st
beautiful style, and that it must be finished by the following December.

The Abbot was delighted with the honour the king had shown the Abbey in
sending this order; and he determined that Brother Stephen should stay
and make the entire book, as no one else wrote so evenly, or made quite
such lovely initials and borders as did he.

When the Abbot told this to Brother Stephen, however, it was a pity
that he did so in such a cold and haughty way that altogether Brother
Stephen's anger was aroused, for he had a rather unruly temper; and so,
smarting under the disappointment of not receiving his liberty, and
feeling that the book for Lady Anne was one cause of this, he had spoken
angrily and disrespectfully to the Abbot, and refused point-blank to
touch the king's order.

At this the Abbot in his turn became angry, and declared that Brother
Stephen should be compelled to paint the hour book whether he wished to
or not; that he must do it as punishment for his unruly conduct; and the
Abbot threatened, moreover, that if he did not obey, he would be placed
under the ban of the Church, which was considered by all the brotherhood
as a dreadful misfortune.

And so with this threat hanging over him, that very morning, just before
Gabriel reached the Abbey, Brother Stephen had been sent to the old
chapter-house, where he was ordered to work by himself, and to begin the
book at once. And to complete his humiliation, and for fear he might try
to run away, the Abbot caused him to be chained to one of the legs of
the heavy work-table; and this chain he was to wear every day during
working hours.

Now all this made Brother Stephen very angry and unhappy, and his heart
was full of bitterness toward the Abbot and all of the brotherhood and
the world in general, when all at once he heard Gabriel's knock at the
door; and then, in another moment, the door was softly pushed open, and
there, on the threshold, stood the little boy.

CHAPTER II.

BROTHER STEPHEN'S INSPIRATION

GABRIEL knew nothing of Brother Stephen's troubles, and so was smiling
happily as he stepped into the room, holding his cap in one hand, while
with his other arm he hugged to him his large bunch of violets and
cuckoo-buds. Indeed he looked so bright and full of life that even
Brother Stephen felt the effect of it, and his frown began to smooth out
a little as he said:

"Well, my lad, who art thou?"

"I am Gabriel Viaud, Brother Stephen," answered th