preacher. For when the preaching was done, he came near to the man of
God, and made known how the Lord had dealt with him by means of the
preaching, and how this had befallen him as if the preacher had traversed
all the hidden places of his heart and seen all the secrets thereof. So
Master Gerard received him and confirmed his charity toward him, and at
length Everard became his companion and helper in preaching; but not long
after his conversion Master Gerard departed to the Lord. After his
departure the old enemy stirred up no small enmity against the devout
disciples, but God was present with them, giving to them patience and
constancy. Now many of the devout were ignorant of Master Everard's
conversion, but he wished to join himself to the disciples of Christ that
dwelt in Deventer in the House of Florentius; the Brothers, however, when
they saw him were afraid, and began to flee from before his face as lambs
from before the wolf, and they gat them into the hidden places of their
cells; yea, and Florentius himself was fearful, for he knew not what
Everard might mean, who aforetime had been harsh enough and had opposed
the devout Brothers.

Everard therefore said to Florentius: "Wherefore do these Brothers flee
away?" and he answered: "They know not with what mind thou art come," but
Everard said, "I am come to amend my life," and when he was still held in
suspicion of Florentius, he said after due thought and protesting his
innocency: "If ye will not believe my words, at least believe mine acts--I
pray you give me a cell for a season, and prove me therein of what spirit
I am." Therefore they took him and assigned to him a cell where he lived
long and was wholly converted; for as once he had gained great knowledge
of medicine, so now he received no small light in the law of the Lord and
in the holy Scriptures.

After this he accepted the dispensation of God towards him, namely, to be
still and attend to his heavenly calling, and also following herein the
example of Florentius, to gather together into his own house at Almelo
certain Clerks and Lay folk, with whom he lived for many years under due
discipline. Moreover, lest they who were so gathered together should be
scattered abroad after his death, he began to think of a fit place where
they might serve God together, and by His help he found such a place as
he desired for the founding of a monastery, and here those Brothers whom
he had formerly invested in a