nd
attention.

Edred was familiar enough with the Latin version of the Scriptures,
and had studied them under the guidance of Brother Emmanuel with
great care and attention; but he had never yet heard the words read
out in their entirety in his native tongue, and he was instantly
struck and fascinated by the freshness and suggestiveness of the
familiar language when used for this purpose. He was conscious that
it gave to the words a new life and meaning; that it seemed, as it
were, to drive them home to the heart in a new fashion, and to make
them the property of the listener as they could never be when a
dead language was used as the medium of expression. He felt a
strange thrill run through him as the story of Calvary was thus
read in the low, impassioned tones of the hunchback; and he was not
surprised to see that tears were running down many faces, and that
several women could hardly restrain their sobs.

Now and again the hunchback paused and added a few explanatory
words of his own; now and again he broke forth into a rhapsody not
lacking in a certain rude eloquence, in which he besought his
hearers to come to their Saviour with their load of sin--their
Saviour, who was the one and only Mediator between God and man.
Were not His own words enough--"Father, forgive them"? What need,
then, of the priest; the confessional; the absolution of man? To
God and to Him alone was the remission of sins. Let those who loved
their Lord seek to Him, and see what bliss and happiness resulted
from this personal bond between the erring soul and the loving
Saviour.

Edred shivered slightly as he stood, yet something in the
impassioned gestures of the hunchback, and the strange enthusiastic
light which shone in his eyes, attracted him in spite of himself.
That this was rank heresy he well knew. He knew that one of the
Lollard tenets had always been that confession was a snare devised
of man and not appointed by God. Edred himself could have quoted
many passages from Holy Writ which spoke of some need of confession
through the medium of man, and of sins remitted by God-appointed
ministers. He had been well instructed in such matters by Brother
Emmanuel, who, whatever his enemies might allege against him, was a
stanch son of the Church, even though he might be gifted with a
wide tolerance and a mind open to conviction; and his pupil was not
to be easily convinced against his will. Nor was Edred convinced of
the justice and truth