emn warning, too, told her that
since she was a woman and young, and had doubtless been led away by
others, she should be pardoned after she had paid a visit barefoot
to a shrine forty miles off--a shrine much derided by the heretic
teachers--and had returned in like fashion, having tasted nothing
but bread and water the whole time of the journey.

Then came, one after another, the weakest and most timorous of the
craven crowd. The infection of fear had seized upon them. Ignorant,
superstitious, scarcely understanding the new teachings that had
attracted them, and fearfully terrified of falling under the ban of
the Church under whose shelter they had always lived, was it
wonderful that one after another should abjure their heretical
opinions, and swear to listen to the enticer no more? Some strove
to ask questions upon the points which troubled them; but scarce
any sort of disputing was allowed. The prior was subtle in fence,
and by a few scathing words could generally quell the questioner
and make him wish his objection unspoken.

And those who showed a tendency towards disputation were far more
harshly dealt with than those who abjured at once. The red-hot
iron, the badge of shame, the servitude which might be lifelong
were imposed upon them. So a sense of despair fell upon the little
band, and they yielded one by one; only three refusing to take the
words of the oath--the hunchback and two more, one being a lad of
about sixteen summers; and after using every threat and argument to
overcome their obstinacy, the prior called upon the Lord of
Mortimer as the representative of the secular arm, and delivered
the prisoners over to him to be dealt with after the manner of the
law.

A shuddering groan went up, as if involuntarily, from many throats
as the prisoners were led away by the guards of Mortimer. The prior
looked sternly round to check the demonstration, reminding the
people that the burning of the body was as nothing, it was the
eternal burning of the soul in hell that men should fear; and that
if in the midst of the flames the guilty persons recanted their
sins, it was just possible that even then the merciful God would
hear and receive their prayer, and that they might be saved from
the eternal death of the soul.

Then somewhat changing his tone, though still speaking with gravity
and even with sadness, he told the people of the pain with which he
had heard stories of the sympathy evinced by some even among