cross a stream, to the infinite relish of the devil and the
exceeding detriment of his own soul, which scandalous and wilful falling
away was witnessed by three members of our order."

A dead silence throughout the room, with a rolling of heads and
upturning of eyes, bespoke the pious horror of the community.

The Abbot drew his gray brows low over his fiercely questioning eyes.

"Who can vouch for this thing?" he asked.

"That can I," answered the accuser. "So too can brother Porphyry, who
was with me, and brother Mark of the Spicarium, who hath been so much
stirred and inwardly troubled by the sight that he now lies in a fever
through it."

"And the woman?" asked the Abbot. "Did she not break into lamentation
and woe that a brother should so demean himself?"

"Nay, she smiled sweetly upon him and thanked him. I can vouch it and so
can brother Porphyry."

"Canst thou?" cried the Abbot, in a high, tempestuous tone. "Canst thou
so? Hast forgotten that the five-and-thirtieth rule of the order is that
in the presence of a woman 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? A week in your cells,
false brethren, a week of rye-bread and lentils, with double lauds and
double matins, may help ye to remembrance of the laws under which ye
live."

At this sudden outflame of wrath the two witnesses sank their faces on
to their chests, and sat as men crushed. The Abbot turned his angry eyes
away from them and bent them upon the accused, who met his searching
gaze with a firm and composed face.

"What hast thou to say, brother John, upon these weighty things which
are urged against you?"

"Little enough, good father, little enough," said the novice, speaking
English with a broad West Saxon drawl. The brothers, who were English
to a man, pricked up their ears at the sound of the homely and yet
unfamiliar speech; but the Abbot flushed red with anger, and struck his
hand upon the oaken arm of his chair.

"What talk is this?" he cried. "Is this a tongue to be used within the
walls of an old and well-famed monastery? But grace and learning have
ever gone hand in hand, and when one is lost it is needless to look for
the other."

"I know not about that," said brother John. "I know only that the words
come kindly to my mouth, for it was the speech of my fathers before me.
Under your favor, I shall either use i