I don't like the sound of them

To our next meeting f he said, as he passed over the river.I am sure we shall all look forward to it.We shall indeed,they said.They were,of course,very foolish.For though the oaths he had taken should have burdened his conscience with sorrow and a great fear of disaster,he had,alas I no conscience at all.

And if this regrettable lack in one of imperial lineage was beyond the comprehension of the simple,at the least the parson with his booklearning might have guessed it.Maybe he did.He was a.grammarian,and could doubtless see further into the future than others.The blacksmith shook his head as he went back to his smithy.Ominous names,he said.