Perrote saw that she had made an
impression, and she was too wise to weaken it by adding words. Sir
Godfrey, with his hands in the pockets of his _haut-de-chausses_, took a
turn under the trees, and came back to the suppliant. "Where be they to
be found?"

"Sir, there is well-nigh certain to be one or more at Derby. If it
pleased you to send to the Prior of Saint Mary there, or to your own
Abbey of Darley, there were very like to be one tarrying on his way, or
might soon come thither; and if, under your good leave, the holy Father
would cause him to swear secrecy touching all he might see or hear, no
mischief should be like to hap by his coming."

"Humph!" said Sir Godfrey again. "I'll meditate thereon."

"Sir, I give you right hearty thanks," was the grateful answer of
Perrote, who had taken more by her motion than she expected.

As she passed from the inner court to the outer on her way to the hall,
where supper would shortly be served, she heard a little noise and
bustle of some sort at the gate. Perrote stopped to look.

Before the gate, on a richly-caparisoned mule, sat the Abbot of Darley,
with four of his monks, also mounted on those ecclesiastical animals.
The porter, his keys in his hand, was bowing low in reverential awe, for
an abbot was only a step below a bishop, and both were deemed holy and
spiritual men. Unquestionably there were men among them who were both
spiritual and holy, but they were considerably fewer than the general
populace believed. The majority belonged to one of four types--the
dry-as-dust scholar, the austere ascetic, the proud tyrant, or the
jovial _ton vivant_. The first-class, which was the best, was not a
large one; the other three were much more numerous. The present Abbot
of Darley was a mixture of the two last-named, and could put on either
at will, the man being jovial by nature, and the abbot haughty by
training. He had now come to spend a night at Hazelwood on his way from
Darley to Leicester; for the Foljambes were lords of Darley Manor, and
many of them had been benefactors to the abbey in their time. It was
desirable, for many reasons, that Sir Godfrey and the Abbot should keep
on friendly terms. Perrote stepped back to tell the knight who stood at
his gate, and he at once hastened forward with a cordial welcome.

The Abbot blessed Sir Godfrey by the extension of two priestly fingers
in a style which must require considerable practice, and, in tones which
s