tonbury people, but in
that case you would be out of my diocese where you have spent so much of
your time and where I have no doubt you will easily find a beneficed
priest to give you a title. Moreover, in the case of a young man like
yourself who has been brought up from infancy upon Catholic teaching, I
think it is advisable to give you an opportunity of mixing with the
moderate man who wishes to take Holy Orders. You can lose nothing by
such an association, and it may well happen that you will gain a great
deal. Silchester Theological College is eminently moderate. The
lecturers are men of real learning, and the Principal is a man whom it
would be impertinent for me to praise for his devout and Christian
life."

"I hardly know how to thank you, my lord," said Mark.

"Do you not, my son?" said the Bishop with a smile. Then his head and
neck wagged up and down. "Thank me by the life you lead as a priest."

"I will try, my lord," Mark promised.

"Of that I am sure. By the way, didn't you come across a priest at St.
Agnes' Mission House called Mousley?"

"Oh rather, I remember him well."

"You'll be glad to hear that he has never relapsed since I sent him to
Rowley. In fact only last week I had the satisfaction of recommending
him to a friend of mine who had a living in his gift."

Mark spent the three months before he went to Silchester at the Rectory
where he worked hard at Latin and Greek and the history of the Church.
At the end of August he entered Silchester Theological College.

CHAPTER XXXI

SILCHESTER THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE

The theological students of Silchester were housed in a red-brick alley
of detached Georgian houses, both ends of which were closed to traffic
by double gates of beautifully wrought iron. This alley known as Vicar's
Walk had formerly been inhabited by the lay vicars of the Cathedral,
whose music was now performed by minor canons.

There were four little houses on either side of the broad pavement, the
crevices in which were gay with small rock plants, so infrequent were
the footsteps that passed over them. Each house consisted of four rooms
and each room held one student. Vicar's Walk led directly into the
Close, a large green space surrounded by the houses of dignitaries, from
a quiet road lined with elms, which skirted the wall of the Deanery
garden and after several twists and turns among the shadows of great
Gothic walls found its way downhill into the narrow streets of