He pointed to the gun.

‘That thing loaded?’

‘Both barrels.’

‘All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Matthew 26: 52. You feel like some food, a drink maybe, before you go on east?’

Matthew lowered the gun, but kept a finger close to the trigger-guard. He said:

‘That’s very kind of you.’

‘I like company. You can’t honour God without delighting in God’s creatures, and Man is the crown of His creation. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him. The boy looks cold. He could do with a sit by the fire, to warm his hands.’

‘Yes,’ Matthew said. ‘We both could do with that.’

‘Come on, then. Follow after.’