steriously
destroyed?"

"I was."

"And how didst thou escape?"

"Our prior, the sainted Elphege, despatched me to some of our poor
flock, who had taken refuge in the woods, that I might commit one
deeply loved to their care."

"His name?"

"Wilfred of Aescendune. It is on his behalf that I have sought his
grace the new archbishop, led by his reputation for charity and
justice, but hardly expecting to meet any one here who knew the
story of our misfortunes and wrongs."

"Thou wilt wonder less, perhaps, if thou lookest at me a little
more closely. Dost thou not remember Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances,
who married Winifred of Aescendune to Hugo de Malville?"

"I do, indeed; and marvel, my lord," said he, "that I recognised
thee not at once; I bear a letter for thee written by hands long
since ashes--by our good Prior Elphege, the night before the
monastery was burned."

"Tell me, my brother," said Geoffrey, as he took the letter, "dost
thou know who burnt the monastery?"

"I do."

"Who, then? All the world names the youth thou didst save."

"Who would accuse the lamb of devouring the wolf? Hugo, sometime
baron of Aescendune, did the accursed deed."

"Canst thou prove it?"

"When thou hast read the letter, I have yet another document for
thee. I had brought both here to submit to my lord of Canterbury."

It was startling to watch Geoffrey as he read the parchment, the
very hairs of his head seemed to erect themselves, and his colour
changed from pale to red, from red to pale again.

"My brother," said Lanfranc, "what dost thou read which so
disturbeth thee?"

"Read it thyself," said he, giving the letter which he had finished
to the primate. "It purports to be the copy of a letter addressed
to me three years ago, when I was at Oxenford, but which never
reached me. Oh, what a story of damnable guilt! Tell me, man, where
didst thou obtain this?"

"I saw the original written by him, whose name it bears at the
foot, and at his request took this copy, which he has attested by
his name, for I was the chief calligrapher of the house of St.
Wilfred. It was his last act and deed on earth: within a few hours
he perished in the flames which consumed our poor dwelling."

Here Father Kenelm, not without emotion, handed a second parchment
to Geoffrey.

"And this?" said he of Coutances, interrogatively.

"Is the confession of a dying Norman, which he has attested by his
mark, for he could not write his name. I