wo-horse wagon drew up opposite by
the oak grove. In the wagon was a man in black robes, apparently a
clergyman; he was sitting among several baskets, in some of which fowls
seemed to be fluttering. A little behind him sat a woman in _bourgeois_
dress, who was holding another basket rigidly in her lap. In front by
the horses stood a peasant with the whip, his arm resting on the neck of
one of the animals. Beside him was a maid, also holding a basket,
covered with a snow-white napkin, under her arm. A man in a wide brown
overcoat, whose thoughtful gait and solemn face made it at once
unmistakably evident that he was a sexton, walked with dignity from the
wagon to the house, placed himself in front of the Justice, lifted his
hat, and recited the following verses:

Before your gate you now may see
The Sexton and the Dominie,
The Sexton's wife, the house-maid too,
Who've come to get what is their due,
By custom old from this domain,
The hens, the eggs, the cheeses twain;
So tell us then without delay
If you are all prepared to pay.

While listening to this little recitation the Justice had respectfully
removed his hat. Afterwards he approached the wagon, bowed to the
clergyman, reverently helped him to alight, and then stood off at one
side with him and held a conversation, which the Hunter could not
overhear, about various matters. In the meantime the woman with the
basket had also stepped down and taken a position beside the Sexton, the
peasant and the maid, and behind the two chief persons, as if for a
procession.

The Hunter, in order to ascertain the significance of this scene, went
downstairs and observed that the entrance-hall was sprinkled with white
sand, and the best room, adjacent to it, decorated with green branches.
Inside, also dressed up in her Sunday best, sat the daughter; she was
spinning as if she meant to turn out an entire skein of yarn that very
day. She looked very red and did not glance up from her work. He entered
the room and was just about to obtain his information from her, when the
procession of strangers, including the Justice, crossed the threshold of
the entrance-hall. At the head marched the clergyman, behind him the
Sexton, then the peasant, then the maid, then the Sexton's wife, and
finally the Justice, each one marching alone. The clergyman approached
the daughter, who had not yet glanced up from her spinning-wheel,
addressed her with a friendly greeting, and said: