as to endure, required
additional members. Father Burrowes proposed that he should go to
England and open a house at Aldershot, and that, if he could obtain a
hearing as a preacher, he should try to raise enough funds for a house
at Sandgate as well. Brother George and Brother Birinus in a solemn
chapter of three accepted the proposal; the house at Gibraltar was given
up; the Father Superior went to seek the fortunes of the Order in
England, while the other two remained at their work in Malta. Father
Burrowes was even more successful as a preacher than he hoped; ascribing
the steady flow of offertories to Divine favour, he instituted during
the next four years, priories at Aldershot and Sandgate. He began to
feel the need of a Mother House, having now more than enough candidates
for the Order of Saint George, where the novices could be suitably
trained to meet the stress of active mission work. One of his moving
appeals for this object was heard by Sir Charles Horner who, for reasons
he had already explained to Mark and because underneath all his
ecclesiasticism there did exist a genuine desire for the glory of God,
had presented the land at Malford to the Order. Father Burrowes preached
harder than ever, addressed drawing-room meetings, and started a monthly
magazine called _The Dragon_ to raise the necessary money to build a
mighty abbey. Meanwhile, he had to be contented with those three tin
tabernacles. Brother George, who had remained all these years in Malta,
suggested that it was time for somebody else to take his place out
there, and the Father Superior, although somewhat unwillingly, had
agreed to his coming to Malford. Not having heard of anybody whom at the
moment he considered suitable to take charge of what was now a distant
outpost of the Order, he told Brother George to close the house. It was
at this stage in the history of the Order that Mark presented himself as
a candidate for admission.

Father Burrowes arrived unexpectedly two days after the lunch at
Malford Lodge; and presently Brother Dunstan came to tell Mark that the
Reverend Father would see him in the Abbott's Parlour immediately after
Nones. Mark thought that Sir Charles might have given a mediaeval lining
to this room at least, which with its roll-top desk looked like the
office of the clerk of the works.

"So you want to be a monk?" said Father Burrowes contemptuously. "Want
to dress up in a beautiful white habit, eh?"

"I really don't m