The White Company | Page 5

be, too, that I spoke somewhat
shortly concerning the bran and the beans, the same being poor
provender and unfitted for a man of my inches. It is true also that I did
lay my hands upon this jack-fool of a brother Ambrose, though, as you
can see, I did him little scathe. As regards the maid, too, it is true that I
did heft her over the stream, she having on her hosen and shoon, whilst
I had but my wooden sandals, which could take no hurt from the water.
I should have thought shame upon my manhood, as well as my
monkhood, if I had held back my hand from her." He glanced around as
he spoke with the half-amused look which he had worn during the
whole proceedings.
"There is no need to go further," said the Abbot. "He has confessed to
all. It only remains for me to portion out the punishment which is due
to his evil conduct."
He rose, and the two long lines of brothers followed his example,
looking sideways with scared faces at the angry prelate.
"John of Hordle," he thundered, "you have shown yourself during the
two months of your novitiate to be a recreant monk, and one who is
unworthy to wear the white garb which is the outer symbol of the
spotless spirit. That dress shall therefore be stripped from thee, and
thou shalt be cast into the outer world without benefit of clerkship, and
without lot or part in the graces and blessings of those who dwell under
the care of the Blessed Benedict. Thou shalt come back neither to
Beaulieu nor to any of the granges of Beaulieu, and thy name shall be
struck off the scrolls of the order."

The sentence appeared a terrible one to the older monks, who had
become so used to the safe and regular life of the Abbey that they
would have been as helpless as children in the outer world. From their
pious oasis they looked dreamily out at the desert of life, a place full of
stormings and strivings--comfortless, restless, and overshadowed by
evil. The young novice, however, appeared to have other thoughts, for
his eyes sparkled and his smile broadened. It needed but that to add
fresh fuel to the fiery mood of the prelate.
"So much for thy spiritual punishment," he cried. "But it is to thy
grosser feelings that we must turn in such natures as thine, and as thou
art no longer under the shield of holy church there is the less difficulty.
Ho there! lay-brothers--Francis, Naomi, Joseph--seize him and bind his
arms! Drag him forth, and let the foresters and the porters scourge him
from the precincts!"
As these three brothers advanced towards him to carry out the Abbot's
direction, the smile faded from the novice's face, and he glanced right
and left with his fierce brown eyes, like a bull at a baiting. Then, with a
sudden deep-chested shout, he tore up the heavy oaken prie-dieu and
poised it to strike, taking two steps backward the while, that none might
take him at a vantage.
"By the black rood of Waltham!" he roared, "if any knave among you
lays a finger-end upon the edge of my gown, I will crush his skull like a
filbert!" With his thick knotted arms, his thundering voice, and his
bristle of red hair, there was something so repellent in the man that the
three brothers flew back at the very glare of him; and the two rows of
white monks strained away from him like poplars in a tempest. The
Abbot only sprang forward with shining eyes; but the chancellor and
the master hung upon either arm and wrested him back out of danger's
way.
"He is possessed of a devil!" they shouted. "Run, brother Ambrose,
brother Joachim! Call Hugh of the Mill, and Woodman Wat, and Raoul
with his arbalest and bolts. Tell them that we are in fear of our lives!
Run, run! for the love of the Virgin!"

But the novice was a strategist as well as a man of action. Springing
forward, he hurled his unwieldy weapon at brother Ambrose, and, as
desk and monk clattered on to the floor together, he sprang through the
open door and down the winding stair. Sleepy old brother Athanasius,
at the porter's cell, had a fleeting vision of twinkling feet and flying
skirts; but before he had time to rub his eyes the recreant had passed the
lodge, and was speeding as fast as his sandals could patter along the
Lyndhurst Road.

CHAPTER II.
HOW ALLEYNE EDRICSON CAME OUT INTO THE WORLD.
Never had the peaceful atmosphere of the old Cistercian house been so
rudely ruffled. Never had there been insurrection so sudden, so short,
and so