t be," he muttered)--"as for my soi-disant cousin, it
will be an evil day for him when he crosses my path elsewhere."

The earl stood astonished at his audacity.

"Thou perjured wretch!" he said. "Thou perverter by bribes! thou
liar and false accuser! GO, amidst the contempt and scorn of all
who know thee."

And, amidst the hisses of his late companions, Drogo left
Kenilworth for ever--expelled.

Chapter 11: The Early Franciscans.

We are afraid that some of our youthful readers will wonder what
cause Martin had for such extreme self reproach, and why he should
make such a serious matter of a little dissipation--such as we
described in our former chapter.

But Martin had received a higher call, and although the old Adam
within him would have its way, at times, yet his whole heart was
set on serving God. To Hubert this dissipation would have seemed a
small thing; to Martin such drinking, dicing, and brawling was
simply selling his birthright for a mess of pottage.

So, with the early dawn, he went to mass at the Franciscan house,
and wept all through the service, devoutly offering at the same
time the renewed oblation of his heart to God, and praying that
through the great sacrifice there commemorated and mystically
renewed, the oblation of self might be sanctified.

Then he sought the good prior, Adam de Maresco, and obtaining an
audience after the dejeuner or breakfast, poured out all his
sorrows and sin.

The good prior almost smiled at the earnestness of the self rebuke.
He was not at all shocked. It was just what he had expected; he was
only too delighted to find that the young prodigal loathed so
speedily the husks which the swine do eat.

"Ah, my son, did I not bid thee not to trust too much to thyself?
and now my words have been verified by thy own experience, as it
was perhaps well they should be."

"Well! that I should become a drunkard, dicer, and brawler."

"Well that thou shouldst so early hate drinking, dicing, and
brawling. To many such hatred only comes after years have brought
satiety; to thee, my dear child, one night seems to have brought
it."

"Yes, now I am clothed, and in my right mind, like the lunatic who
had been cutting himself with stones. But, my father, take me in, I
cannot trust myself out of the shelter of the priory."

"Then thou art not fit to enter it, for we want men whom we may
send out into the world without fear. No! the first vacant cell
shall be thine, but