he had been lying under an
aged oak. He rubbed his hands together for warmth, and a white lichen
which had overgrown them peeled off in long threads. A heavy white
beard, tangled with grey moss, covered his breast, and the hair of his
head, white and matted with green tendrils, had grown about his body.

Slowly and painfully he moved from tree to tree till he reached a broad
road, and saw before him a bridge, and beyond the river a fair town
clustered on the higher ground. So strange a town he had never beheld
before--such a town as one sees in a foreign land, built with quaint
roofs and gables and curiously coloured. As he crossed the bridge he
met a woman who stared at him in amazement. He raised his head to
speak, but he had lost the power of utterance. The woman waited; and
at last with a feeble stammering speech he asked her the name of the
place. She shook her head and said she did not understand his words,
and with a look of pity she went on her way.

Then down to the bridge came an urchin, and Rheinfrid repeated his
question.

"This is Eovesholme," said the lad.

"That cannot be," said Rheinfrid, "for it is little more than twice
seven days since I left Eovesholme, and this place is noway like the
place you name."

"Nay, but it is Eovesholme," replied the lad, "and you are one of the
monks who used to be here before the King pulled down the Abbey."

"Pulled down the Abbey! Hath King William pulled down the Abbey?"
Rheinfrid asked in bewilderment.

"Nay, it is bluff King Hal who has pulled the Abbey down. Come, and
you shall see."

The lad took Rheinfrid by the hand and led him through the streets till
they came to the ruins. Only one beautiful sculptured arch was left
standing, but Rheinfrid had never seen it before. They passed through
and stood among a litter of stones, tumbled drums of pillars and
fragments of carved mouldings and capitals. Rheinfrid recognised the
spot. The land was the same, and the river, and the far hills, but
nearly all the forest had been cleared, and the Abbey had vanished.
What had happened to him and to them?

"Hast thou where to pass the night, old father?" the lad asked.

Rheinfrid shook his head sorrowfully.

"Then I will show thee a place," he said.

And again he took Rheinfrid by the hand, and let him among the ruins
till they came to a flight of stone steps which led down into the crypt
of the minster. These they descended, and there was a dim ligh