e, scarce I reach and cling
To One that standeth by with outstretched hand;
Too tired to hold Him, if He hold not me:
Too tired to long but for one heavenly thing,--
Rest for the weary, in the Promised Land."

Permission for Bruno to lay aside the habit of Saint Augustine reached
Bury Castle very soon after his sermon. And with it came two other
items of news,--the one, that Bishop Grosteste offered him a rich living
in his diocese; the other, that the Bishop's life had been attempted by
poison. It was not to be wondered at in the least, since Grosteste had
coolly declared the reigning Pope Innocent to be an exact counterpart of
Anti-Christ (for which the head of the Church rewarded him by terming
him a wicked old dotard), and his attachment to monachism in general was
never allowed to stand in the way of the sternest rebuke to disorderly
monks in particular. He also presumed to object to his clergy having
constant recourse to Jewish money-lenders, and especially interfered
with their favourite amusement of amateur theatricals, which he was so
unreasonable as to think unbecoming the clerical office.

Bruno hastened to the Countess with the news, accompanying it by warm
thanks for the shelter afforded to himself and his daughter, and
informing her that he would no longer burden her with either. But she
looked very grave.

"Father Bruno," she said, "I have a boon to ask."

"Ask it freely, Lady. I am bound to you in all ways."

"Then I beg that you and Beatrice will continue here, so long--_ha,
chetife_!--so long as my child lives."

Father Bruno gravely assented. He knew too well that would not be long.
Yet it proved longer than either of them anticipated.

Stormy times were at hand. The Papal Legate had effected between Earl
Hubert and the Bishop of Winchester a reconciliation which resembled a
quiescent volcano; but Hubert was put into a position of sore peril by
his royal brother-in-law of Scotland, who coolly sent an embassy to King
Henry, demanding as his right that the three northernmost counties of
England should be peaceably resigned to him. After putting him off for
a time by an evasive message, King Henry consented to meet Alexander at
York, and discuss the questions on which they differed. His Britannic
Majesty was still vexing his nobles by the favour he showed to
foreigners. At this time he demanded a subsidy of one-thirtieth of all
the property in the kingdom, which they were by no