sympathy had been on the
side of Brother George, and as one who had known at first hand the work
in Aldershot, he did feel that it ought not to be abandoned so easily.
Then when Brother Athanasius was speaking, Mark, in his embarrassment at
such violence of manner and tone, picked up a volume lying on the table
by his elbow that by reading he might avoid the eyes of his brethren
until Brother Athanasius had ceased to shout. It was the Rule of St.
Benedict which, with a print of Fra Angelico's Crucifixion and an image
of St. George, was all the decoration allowed to the bare Chapter Room,
and the page at which Mark opened the leather-bound volume was headed:
DE PRAEPOSITO MONASTERII.

"_It happens too often that through the appointment of the Prior
grave scandals arise in monasteries, since some there be who,
puffed up with a malignant spirit of pride, imagining themselves to
be second Abbots, and assuming unto themselves a tyrannous
authority, encourage scandals and create dissensions in the
community. . . ._

"_Hence envy is excited, strife, evil-speaking, jealousy, discord,
confusion; and while the Abbot and the Prior run counter to each
other, by such dissension their souls must of necessity be
imperilled; and those who are under them, when they take sides, are
travelling on the road to perdition. . . ._

"_On this account we apprehend that it is expedient for the
preservation of peace and good-will that the management of his
monastery should be left to the discretion of the Abbot. . . ._

"_Let the Prior carry out with reverence whatever shall be enjoined
upon him by his Abbot, doing nothing against the Abbot's will, nor
against his orders. . . ._"

Mark could not be otherwise than impressed by what he read.

_Ii qui sub ipsis sunt, dum adulantur partibus, eunt in
perditionem. . . ._

_Nihil contra Abbatis voluntatem faciens. . . ._

Mark looked up at the figure of St. Benedict standing in that holy group
at the foot of the Cross.

_Ideoque nos proevidemus expedire, propter pacis caritatisque
custodiam, in Abbatis pendere arbitrio ordinationem monasterii
sui. . . ._

St. Benedict had more than apprehended; he had actually foreseen that
the Abbot ought to manage his own monastery. It was as if centuries ago,
in the cave at Subiaco, he had heard that strident voice of Brother
Athanasius in th