rkled brightly and the old man was garrulous with joy, he would tell
how he once entered a hostile castle as a minnesinger with a noble
lover, and how the knight defied the angry father. Yet he never revealed
that this knight was the generous abbot who now supplied them with the
means of innocent mirth, who ministered to all their wants, and whose
life was so meek and blameless. For Gilbert de Hers was abbot in the
cells that had once been the halls of his sires.

And one word, reader. It was not after the Lady Margaret's death that he
embraced the resolution of dedicating himself to God, but on the
battle-field of the Elster, and over the corpse of Rodolph of Suabia.
He had proved his sincerity in the wars of Matilda, and when he quitted
the princess for Monte Cassino, it was to assume the habit of the
novice.

* * * * *

One bright afternoon in the fall of 1126, two aged men were walking
arm-in-arm toward the Church of the Nativity. One was attired as a
Benedictine, the other as a knight. They stopped at the church and
before a cluster of tombs. On one of the slabs was carved a Greek cross
with a single tear under it, and beneath the tear the words:

"_O crux sancta adjuva nos._"

It was the resting-place of the Lady Margaret, between the graves of her
father and mother. The monk and the knight knelt down and prayed. As
they rose, the bells of the church announced the close of day, and
ushered in the TRUCE OF GOD.

With their bosoms heaving with recollections of the past, Gilbert of
Hers and Henry of Stramen went into the church where fifty years before
they had met in youth and enmity, and they knelt together beside the
grave of Father Omehr, with their hearts full of tenderness and hope and
love, while the sun of ancient Suabia was setting, and the bells poured
forth their silvery peal.

THE END

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