aw the Bishop, alone and
unattended, walking toward them from the cloisters.

"_Benedicite_," said the Bishop, as he approached. "I am fortunate in
chancing to find the whole community assembled."

The Bishop's uplifted fingers brought the nuns to their knees; but they
rose at once to their feet again and crowded behind Mother Sub-Prioress
as, taking a step forward, she hastened to explain the situation.

"My Lord Bishop, you find us in much distress. The Reverend Mother is
locked into her cell, and we fear that, after a long night of vigil and
fasting, she hath swooned. We cannot get an answer by much knocking,
and we have no means of forcing the door, which is of most massive
strength and thickness."

The Bishop looked searchingly into the ferrety face of Mother
Sub-Prioress, but he saw naught there save genuine distress and
perplexity.

He looked at the massive door, and at the excited crowd of nuns. He
even gave himself time to note that the nose and lip of Seraphine were
beginning to swell, and to experience a whimsical wish that the Knight
could see her.

Then his calm, observant eye turned again to Mother Sub-Prioress.

"And why do you make so sure, Mother Sub-Prioress, that the Reverend
Mother is indeed within her cell?"

"Because we _know_ her to be," replied Mother Sub-Prioress, as tartly
as she dared, when addressing the Lord Bishop. "Permit me, Reverend
Father, to recount to you the happenings of the last twenty hours.

"Soon after her return from Vespers, yestereven, the Reverend Mother
sent word by Mary Antony that she purposed again spending the night in
prayer and vigil, and would not be present at the evening meal; also
that she must not, on any account whatever, be disturbed. Mary Antony
took this message to the kitchens, bidding the younger lay-sisters to
prepare the meal without her, saying she cared not how badly it was
served, seeing the Reverend Mother would not be there to partake of it."

Mother Sub-Prioress paused to sniff, and to give the other nuns an
opportunity for ejaculations concerning Sister Antony. But their awe
of the Lord Bishop, and their genuine anxiety for the old lay-sister,
kept them silent.

The Bishop stroked his chin, keeping the corners of his mouth firmly in
place by means of his thumb and finger. Old Antony was delectably
funny when she said these things herself; but she was delectably
funnier, when her remarks were repeated by Mother Sub-Prioress.