stared astonished, and a little awed too. Chris used not to be
like this; he seemed quieter and stronger; he had never dared to speak
so before.

"Yes; I am weary of this," said Chris again. "I stormed once at Ralph,
and gained nothing. We do not win by those weapons. Where is Ralph?"

Nicholas knit his lips to keep in the fury that urged him.

"He is with Cromwell still," he said venomously, "and very busy, I hear.
They will be making him a lord soon--but there will be no lady."

Chris had heard of Beatrice's rejection of Ralph.

"He is still busy?"

"Why, yes; he worked long at this bill, I hear."

Chris asked a few more questions, and learned that Ralph seemed fiercer
than ever since the Visitation. He was well-known at Court; had been
seen riding with the King; and it was supposed that he was rising
rapidly in favour every day.

"God help him!" sighed Chris.

The change that had come over Chris was very much marked. Neither a life
in the world would have done it, nor one in the peace of the cloister;
but an alternation of the two. He had been melted by the fire of the
inner life, and braced by the external bitterness of adversity. Ralph's
visit to the priory, culminating in the passionless salutation of him in
the cloister as being a guest and therefore a representative of Christ,
had ended that stage in the development of the monk's character. Chris
was disappointed in his brother, fearful for him and stern in his
attitude towards him; but he was not resentful. He was sincere when he
prayed God to help him.

When Nicholas had eaten and gone, carrying messages to Mary, Chris told
the others, and there was a revival of hope in the house.

Then a few days later came the news of Anne's death and of the marriage
of the King with Jane Seymour on the following day. At least Jane was a
lawful wife and queen in the Catholics' eyes, for Katharine too was
dead.

* * * * *

Chris had now passed through the minor orders, the sub-diaconate and the
diaconate, and was looking forward to priesthood. It had been thought
advisable by his superiors, in view of the troubled state of the times,
to apply for the necessary dispensations, and they had been granted
without difficulty. So many monks who were not priests had been turned
into the world resourceless, since they could not be appointed to
benefices, that it was thought only fair to one who was already bound by
vows of religion and sa