The King's Achievement
new timber and plaster faced the evening sun across the square lawns and high terrace; and the w
rising for their evening meal. The tall front of the house on the north, formed by the hall in the centre with the kitchen at its eastern end and the master's chamber on the western, was faced by a square-towered gatehouse through which the straight drive leading into the main road approa
were now being led away with patient hanging heads towards the stables that stood outside the gatehouse on the right, and three or four dusty men in livery were talking to the house-servants wh
ase. The yard dog came out at the sound of the hoofs, dragging his chain after him, from his kennel beneath the little cloister outside the chapel, barked solemnly once or twice, and having done his duty lay down on the cool stones, head on paws, watching with bright eyes the
pectancy on his bearded face and in his bright grey eyes as he looked. His two sons had met at Begham, and were coming home, Ralph from town sites a six months' absence, and Christopher from Canterbury, where he had been spending a week or two in company with Mr. Carleton, the chaplain of the C
essed in purple and black, and stood by him, silently, a yard or two away, watching the carriage out of steady b
e kind of rich splendour, with a short silver-clasped travelling cloak, crimson hose, and plumed felt cap; and his face with its pointed black
good ten years younger, with the grey eyes of his father, and
at the top
' hands; as Christopher went back to the carriage, from which the pri
then added, "Christoph
asked his mother, as they tu
!" he sa
nd Mr. Carleton, and the three fol
er?" said
opher
speak to you, sir, bef
er will be in an hour from now;" and he look
lph and his mother with an awed interest as they came out from the hall. Mr. Ralph had come down from the heart of life, as they knew; had been present at the crowning
red, the servants broke into ta
*
he master's chamber. Sir James looked a little anxious as he came across the clean strewed rushes, past the table at the lower end where the household sat, but Christopher's face was bright with excitem
him; and Sir James and the chaplain did most of the conversation, pleasant harmless talk about the estate and the tenants; but as supper w
et enough. She looked very pretty in her robes; she was in purple v
ere all listening intently; and even a servant
l air, setting down his Venetian glass
father, from his black v
the imagination of his subjects to an extraordinary degree, no less in his
lessly enough. He had s
terbury did the crowning; Te Deum was sung after, and then solemn mass. There was a dozen abbots, I should th
sion?" asked hi
after the Queen, full of ancient old ladies, at which
r James asking most of the questions and Ralph ans
dy Katharin
lancing at Ralph, who sat perfectl
venly; "he is late at Begham, and then asks me about the
looked from on
Cromwell?"
He asked me to give you both his
*
s part of the house had been lately re-built, but the old woodwork had been re-used, and the pale oak panels, each crowned by an elaborate foliated head, gave back the pleasant flicker of the fire that burned between the polished sheets of Flemish tiles on either side of the hea
e door, according to custom, was on the point of
"we want you to-night. Chr
with the others, his face in sha
his chin on his hand, and sitting very upright on the long-backe
I was questioning whether I had a vocation to the religious life; and I went, with that in my min
tly still, without a word or sign of either sympathy or disappro
n, my
ath and leaned b
a day or two. There were several others staying with us at the
" put in th
her; and he came to us one morning after mass, and told us that she was in ecstasy, and that we were to come
red his throat, crossed his
the knight q
reat deal," went o
in his mother who wa
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:
did you say?" asked Ralp
silent. His father glanced q
s," he said. "What
an leaned f
Ralph-"
ing-" bega
said Sir James
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,
s he turned to the priest for corroboration. Mr
what I had in my mind; and I had not spoken a w
d any?" aske
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 g
ames
t," he sa
it; but she said she saw my cowl and its hanging sleeves, and an antiphoner in my hands; and then her face gr
ng up a bunch of raisins. Ralph sighed once as if wearied out, and
then paused; but there was no answer. A
om God, she is one of Satan's own; and it is hard to think that Satan would tell us of
ht nodde
theart?" he sa
ed to hi
e said. "If Chris believes
you,
d himself i
what I think?" he asked
e to say? I wi
ent of his head; but his
ay what you think
hey are a couple of knaves-clever knaves, I will grant, though perhaps the woman is something of a fool too; for she deceives persons as wise even as Mr. Carleton here by speaking of shrift
l one of them?" pu
d his eyebr
I ought not to speak of this; but I know you will not speak of it again; and I can tell
er leane
mean-" h
you no more. On the other hand if Chris thinks he must be a monk, well and good; I do not think so myself; but that is not my affair; but I hope he will not be a monk only
d will hold to it unless reason is shown to the
said Ralph; and lea
for a while; and then Ralph asked a
usband," said Sir James. "I have told Forrest to
, and sipped
w," he said,
ll," went on the other. "She w
of Religion," put in La
ooked u
hen Mary and I will b
ather, smiling, "and a worldling can be no mo
ith one corner
te right, si
presently from the turret in the chapel-c
ir," said Ralph, "if I
lling. The stay at Begha
son. I will send Morri
Ralph. "I need not depri
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, and the air still and fragrant. There were a few lights here and there round the Court, and the tall chapel windows shone dimly above the little cloister. A link flared steadi
hand tenderly on
lph, my son," he said. "Reme
e that," said Chris fier
s advising you well. You must let him alone, Chris. You must rememb
*
e white steps that rose up to the altar where a single spark winked against the leaded window beneath the silk-shrouded pyx. He had come home full of excitement and joy at his first sight of an ecstatic, and at the message that she had seemed to have for him, and across these heightened perceptions had jarred the impatience of his brother in the inn at Begham and in the carriage on their way home, and above all his sharp criticism and aloofness in the parlour just now. But he became quieter as he knelt now; the bitterness seemed to sink beneath him and to leave him alone in a world of peaceful glory-the world of mystic life to which his face was now set, illuminated by the words of the nun. He had seen one who could see further than h
ed with those high affairs of the soul and the Eternal God, of which he was already beginning to catch glimpses, and even the whispers that ran about the country places and of which Ralph no doubt could t
ething of pity of his brother dozing now no doubt before the parlour f
e himself, at least he had begotten one-one who would represent him before God, bring a blessing on the house, and pray and offer sacrifice for his soul until his time should be run out and he see God face to face. And Ralph would represent him before men and carry on the line, and hand on the house to a third generation-Ralph, at whom he had felt so sorely puzzled of late, for he seemed full of objects and ambitions for which the father had very little sympathy, and to have lost almost entirely that delicate relation with home that was at once so indefinable and so real. But he comforted himself by the thought tha
ttle by little he had found that the wide treasury was empty, clean indeed and capacious, but no more, and above all with no promise of any riches as yet unperceived. Those great black eyes, that high forehead, those stately movements, meant nothing; it was a splendid figure with no soul within. She did her duty admirably, she said her prayers, she entertained her guests with the proper conversation, she could be trusted to behave well in any circumstances that called for tact or strength; and that was
ather lifted his eyes to the gallery, and saw the faint