was a strangely beautiful corner of the green
world.

"Are these the cloisters?" Michael asked.

"One day, one day," replied Dom Cuthbert. "A little rough at present,
but before I die I'm sure there will be a mighty edifice in this wood to
the glory of God and His saints."

"I'd like it best that way," said Michael. "Not all at once."

He felt an imaginative companionship with the aspirations of the Abbot.

"Now we'll visit the Chapel," said Dom Cuthbert. "We built the Chapel
with our own hands of mud and stone and laths. You'll like the Chapel.
Sometimes I feel quite sorry to think of leaving it for the great Abbey
Church we shall one day build with the hands of workmen."

The Chapel was reached by a short cloister of primitive construction,
and it was the simplest purest place of worship that Michael had ever
seen. It seemed to have gathered beneath its small roof the whole of
peace. On one side the hazel bushes grew so close that the windows
opened on to the mysterious green heart of life. Two curtains worked
with golden blazonries divided the quire from the congregation.

"This is where you'll sit," said Dom Cuthbert, pointing to two
kneeling-chairs on either side of the opening into the quire. "Perhaps
you'll say a prayer now for the Order. The prayers of children travel
very swiftly to God."

Dom Cuthbert passed to the Abbot's stall to kneel, while Michael and
Chator knelt on the chairs. When they had prayed for awhile, the Abbot
took them into the sacristy and showed them the vestments and the sacred
vessels of the altar, and from the sacristy door they passed into a
straight woodland way.

"The Abbot's walk," said Dom Cuthbert, with a beautiful smile. "The
brethren cut this wonderful path during their hours of recreation. I
cannot envy any cloisters with this to walk in. How soft is the moss
beneath our feet, and in Spring how loudly the birds sing here. The
leaves come very early, too, and linger very late. It is a wonderful
path. Now I must go and work. I have a lot of letters to write. Explore
the woods and the downs and enjoy yourselves. You'll find the rules that
the guests must observe pinned to the wall of the guest-room. Enjoy
yourselves and be content."

The tall figure of the monk with its languid awkwardness of gait
disappeared from the Abbot's walk, and the two boys, arm-in-arm,
wandered off in the opposite direction.

"Everything was absolutely correct," burbled Chator. "Oh, yes,
absol