n to lighten it, for the Lamb is the light thereof.

Quite forgetting that she ought to turn towards the cloisters, Joyce
walked on down the nave before the Bishop's party had missed her. The
sweet seriousness of her face as she went out into the sunshine almost
held back the welcome, which was trembling on the lips of someone who
was standing near the porch, and had watched her coming down the wide
nave.

She was passing out, wrapt in her own meditations when Gilbert Arundel
put out his hand:

"Joyce!"

She started, and blushed rosy red.

"You did forget me, then!" he exclaimed, reproachfully.

"Forget you, no."

"You did not reply to my letter?"

"You did not ask me to write."

They now found themselves by the turnstile under the old clock, that
quaint clock which, it is said, was made to strike many times in
succession for the amusement of that gracious and sagacious King James,
who laughed till his sides ached, as the old knights, in their black
armour, hit the bell with their battle-axes, beneath the suggestive
motto, "Ne quid pereat." They hit it now with, all their wonted vigour
four times, and then the clock struck _one_.

[Illustration: Clock at Wells]

"We have come the wrong way. I am staying at the palace till to-morrow,"
Joyce said.

"At the palace! I am glad to hear it; but your mother, whom I saw
yesterday, did not know it."

"No; it was a sudden thought. I mean Mrs. Law only asked me on Friday."

"I am glad you are at the palace," Gilbert said. "I know I shall have a
friend in the Bishop."

Joyce made no remark to this, and they retraced their steps in silence
till they had crossed the drawbridge and were in the palace grounds.

"I have thought so much of you," he said, earnestly. "I am now come, as
I said I should, to present my petition. Is there any hope?"

Joyce turned away her head, and did not answer.

When they reached the palace, a footman threw open the door:

"Dinner is served," he said, in a voice which was intended to be a mild
reproof.

"Can I see his lordship?" Gilbert asked; while Joyce ran upstairs to her
room on the upper floor.

"His lordship is just sitting down to dinner, sir. What name----"

Gilbert took out a card and handed it to the man, leaving him in the
hall till he knew the Bishop's will.

Presently he reappeared.

"I am requested to beg you, sir, to go into the dining-room at once:
this way."

The Bishop rose, and gave Gilbert Arundel a very