r a chance lay in his way of
carrying out the spirit as well as the letter of his father's provision.
Much struggle it cost him, anxious spirit-questionings and midnight
prayings, with many a doubt and a misgiving; but the issue was that ere
he had been three days in Castle Twynham he had taken service under Sir
Nigel, and had accepted horse and harness, the same to be paid for out
of his share of the profits of the expedition. Henceforth for seven
hours a day he strove in the tilt-yard to qualify himself to be a worthy
squire to so worthy a knight. Young, supple and active, with all the
pent energies from years of pure and healthy living, it was not long
before he could manage his horse and his weapon well enough to earn
an approving nod from critical men-at-arms, or to hold his own against
Terlake and Ford, his fellow-servitors.

But were there no other considerations which swayed him from the
cloisters towards the world? So complex is the human spirit that it can
itself scarce discern the deep springs which impel it to action. Yet
to Alleyne had been opened now a side of life of which he had been as
innocent as a child, but one which was of such deep import that it could
not fail to influence him in choosing his path. A woman, in monkish
precepts, had been the embodiment and concentration of what was
dangerous and evil--a focus whence spread all that was to be dreaded and
avoided. So defiling was their presence that a true Cistercian might
not raise his eyes to their face or touch their finger-tips under ban of
church and fear of deadly sin. Yet here, day after day for an hour
after nones, and for an hour before vespers, he found himself in close
communion with three maidens, all young, all fair, and all therefore
doubly dangerous from the monkish standpoint. Yet he found that in their
presence he was conscious of a quick sympathy, a pleasant ease, a ready
response to all that was most gentle and best in himself, which filled
his soul with a vague and new-found joy.

And yet the Lady Maude Loring was no easy pupil to handle. An older and
more world-wise man might have been puzzled by her varying moods, her
sudden prejudices, her quick resentment at all constraint and authority.
Did a subject interest her, was there space in it for either romance
or imagination, she would fly through it with her subtle, active mind,
leaving her two fellow-students and even her teacher toiling behind her.
On the other hand, were there