... began Beatrice.

Chris dipped his thumb in the vessel, and sank swiftly on to his knees.

"_Per istam sanctam Unctionem_"--"_through this holy unction_...."

(The old man leaned suddenly forward on to his knees, and steadied that
rolling head in his two hands; and Chris signed firmly on the eyelids,
pressing them down and feeling the fluttering beneath his thumb as he
did so.)

" ... _And His most loving mercy, may the Lord forgive thee whatsoever
thou hast sinned through sight._"

Ah! that was done--dear God! those eyes that had drooped and sneered,
that had looked so greedily on treasure--their lids shone now with the
loving-kindness of God.

Chris snatched a morsel of wool that Morris put forward from behind,
wiped the eyelids, and dropped the fragment into the earthen basin at
his side.

"_Per istam sanctam Unctionem_...."

And the ears were anointed--the ears that had listened to Layton's
filth, to Cromwell's plotting; and to the cries of the oppressed.

The nostrils; the lips that had lied and stormed and accused against
God's people, compressed now in his father's fingers--they seemed to
sneer even now, and to writhe under the soft oil; the hands that had
been laid on God's portion, that had torn the vessels from the altar and
the cloth of gold from the treasury--those too were signed now, and lay
twitching on the coverlet.

The bed clothes at the foot of the wooden framework were lifted and laid
back as Chris passed round to the end, and the long feet, icy cold, were
lying exposed side by side.

_Per Istam sanctam Unctionem, et suam piissimam misericordiam, indulgeat
tibi Domimus quidquid peccasti per incessum pedum. Amen._

Then they too were sealed with pardon, the feet that had been so swift
and unwearied in the war with God, that had trodden the sanctuary in His
despite, and trampled down the hearts of His saints--they too were
signed now with the mark of Redemption and lay again under the folded
coverlet at the end of their last journey.

A convulsion tore at the priest's heart.

* * * * *

Then suddenly in the profound silence outside there broke out an
indescribable clamour, drowning in an instant the murmur of prayers
within. It seemed as if the whole world of men were there, and roaring.
The sound poured up through the window, across the moat; the boards of
the flooring vibrated with the sound. There was the throb of drums
pulsating through the long-