ood and evil are co-equal
and co-eternal, that both God and the devil are to be worshipped.
At least this was laid to their charge; I know not if it be all
true.

"Well, the Church appealed for help to the chivalry of France; she
declared the goods and possessions of this unfortunate people
confiscate to them who should seize them, and offered heaven to
those who died in battle against them. Now these poor wretches
could write love songs and were clever at all kinds of art, but
they could not fight. My father was chosen to head the new crusade;
and even he was shocked at the murderous scenes, the massacres, the
burnings, which followed--God forbid I should ever witness the
like--they were blotted out from the earth."

The storm which had been gathering all this time now burst in its
full violence upon our travellers. Blinding flakes of snow, borne
with all the force of the wind, seemed to overwhelm them; soon the
tracks which alone marked the way became obliterated, and the
riders wandered aimlessly for more than an hour.

"What shall we do, Stephen? I have lost every trace of the way; my
poor beast threatens to give up."

"I know not, my lord."

"Ah, the Saints be praised, there is a light close at hand. It
shines clear and distinct--now it is shut out."

"A door or window must have been opened and closed again."

"So I deem, but this is the direction," said the knight as he
turned his horse's head northwards.

Let us precede knight and squire and see what awaited them.

Upon a spot of firm ground, free from swamp, and clear for about
the area of a couple of acres, stood a few primitive buildings:
there was a barn, a cow shed, a few huts in which men slept but did
not live, and a central building wherein the whole community, when
at home, assembled to eat the king's venison, and wash it down with
ale, mead, and even wine--the latter probably the proceeds of a
successful forage.

Darkness is falling without and the snowflakes fall thicker and
thicker--it yet wants three hours to curfew--but the woods are
quite buried in the sombre gloom of a starless night. The central
building is evidently well lighted, for we see the firelight
through many chinks in the ill-built walls ere we enter, although
they have daubed the interstices of the logs whereof it is composed
with clay and mud almost as adhesive as mortar. Let us go in--the
door opens.

A huge fire burns in the centre of the building, and the smoke
asc