Grisly Grisell

es soul were

rse he should

Canterbur

ed. She had been infirm and confined to her lodging for many months, and Grisell ha

ng clergy, and the monks, friars, and nuns, overflowing the chapel, while peasants and beggars for whom there was no roo

daily sung, and the alms bestowed on the crowd, who were by no means specially sorrowful or de

mously agreeing that she should be their present Prioress, who had held kindly rule over them through the slow to-decay of the late Abb

o himself the next appointment to this as

ainst them, and the yoke had been shaken off during the Great Schism, no sooner had this been healed than the former claims were revived, nay, redoubled, and the pious Henry VI. was not the man to resist them. The sisters t

mmissioner assured the nuns; but they had never heard of her before, and were not at all gratified. They had always elected their Abbes

ilda, consoling themselves with the reflection that she was not likely to trouble herself about them, and their old Prioress would govern them. And so she did so far as reg

the income and expenditure of the convent; to know who had duly paid her dowry to the nunnery, what were the rents, and the like. The sisters had

Salisbury, and had stayed on, without fee or payment from her own home in the north, but the ample donations of the Earl of Salisbury had been held as full compensation, and

ad no right to receive a pensioner without payment, f

ntess of Salisbury, and certainly not readmitted unless her dowry were paid. He scarcely consente

tor, and Grisell had heard nothing from her home all the time she had been at Wilton. The only thing that the Prioress could devise, was to request the Chaplain to seek her out at Salisbury a trustworthy escort, pilgrim

ws of a merchant's wife who was about to go on pilgrimage to fulfil a vow at Walsingham, and would

ast out on the world-the Proctor even spoke of calling the Countess,

s at the parting, and Grisell clung to Sister

one can take from

of virginity no

otherwise. No! but no one can take away from a Christian maid the power of holiness. Bear that for ever in mind, sweetheart.

that ever-ever I sh

ld. Will and soul not consenting nor being led astray thou art

ate me. Ala

us. Wherefore shouldst not thou in like

already, and my fa

em good offices! None ca

those who

the master who beats him, so it is with us, only with the higher Christian love. Service and prayer ope

e of peace, conducted by the Chaplain, and even the Prioress, who

ere taller as they came nearer; while the sound of the bells grew upon them, for there was then a second tower beyond to hold the bells, whose reverberation would have been

athedral, so they crossed the shaded close and entered by the west door

ess passed the length of nave, and went beyond the choir to the lady chapel, with its slender supporting colum

r aware that the dame arrayed in a scarlet mantle

as the apple of mine eye. She shall pray with me at all the holy shrines for the good of her soul and mine. She shall be my bedfellow wherever we halt, and sit next me, and be cherished as though she were mine own daughter-ladybird as she is-till I can give her into the hands of the good Lady Countess. Oh yes-you may trust Joan Hall, dame reverend mother. She is no new traveller. I have been in my time to all our shrines-to St. Thomas of Canterbury, to St. Winifred's Well, aye, and, moreover, to St. James of Compostella, and St. Martha of Provence, not to speak of lesser chantries and Saints. Aye, and I crossed the sea to see the holy coat of Trèves, and St. Ursula's eleven thousand s

way down the nave. It was a most good-humoured hearty voice, and her plump figure a

ious as they fondly believed, and gratifying their desire for change and variety. She was a kindly person of good reputation, trustworthy, and kind to

in safe hands, and excused herself, while Grisell, blessed by the Chaplain, and hiding her tears under her veil, was led away to the substantial smit