t Brother Stephen is set free!"

The Abbot, however, was a very stately and dignified person; and Gabriel
did not quite see how a little peasant boy like himself could find an
opportunity to speak to him, or how he would dare to say anything even
if he had a chance.

Now it happened the very morning that Gabriel was thinking about all
this, he was out in the Abbey kitchen beating up the white of a nice
fresh egg which he had brought with him from home that day. He had the
egg in an earthen bowl, and was working away with a curious wooden
beater, for few people had forks in those days. And as he beat up the
white froth, the Abbey cooks also were very busy making pasties, and
roasting huge pieces of meat before the great open fireplace, and baking
loaves of sweet Normandy bread for the monks' dinner.

But Gabriel was not helping them; no, he was beating the egg for Brother
Stephen to use in putting on the gold in the border he was painting. For
the brothers did not have the imitation gold powders of which we see so
much to-day; but instead, they used real gold, which they ground up very
fine in earthen mortars, and took much trouble to properly prepare. And
when they wanted to lay it on, they commonly used the white of a fresh
egg to fasten it to the parchment.

[Illustration: "_He saw the Abbot walking up and down_"]

So Gabriel was working as fast as he could, for Brother Stephen was
waiting; when all at once he happened to look out the kitchen door,
which opened on a courtyard where there was a pretty garden, and he saw
the Abbot walking up and down the gravel paths, and now and then
stopping to see how the tulips and daffodils were coming on.

As Gabriel looked, the Abbot seated himself on a stone bench; and then
the little boy, forgetting his awe of him, and thinking only of Brother
Stephen and his chain ran out as fast as he could, still holding his
bowl in one hand and the wooden beater in the other.

As he came up to where the Abbot was sitting, he courtesied in such
haste that he spilled out half his egg as he eagerly burst out:

"O reverend Father! will you not command Brother Stephen to be set free
from his chain?"

The Abbot at first had smiled at the droll figure made by the little
boy, whom he supposed to be one of the kitchen scullions, but at this
speech he stiffened up and looked very stern as Gabriel went on
breathlessly:

"He is making such a beautiful book, and he works so hard; but the chai