"He will tell us the news of outlying places."
"But where is he? Where is the good peddler that Hesus sends to us to help enliven this long winter's night?"
"What a happiness to be able to see all his merchandise at one's ease!"
"He is shaking off the ice that his clothes are frozen stiff with."
"Good mother, now see the misfortune that threatened us because I wished to see a Korrigan!"
"Be still, son! To-morrow rests with God!"
The man who stepped into the house gave at the threshold a last shake to his traveling boots, which were so covered with snow that he seemed to be clad in white hose. He was of a robust frame, but squat and square, in the full strength of manhood, jovial and of an open yet determined face. Still uneasy, Madalen did not take her eyes from him, and twice she made a sign to her son to return to her side. Removing the hood from his thick, ice-pearled coat, the peddler laid down his bulky bale, a heavy burden that, however, seemed light to his sturdy shoulders. He then removed his cap and stepped towards Araim, the oldest member of the household:
"Long life and happy days to hospitable people! This is Hevin the Peddler's wish to yourself and your family. I am a Breton. I was going to Falgoët, when the night and the tempest overtook me on the beach. I saw the light of this house from a distance; I came, I called, and the door was opened to me. Thanks to you all, thanks to hospitable people!"
"Madalen, what gives you that absent and pensive look? Do not the peddler's pleasant face and kind words set you at ease?"
"Father, to-morrow rests with God--I feel all the more uneasy since the stranger's arrival."
"Speak lower, lower still, dear daughter. The poor fellow might overhear you and be grieved. Oh! these mothers! these mothers!"
"Draw near the fire, you sturdy peddler. The night is rough. Karadeucq, while we wait for supper, fetch a pot of hydromel for our guest."
"I accept, good old man! The fire will warm me from without, the hydromel from within."
"So I am. Joy is my companion; however long or rough my road may be, joy never tires of following me."
"Your health, good mother and sweet girl; to the health of you all--"
And clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth: "This is the best hydromel I ever tasted. A cordial hospitality renders the best of potions still better."