ails to him, and to show
itself to some extent a replica of nature. It too had its varying
climate, its long summer of warmth and light, its winter of dark
discontent, its strange and bewildering sunrises of Christ upon the
soul, when He rose and went about His garden with perfume and music, or
stayed and greeted His creature with the message of His eyes. Chris
began to learn that these spiritual changes were in a sense independent
of him, that they were not in his soul, but rather that his soul was in
them. He could be happy and content when the winds of God were cold and
His light darkened, or sad and comfortless when the flowers of grace
were apparent and the river of life bright and shining.

And meanwhile the ordinary world went on, but far away and dimly heard
and seen; as when one looks down from a castle-garden on to humming
streets five hundred feet below; and the old life at Overfield, and
Ralph's doings in London seemed unreal and fantastic activities,
purposeless and empty.

Little by little, however, as the point of view shifted, Chris began to
find that the external world could not be banished, and that the
annoyances from the clash of characters discordant with his own were as
positive as those which had distressed him before. Dom Anselm Bowden's
way of walking and the patch of grease at the shoulder of his cowl,
never removed, and visible as he went before him into the church was as
distractingly irritating as Ralph's contempt; the buzz in the voice of a
cantor who seemed always to sing on great days was as distressing as his
own dog's perversity at Overfield, or the snapping of a bow-string.

When _accidie_ fell upon Chris it seemed as if this particular house was
entirely ruined by such incidents; the Prior was finickin, the
junior-master tyrannical, the paints for illumination inferior in
quality, the straw of his bed peculiarly sharp, the chapter-house
unnecessarily draughty. And until he learnt from his confessor that this
spiritual ailment was a perfectly familiar one, and that its symptoms
and effects had been diagnosed centuries before, and had taken him at
his word and practised the remedies he enjoined, Chris suffered
considerably from discontent and despair alternately. At times others
were intolerable, at times he was intolerable to himself, reproaching
himself for having attempted so high a life, criticising his fellows
for so lowering it to a poor standard.

* * *