The White Company

sing and falling upon the sultry summer air. It was a common sound in those parts-as common as the chatter of the jays and the booming of the bittern. Yet the fishers and the peasants raised thei

lterns, even from the distant iron-works of Sowley and the outlying grange of St. Leonard's, they had all turned their steps homewards. It had been no sudden call. A swift messenger had the night before sped round to the outlying dependencies of the Abbey, and had

few who did not bear upon them some signs of their daily toil. Here were two with wrists and sleeves all spotted with the ruddy grape juice. There again was a bearded brother with a broad-headed axe and a bundle of faggots upon his shoulders, while beside him walked another with the shears under his arm and the white wool still clinging to his whiter gown. A long, stragg

t. In crushing his passions he had well-nigh crushed himself. Yet, frail as was his person there gleamed out ever and anon from under his drooping brows a flash of fierce energy, which recalled to men's minds that he came of a fighting stock, and that even now his twin-brother, Sir Bartholomew Berghersh, was one of the most famous of those stern warriors who had planted the Cross of St. G

asked, in the Anglo-French di

red, with his eyes cast down and

ll

s, most holy father. Brother Mark of the Spicarium is so

f many more in this Abbey. You yourself, brother Francis, have twice raised your voice, so it hath come to my ears, w

and silent, with his arms s

Virgin, may help thee to remember that the Creator hath given us two ears and but one mouth, as a t

out, most h

him hi

or creaked upon its hinges. In a few moments it opened again to admit a s

nt for me, h

it is needful that the example should be a public one." The Abbot spoke in Latin now, as a language whi

suggested the master. "This mention of a woman may turn their m

ysostom termed them radix malorum. From Eve downwards, wh

rother A

d devout y

a pattern to

abit. Bid the chancellor and the sub-chancellor lead in the brothers according t

he nov

cellor send out to them Thomas the lector to read unto them from the 'Gest

s elaborately carved, sat the master of the novices and the chancellor, the latter a broad and portly priest, with dark mirthful eyes and a thick outgrowth of crisp black hair all round his tonsured head. Between them stood a lean, white-faced brother who appeared to be ill at ease, shifting his feet from side to side and tapping his chin nervously

. "May the holy Benedict, patron of our house, be present th

" the brother answered in

them forth acc

most holy father, upon

or. Bring in brother John, and let him hear t

disclosed a round, sinewy neck, ruddy and corded like the bark of the fir. Thick, muscular arms, covered with a reddish down, protruded from the wide sleeves of his habit, while his white shirt, looped up upon one side, gave a glimpse of a huge knotty leg, scarred and torn with the scratches of brambles. With a bow to the Abbot, which had in it perhaps more plea

to read it out in a thick and pompous voice, while a subdued rustle and movement

against brother John, formerly known as Hordle John, or John of Hordle, but now a novice in the holy monastic order of the Cisterci

said brother John are the

f one quart to each four, the said brother John did drain the pot at one draught to the detriment of brother Paul, brother Po

the placid senior brothers glanced across at each other and coughed to cover their a

d by brother Ambrose and others to say that he wished twenty thousand devils would fly away with the said Monica, mother of the holy Augustine, or any other saint who came between a man and his meat. Item, that upon brother Ambrose reproving him fo

d brethren at this grave charge; but the Abbot hel

of the other sex, being a maiden of the name of Mary Sowley, the daughter of the King's verderer. Item, that after sundry japes and jokes the said brother John did lift up the said Mary Sowley and did take,

a rolling of heads and upturning of eyes,

brows low over his fie

h for this th

with me, and brother Mark of the Spicarium, who hath been so much stirred

she not break into lamentation and woe

im and thanked him. I can vouch

man the face should be ever averted and the eyes cast down? Hast forgot it, I say? If your eyes were upon your sandals, how came ye to see this smile of which ye prate?

ests, and sat as men crushed. The Abbot turned his angry eyes away from them and b

John, upon these weighty thing

awl. The brothers, who were English to a man, pricked up their ears at the sound of the homely and yet un

ls of an old and well-famed monastery? But grace and learning have ever go

rds come kindly to my mouth, for it was the speech of my fathers bef

dded his head, as one who passes

nder and unfitted for a man of my inches. It is true also that I did lay my hands upon this jack-fool of a brother Ambrose, though, as you can see, I did him little scathe. As regards the maid, too, it is true that I did heft her over the stream, she having on her hosen and shoon, wh

has confessed to all. It only remains for me to portio

ers followed his example, looking sidewa

he spotless spirit. That dress shall therefore be stripped from thee, and thou shalt be cast into the outer world without benefit of clerkship, and without lot or part in the graces and blessings o

he outer world. From their pious oasis they looked dreamily out at the desert of life, a place full of stormings and strivings-comfortless, restless, and overshadowed by evil.

e, and as thou art no longer under the shield of holy church there is the less difficulty. Ho there! lay-brothers-Francis, Nao

glanced right and left with his fierce brown eyes, like a bull at a baiting. Then, with a sudden deep-chested shout, he tore u

ndering voice, and his bristle of red hair, there was something so repellent in the man that the three brothers flew back at the very glare of him; and the two rows of white monks straine

m! Call Hugh of the Mill, and Woodman Wat, and Raoul with his arbalest and bolts.

floor together, he sprang through the open door and down the winding stair. Sleepy old brother Athanasius, at the porter's cell, had a fleeting vision of twinkling feet