the other in the
cemetery, had seen a blood-red globe, high and menacing, hanging in the
air over the house.

Lastly, at Pentecost, at the mass of the Holy Ghost, offered at the end
of a triduum with the intention of winning grace to meet any sacrifice
that might be demanded, not one nor two, but the whole community,
including the lay-brothers outside the Fathers' Choir, had perceived a
soft whisper of music of inexpressible sweetness that came and went
overhead at the Elevation. The celebrant bowed forward in silence over
the altar, unable to continue the mass, the monks remained petrified
with joy and awe in their stalls.

Ralph stared once more at the altar as he remembered this tale; at the
row of stalls on either side, the dark roof overhead, the glowing glass
on either side and in front--and asked himself whether it was true,
whether God had spoken, whether a chink of the heavenly gate had been
opened here to let the music escape.

It was not true, he told himself; it was the dream of a man mad with
sleeplessness, foolish with fasting and discipline and vigils: one had
dreamed it and babbled of it to the rest and none had liked to be less
spiritual or perceptive of divine manifestations.

A brown figure was by the altar now to light the candles for Vespers; a
taper was in his hand, and the spot of light at the end moved like a
star against the gilding and carving. Ralph turned and went out.

Then on the fourth of May he was present at the execution of the three
priors and the two other priests at Tyburn. There was an immense crowd
there, nearly the whole Court being present; and it was reported here
and there afterwards that the King himself was there in a group of five
horsemen, who came in the accoutrements of Borderers, vizored and armed,
and took up their position close to the scaffold. There fell a terrible
silence as the monks were dragged up on the hurdles, in their habits,
all three together behind one horse. They were cut down almost at once,
and the butchery was performed on them while they were still alive.

Ralph went home in a glow of resolution against them. A tragedy such as
that which he had seen was of necessity a violent motive one way or the
other, and it found him determined that the sufferers were in the wrong,
and left him confirmed in his determination. Their very passivity
enraged him.

Meanwhile, he had of course heard nothing of his brother's presence in
London, and it was with s