The Kings Achievement | Page 4

in the chaplain.
"--And some others," went on Chris, "all waiting to see her. Dr. Bocking promised to tell us when we could see her; and he came to us one morning after mass, and told us that she was in ecstasy, and that we were to come at once. So we all went to the nuns' chapel, and there she was on her knees, with her arms across her breast."
He stopped again. Ralph cleared his throat, crossed his legs, and drank a little wine.
"Yes?" said the knight questioningly.
"Well--she said a great deal," went on Chris hurriedly.
"About the King?" put in his mother who was looking at the fire.
"A little about the King," said Chris, "and about holy things as well. She spoke about heaven; it was wonderful to hear her; with her eyes burning, and such a voice; and then she spoke low and deep and told us about hell, and the devil and his torments; and I could hardly bear to listen; and she told us about shrift, and what it did for the soul; and the blessed sacrament. The Carthusian put a question or two to her, and she answered them: and all the while she was speaking her voice seemed to come from her body, and not from her mouth; and it was terrible to see her when she spoke of hell; her tongue lay out on her cheek, and her eyes grew little and afraid."
"Her tongue in her cheek, did you say?" asked Ralph politely, without moving.
Chris flushed, and sat back silent. His father glanced quickly from one to the other.
"Tell us more, Chris," he said. "What did she say to you?"
The young man leaned forward again.
"I wish, Ralph--" he began.
"I was asking--" began the other.
"There, there," said Sir James. "Go on, Chris."
"Well, after a while Dr. Bocking brought me forward; and told her to look at me; and her eyes seemed to see something beyond me; and I was afraid. But he told me to ask her, and I did. She said nothing for a while; and then she began to speak of a great church, as if she saw it; and she saw there was a tower in the middle, and chapels on either side, and tombs beside the high altar; and an image, and then she stopped, and cried out aloud 'Saint Pancras pray for us'--and then I knew."
Chris was trembling violently with excitement as he turned to the priest for corroboration. Mr. Carleton nodded once or twice without speaking.
"Then I knew," went on Chris. "You know it was what I had in my mind; and I had not spoken a word of Lewes, or of my thought of going there."
"Had you told any?" asked his father.
"Only Dr. Bocking. Then I asked her, was I to go there; but she said nothing for a while; and her eyes wandered about; and she began to speak of black monks going this way and that; and she spoke of a prior, and of his ring; it was of gold, she said, with figures engraved on it. You know the ring the Prior wears?" he added, looking eagerly at his father.
Sir James nodded.
"I know it," he said. "Well?"
"Well, I asked her again, was I to go there; and then she looked at me up and down; I was in my travelling suit; but she said she saw my cowl and its hanging sleeves, and an antiphoner in my hands; and then her face grew dreadful and afraid again, and she cried out and fell forward; and Dr. Bocking led us out from the chapel."
There was a long silence as Chris ended and leaned back again, taking up a bunch of raisins. Ralph sighed once as if wearied out, and his mother put her hand on his sleeve. Then at last Sir James spoke.
"You have heard the story," he said, and then paused; but there was no answer. At last the chaplain spoke from his place.
"It is all as Chris said," he began, "I was there and heard it. If the woman is not from God, she is one of Satan's own; and it is hard to think that Satan would tell us of the sacraments and bid us use them greedily, and if she is from God--" he stopped again.
The knight nodded at him.
"And you, sweetheart?" he said to his wife.
She turned to him slowly.
"You know what I think," she said. "If Chris believes it, he must go, I suppose."
"And you, Ralph?"
Ralph raised himself in his chair.
"Do you wish me to say what I think?" he asked deliberately, "or what Chris wishes me to say? I will do either."
Chris made a quick movement of his head; but his father answered for him.
"We wish you to say what you think," he said quietly.
"Well, then," said Ralph, "it