Page:A C Doyle - The White Company.djvu/25

Rh very genius and impersonation of asceticism, while the great bell still thundered and clanged above his head. At last the uproar died away in three last, measured throbs, and ere their echo had ceased the Abbot struck a small gong which summoned a lay-brother to his presence.

'Have the brethren come?' he asked, in the Anglo-French dialect used in religious houses.

'They are here,' the other answered, with his eyes cast down, and his hands crossed upon his chest.

'All?'

'Two-and-thirty of the seniors and fifteen of the novices, most holy father. Brother Mark of the Spiearium is sore smitten with a fever and could not come. He said that'

'It boots not what he said. Fever or no, he should have come at my call. His spirit must be chastened, as must that of many more in this Abbey. You yourself, brother Francis, have twice raised your voice, so that it hath come to my ears, when the reader in the refectory hath been dealing with the lives of God's most blessed saints. What hast thou to say?'

The lay-brother stood meek and silent, with his arms still crossed in front of him.

'One thousand Aves and as many Credos, said standing with arms outstretched before the shrine of the Virgin, may help thee to remember that the Creator hath given us two ears and but one mouth, as a token that there is twice the work for the one as for the other. Where is the master of the novices?'

'He is without, most holy father.' 'Send him hither.'

The sandalled feet clattered over the wooden floor, and the iron-bound door creaked upon its hinges. In a few moments it opened again to admit a short square monk with a heavy composed face and authoritative manner.

'You have sent for me, holy father?'

'Yes, brother Jerome, I wish that this matter be disposed of with as little scandal as may be; and yet it is needful that