One was that Stead and
Patience always prayed for a blessing on them, and the other was that
they were almost as tender and careful over the dumb things as they
were over little Ben, who could now run about and talk. All that
year nothing particular happened to the children. Patience's good
butter and fresh eggs had come to be known in Bristol, and besides,
Stead and Rusha used to find plovers' eggs on the common, for which
the merchants' ladies would pay them, or later for wild strawberries
and for whortleberries. Stead could also make rush baskets and mats,
and they were very glad of such earnings, some of which they spent on
clothes, and on making their hut more comfortable, while some was
stored up in case of need in the winter.
For another year things went on much in the same manner, Bristol was
still kept by the King's troops; but when Steadfast went into the
place there was less cheerfulness among the loyal folk, and the
Puritans began to talk of victories of their cause, while in the
Cathedral the canon's voice trembled and grew choked in the prayer
for the King, and the sermons were generally about being true and
faithful to King and church whatever might betide.
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