s in
unison--blessing, response, collect, psalm and the rest. (Frank could
not resist one glance at the Major, whose face of consternation
resembled that of a bird in the company of sedate cats.)

Then each went to his place, and, noiselessly, the orderly meal began
and continued to the reading first of the gospel, and then of a history,
from a pulpit built high in the wall. All were served by lay brothers,
girded with aprons; almost every movement, though entirely natural,
seemed ordered by routine and custom, and was distinguished by a serious
sort of courtesy that made the taking of food appear, for once, as a
really beautiful, august, and almost sacramental ceremony. The great
hall, too, with its pointed roof, its tiled floor, its white-wood
scrubbed tables, and its tall emblazoned windows, seemed exactly the
proper background--a kind of secular sanctuary. The food was plain and
plentiful: soup, meat, cheese and fruit; and each of the two guests had
a small decanter of red wine, a tiny loaf of bread, and a napkin. The
monks drank beer or water.

Then once more followed grace, with the same ceremonial.

When this was ended, Frank turned to see where Father Hildebrand was,
supposing that all would go to their rooms; but as he turned he saw the
Abbot coming down alone. He moved on, this great man, with that same
large, fatherly air, but as he passed the two guests, he inclined
slightly towards them, and Frank, with a glance to warn the Major,
understanding that they were to follow, came out of his place and passed
down between the lines of the monks, still in silence.

The Abbot went on, turned to the right, and as he moved along the
cloister, loud sonorous chanting began behind. So they went, on and on,
up the long lighted corridor, past door after door, as in some church
procession. Yet all was obviously natural and familiar.

They turned in at last beneath an archway to the left, went through a
vestibule, past a great stone of a crowned Woman with a Child in her
arms, and as they entered the church, the Abbot dipped his finger into a
stoop and presented it to Frank. Frank touched the drop of water, made
the sign of the cross, and presented again his damp finger to the Major,
who looked at him with a startled eye.

The Abbot indicated the front row of the seats in the nave, and Frank
went into it, to watch the procession behind go past, flow up the steps,
and disappear into the double rows of great stalls that