s of revealed religion. For
instance, 'the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much'
is altogether for good. We have nothing of a similar kind on the side of
evil. But if we accept this dictum we need have no more fear of
'mysteries': these become thenceforth merely obstacles."

Adam suddenly changed to another phase of the subject.

"And now, sir, may I turn for a few minutes to purely practical things,
or rather to matters of historical fact?"

Sir Nathaniel bowed acquiescence.

"We have already spoken of the history, so far as it is known, of some of
the places round us--'Castra Regis,' 'Diana's Grove,' and 'The Lair of
the White Worm.' I would like to ask if there is anything not
necessarily of evil import about any of the places?"

"Which?" asked Sir Nathaniel shrewdly.

"Well, for instance, this house and Mercy Farm?"

"Here we turn," said Sir Nathaniel, "to the other side, the light side of
things. Let us take Mercy Farm first. When Augustine was sent by Pope
Gregory to Christianise England, in the time of the Romans, he was
received and protected by Ethelbert, King of Kent, whose wife, daughter
of Charibert, King of Paris, was a Christian, and did much for Augustine.
She founded a nunnery in memory of Columba, which was named _Sedes
misericordioe_, the House of Mercy, and, as the region was Mercian, the
two names became involved. As Columba is the Latin for dove, the dove
became a sort of signification of the nunnery. She seized on the idea
and made the newly-founded nunnery a house of doves. Someone sent her a
freshly-discovered dove, a sort of carrier, but which had in the white
feathers of its head and neck the form of a religious cowl. The nunnery
flourished for more than a century, when, in the time of Penda, who was
the reactionary of heathendom, it fell into decay. In the meantime the
doves, protected by religious feeling, had increased mightily, and were
known in all Catholic communities. When King Offa ruled in Mercia, about
a hundred and fifty years later, he restored Christianity, and under its
protection the nunnery of St. Columba was restored and its doves
flourished again. In process of time this religious house again fell
into desuetude; but before it disappeared it had achieved a great name
for good works, and in especial for the piety of its members. If deeds
and prayers and hopes and earnest thinking leave anywhere any moral
effect, Mercy Farm and all aroun