The old man rose up to meet me, and with a respectful cordiality would
have me sit down at the table; my heart was set down the moment I
entered the room; so I sat down at once, like a son of the family; and,
to invest myself in the character as speedily as I could, I instantly
borrowed the old man's knife, and, taking up the loaf, cut myself a
hearty luncheon; and, as I did it, I saw a testimony in every eye, not
only of an honest welcome, but of a welcome mixed with thanks that I had
not seemed to doubt it.
Was it this? or tell me, Nature, what else it was that made this morsel
so sweet; and to what magic I owe it, that the draught I took of their
flagon was so delicious with it, that they remain upon my palate to this
hour.
If the supper was to my taste, the grace which followed it was much more
so.
THE GRACE
[Sidenote: _Sterne_]
When supper was over the old man gave a knock upon the table with the
haft of his knife, to bid them prepare for the dance. The moment the
signal was given, the women and girls ran off together into a back
apartment to tie up their hair, and the young men to the door to wash
their faces and change their _sabots_; and in three minutes every soul
was ready upon a little esplanade before the house to begin. The old man
and his wife came out last, and, placing me betwixt them, sat down upon
a sofa of turf by the door.
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