The Secret Chamber at Chad | Page 9

the capacity of chaplain to the household and tutor to the boys, now
fast growing towards man's estate. There was a beautiful little chapel
connected with Chad. It had fallen something into neglect and ruin
during the days of the civil wars, and had been battered about in some
of the struggles that had raged round Chad. But Sir Oliver had spent
both money and loving care in restoring and beautifying the little place,
and now the daily mass was said there by Brother Emmanuel, and the
members of the household were encouraged to attend as often as their
duties would permit. The brother, too, would go about amongst the
people and talk with them as they pursued their tasks, and not one even
of the rudest and roughest but would feel the better for the kindly and
beneficent influence of the youthful ecclesiastic.
Brother Emmanuel had one of those keenly intelligent and versatile
minds that are always craving a wider knowledge, and think no
knowledge, even of the humblest, beneath notice. He would ask the
poorest wood cutter to instruct him in the handling of his tool or in the
simple mysteries of his craft as humbly as though he were asking
instruction from one of the learned of the land. No information, no
occupation came amiss to him. He saw in all toil a dignity and a power,
and he strove to impress upon every worker, of whatever craft he might
be, that to do his day's work with all his might and with the best powers
at his command was in truth one excellent way of serving God, and
more effectual than any number of Paters and Aves said whilst idling
away the time that should be given to his master's service.
Such teaching might not be strictly orthodox from a monkish
standpoint, but it commended itself to the understanding and the
approval of simple folks; and the brother was none the less beloved and
respected that his talk and his teaching did not follow the cut-and-dried
rules of his order. Sir Oliver and his wife thought excellently of the

young man, and to the boys he was friend as well as tutor.
On this hot midsummer day the mistress of Chad was making her usual
morning round of the kitchens and adjoining offices--her simple though
graceful morning robe, and the plain coif covering her hair, showing
that she was not yet dressed for the duties which would engross her
later in the day. She had a great bunch of keys dangling at her girdle,
and her tablets were in her hands, where from time to time she jotted
down some brief note to be entered later in those household books
which she kept herself with scrupulous care, so that every season she
knew exactly how many gallons or hogsheads of mead or wine had
been brewed, what had been the yield of every crop in the garden or
meadow, what stores of conserves had been made from each fruit as its
season came in, and whether that quantity had proved sufficient for the
year's consumption.
The cherry crop was being gathered in today. Huge baskets of the
delicious fruit were ranged along one wall of the still room, and busy
hands were already preparing the bright berries for the preserving pan
or the rows of jars that were likewise placed in readiness to receive
them. The cherry trees of Chad were famous for their splendid crop,
and the mistress had many wonderful recipes and preparations by
which the fruit was preserved and made into all manner of dainty
conserves that delighted all who partook of them.
"I will come anon, and help you with your task," said the lady to the
busy wenches in the still room, who were hard at work preparing the
fruit. "I will return as soon as I have made my round, and see that all is
going well."
The girls smiled, and dropped their rustic courtesies. Some amongst
them were not the regular serving maids of the place, but were the
daughters of the humbler retainers living round and about, who were
glad to come to assist at the great house when there was any press of
work--a thing that frequently happened from April to November.
None who assisted at Chad at such times ever went away empty handed.
Besides the small wage given for the work done, there was always a
basket of fruit, or a piece of meat, or a flagon of wine, according to the
nature of the task, set aside for each assistant who did not dwell
beneath the roof of Chad. And if there was sickness in any cottage from
which a worker came, there was certain to be some little delicacy put

into a basket by the