The White Company | Page 4

dryness."
At this solemn indictment the novice raised his hand and twitched his

lip, while even the placid senior brothers glanced across at each other
and coughed to cover their amusement. The Abbot alone sat gray and
immutable, with a drawn face and a brooding eye.
"Item, that having been told by the master of the novices that he should
restrict his food for two days to a single three-pound loaf of bran and
beans, for the greater honoring and glorifying of St. Monica, mother of
the holy Augustine, he was heard by brother Ambrose and others to say
that he wished twenty thousand devils would fly away with the said
Monica, mother of the holy Augustine, or any other saint who came
between a man and his meat. Item, that upon brother Ambrose
reproving him for this blasphemous wish, he did hold the said brother
face downwards over the piscatorium or fish-pond for a space during
which the said brother was able to repeat a pater and four aves for the
better fortifying of his soul against impending death."
There was a buzz and murmur among the white-frocked brethren at this
grave charge; but the Abbot held up his long quivering hand. "What
then?" said he.
"Item, that between nones and vespers on the feast of James the Less
the said brother John was observed upon the Brockenhurst road, near
the spot which is known as Hatchett's Pond in converse with a person
of the other sex, being a maiden of the name of Mary Sowley, the
daughter of the King's verderer. Item, that after sundry japes and jokes
the said brother John did lift up the said Mary Sowley and did take,
carry, and convey her across a stream, to the infinite relish of the devil
and the exceeding detriment of his own soul, which scandalous and
wilful falling away was witnessed by three members of our order."
A dead silence throughout the room, with a rolling of heads and
upturning of eyes, bespoke the pious horror of the community.
The Abbot drew his gray brows low over his fiercely questioning eyes.
"Who can vouch for this thing?" he asked.
"That can I," answered the accuser. "So too can brother Porphyry, who

was with me, and brother Mark of the Spicarium, who hath been so
much stirred and inwardly troubled by the sight that he now lies in a
fever through it."
"And the woman?" asked the Abbot. "Did she not break into
lamentation and woe that a brother should so demean himself?"
"Nay, she smiled sweetly upon him and thanked him. I can vouch it and
so can brother Porphyry."
"Canst thou?" cried the Abbot, in a high, tempestuous tone. "Canst thou
so? Hast forgotten that the five-and-thirtieth rule of the order is that in
the presence of a woman the face should be ever averted and the eyes
cast down? Hast forgot it, I say? If your eyes were upon your sandals,
how came ye to see this smile of which ye prate? A week in your cells,
false brethren, a week of rye-bread and lentils, with double lauds and
double matins, may help ye to remembrance of the laws under which ye
live."
At this sudden outflame of wrath the two witnesses sank their faces on
to their chests, and sat as men crushed. The Abbot turned his angry
eyes away from them and bent them upon the accused, who met his
searching gaze with a firm and composed face.
"What hast thou to say, brother John, upon these weighty things which
are urged against you?"
"Little enough, good father, little enough," said the novice, speaking
English with a broad West Saxon drawl. The brothers, who were
English to a man, pricked up their ears at the sound of the homely and
yet unfamiliar speech; but the Abbot flushed red with anger, and struck
his hand upon the oaken arm of his chair.
"What talk is this?" he cried. "Is this a tongue to be used within the
walls of an old and well-famed monastery? But grace and learning have
ever gone hand in hand, and when one is lost it is needless to look for
the other."

"I know not about that," said brother John. "I know only that the words
come kindly to my mouth, for it was the speech of my fathers before
me. Under your favor, I shall either use it now or hold my peace."
The Abbot patted his foot and nodded his head, as one who passes a
point but does not forget it.
"For the matter of the ale," continued brother John, "I had come in hot
from the fields and had scarce got the taste of the thing before mine eye
lit upon the bottom of the pot. It may