that their roses and lilies were the finest that could be seen in
all the neighbourhood of Oxford.

The room in which the little company was gathered together this
clear, bright April evening was the fragment of the old refectory,
and its groined and vaulted roof was beautifully traced, whilst the
long, mullioned window, on the wide cushioned seat on which the
sisters sat with arms entwined, listening breathlessly to the talk
of their elders, looked southward and westward over green
meadowlands and gleaming water channels to the low hills and
woodlands beyond.

Oxford in the sixteenth century was a notoriously unhealthy place,
swept by constant pestilences, which militated greatly against its
growth as a university; but no one could deny the peculiar charm of
its situation during the summer months, set in a zone of verdure,
amid waterways fringed with alder and willow, and gemmed by water
plants and masses of fritillary.

Besides the two sisters, their learned father, and the two young
men in the garb of students who had already spoken, there was a
third youth present, who looked slightly younger than the dark
faced, impetuous Anthony Dalaber, and he sat on the window seat
beside the daughters of the house, with the look of one who has the
right to claim intimacy. As a matter of fact, Hugh Fitzjames was
the cousin of these girls, and for many years had been a member of
Dr. Langton's household. Now he was living at St. Alban Hall, and
Dalaber was his most intimate friend and comrade, sharing the same
double chamber with him. It was this intimacy which bad first
brought Anthony Dalaber to the Bridge House; and having once come,
he came again and yet again, till he was regarded in the light of a
friend and comrade.

There was a very strong tie asserting itself amongst certain men of
varying ages and academic rank at Oxford at this time. Certain
publications of Martin Luther had found their way into the country,
despite the efforts of those in authority to cheek their
introduction and circulation. And with these books came also
portions of the Scriptures translated into English, which were as
eagerly bought and perused by vast numbers of persons.

Martin Luther was no timid writer. He denounced the corruptions he
had noted in the existing ordinances of the church with no
uncertain note. He exposed the abuses of pardons, pilgrimages, and
indulgences in language so scathing that it set on fire the hearts
of his reade