. The question asked of Paul was not
`Why persecutest thou these men and women at Damascus?' It is not,
methinks, only `Inasmuch as ye did' this good, but likewise `Inasmuch as
ye did' this evil, `unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did
it unto Me.'"

The next thing which aggrieved the people was an order for the abatement
of the coinage. Henceforward, the nine-penny piece was to pass for
sixpence, the groat or four-penny piece for twopence, the two-penny
piece for a penny, the penny for a halfpenny, and the halfpenny for a
farthing. Yet notwithstanding this, or perhaps in consequence of it,
the price of provisions rose instead of falling.

"Why," said Dr Thorpe, "this is plainly putting an hand in a man's
pocket, and robbing him of half his money!"

"Softly, good friend!" interposed John. "You would not call the King's
Grace a robber?"

"The King's Grace is the King's Grace, and may do as it liketh him,"
said Dr Thorpe, a little testily; "'tis yonder rascally Council whereof
I speak, and in especial that cheating knave of Warwick. I would we had
my Lord of Somerset back, for all he is not a Lutheran, but a Gospeller.
He never thrust his hand into my pocket o' this fashion."

"Ah!" replied John, laughing, "touch a man's pocket, and how he crieth
apace!"

"A child newly burnt dreadeth the fire, Jack," answered the old man.
"This is not the first time we have had the King's coin pulled down. I
am as true a man to the King as any here; but I have taken no oath to
that dotipole [blockhead] of Warwick; and if he play this game once too
oft, he may find he hath fished and caught a frog."

"I count," suggested John, soberly, "that my Lord of Warwick's testers
shall not pass for any more than ours."

"What matters that to him, lad