is night."

"Thrice blessed they who have so pious a mother. The Priory of St.
Wilfred didst thou say? Methinks he was an English saint."

"It is the third building which has existed within the century on
the spot. The first was burnt in the troubles which followed the
Conquest; the second, dedicated to St. Denys, shared the same fate,
and when the present priory was built, my father, who had brought
his English wife from the convent of the Holy Trinity at Caen,
where she received her education, restored the old dedication, as I
imagine to give her pleasure."

"Thy father, thou sayest, is with thee in this land?"

"He has gone forward with the host to the siege of the Holy City. I
was wounded on that glorious day when we scattered half a million
followers of Mohammed, who had penned us within the walls of
Antioch; and he left me with this faithful squire, Osmund--an old
man who fought with my grandsire at Hastings--to tarry in the city
till I should be fit to travel. Now we are journeying southward in
haste, fearing we shall be too late for our share in the holy work.
Dost thou not travel thitherward--thou of all men?"

"Even now I hasten, lest my unworthy eyes should fail to behold the
deliverance of that Holy Sepulchre whence my designation is taken.
We will travel together, so will thy journey be safer, for these
Turks hang like carrion upon the skirts of the grand army."

"Blithely do I accept thine offer. I would not willingly perish in
some obscure skirmish when the gates of Jerusalem are as the gates
of heaven before me, and I shall present my preserver to my father.
Are you ill again--I fear me--"

"It is nothing. Earthly feelings must not be permitted to mingle
with our sacred call."

"But I may introduce you to him?"

"When our work is done--thou mayest. The hill of Calvary will be
the fitting place, where--"

Here the knight paused, and was silent for awhile, then said--"It
is night, and night is the time for rest; we must sleep, my young
brother in arms, if we would be fit for travel tomorrow. See, we
alone are watchers; our companions are all wrapped in slumber--save
the sentinels, I will but assign the latter their posts and hours,
and seek nature's greatest boon to man."

Edward of Aescendune would fain have joined in this duty, but the
older soldier bade him rest, in a tone of gentle authority which he
could not resist. And the stern warrior drew the embers of the
fire, so as to warm the f