o young as Brother Dunstan in charge of a monastery,
especially as he said he was only a novice as yet. It appears that
all the bigwigs--or should I say big-cowls?--are away at the moment
on business of the Order and that various changes are in the
offing, the most important being the giving up of their branch in
Malta and the consequent arrival of Brother George, of whom
Brother Dunstan spoke in a hushed voice. Father Burrowes, or the
Reverend Father as he is called, is preaching in the north of
England at the moment, and Brother Dunstan tells me it is quite
impossible for him to say anything, still less to do anything,
about my admission. However, he urged me to stay on for the present
as a guest, an invitation which I accepted without hesitation. He
had only just time to show me my cell and the card of rules for
guests when a bell rang and, drawing his cowl over his head, he
hurried off.

After perusing the rules, I discovered that this was the bell which
rings a quarter of an hour before Vespers for solemn silence. I
hadn't the slightest idea where the chapel was, and when I asked
Brother Lawrence he glared at me and put his finger to his mouth. I
was not to be discouraged, however, and in the end he showed me
into the ante-chapel which is curtained off from the quire. There
was only one other person in the ante-chapel, a florid,
well-dressed man with a rather mincing and fussy way of
worshipping. The monks led by Brother Lawrence (who is not even a
novice yet, but a postulant and wears a black habit, without a
hood, tied round the waist with a rope) passed from the refectory
through the ante-chapel into the quire, and Vespers began. They
used an arrangement called "The Day Hours of the English Church,"
but beyond a few extra antiphons there was very little difference
from ordinary Evening Prayer. After Vespers I had a simple and
solemn meal by myself, and I was wondering how I should get hold of
a book to pass away the evening, when Brother Dunstan came in and
asked me if I'd like to sit with the brethren in the library until
the bell rang for simple silence a quarter of an hour before
Compline at 9.15, after which everybody--guests and monks--are
expected to go to bed in solemn silence. The difference between
simple silence and solemn si