nversation to be any
longer audible. Jacob gave a long, low whistle, and took to the
oars. Cuthbert, who sat beside the priest in the stern, had his
hand upon the tiller; and as the fog cloud lifted just a little, so
that the darkness about them became hardly more than that of
twilight, he looked at the silent, motionless figure beside him,
and exclaimed in surprise:

"Father Urban!"

A slight smile hovered for a moment over the wan face of the
priest. He lifted his thin hand and said solemnly:

"Peace be with thee, my son."

Cuthbert bent his head in reverence, and then turned again towards
the Father.

"What hast thou done that they should rail at thee thus--thou the
friend of the poor, the friend even of the leper? What has come to
them that they turn thus against thee? Sure, but a few short weeks
ago and thou didst hold back an angry crowd by the glance of thine
eye."

"My son, trust not in the temper of the crowd, in the goodwill of
the multitude. Was it not the same crowd who on the Sabbath
shouted, 'Hosanna to the Son of David!' that on the Friday yelled,
'Crucify Him! crucify Him!' Never put faith in man, still less in
the multitude that is ever swayed like a reed, and may be driven
like a wave of the sea hither and thither as the wind listeth.

"And then I was not amongst mine own flock. I had--rashly,
perchance--adventured myself further than I ought, for I had a
message of consequence to execute, and I have not been wont to hide
myself from my fellow men. But there is no knowing in these fearful
times of lawlessness and savage hate what will be the temper either
of rulers or people. It seems that I am known--that there is some
warrant out against me. So be it. If I must flee from this city to
another, holier men have done the like ere now. I would mine errand
had been completed. I would I had accomplished my task. But--"

The priest's voice had been growing fainter for some moments.
Cuthbert supposed it to be a natural caution on his part, lest even
Jacob should hear him as he plied his oars; but as he came to this
sudden stop, he felt that the slight frame collapsed in some way,
and leaned heavily against him as he sat. Turning his eyes from the
dim, rippling water, so little of which could be seen in the
darkness and the fog, to the face of the priest, he saw that it had
turned ghastly pale, and that the eyes were glazing over as if with
the approach of death. Plainly the fugitive had received s