on the
comeliness of his features, and assured each other that they detected
in him no symptom of the plague. It being now the third hour, they
ceased from worldly talk and together recited their office, whereto the
peasant and the horseman gave pious ear.

Basil lay with closed eyes, but at a certain moment he seemed to become
aware of what was passing, crossed himself, and then folded his hands
upon his breast in the attitude of prayer. Having observed this, one of
the monks, his orisons finished, went up to the cart and spoke
comfortable words. He was a man in the prime of life, with cheek as
fresh as a maid's, and a step that seemed incapable of weariness; his
voice sounded a note of gentle kindness which caused the sufferer to
smile at him in gratitude.

'This tree,' he said presently, pointing to a noble beech, its bole
engraven with a cross, 'marks the middle point of the ascent. A weary
climb for the weak, but not without profit to him who thinks as he
walks--for, as our dear brother Marcus has said, in those verses we are
never tired of repeating:--

"Semper difficili quaeruntur summa labore,
Arctam semper habet vita beata viam."'

The other monk, an older man, who walked less vigorously, echoed the
couplet with slow emphasis, as if savouring every word. Then both
together, bowing their cowled heads, exclaimed fervently:

'Thanks be to God for the precious gifts of our brother Marcus!'

Basil endeavoured to utter a few words, but he was now so feeble that
he could scarce make his voice heard above the creak of the wheels.
Again he closed his eyes, and his companions pursued their way in
silence. When at length they issued from the forest they overlooked a
vast landscape of hill and valley, with heads of greater mountains high
above them. Here rose the walls of the citadel, within which Benedict
had built his monastery. For some distance around these ancient
ramparts the ground was tilled, and flourishing with various crops. At
the closed gateway of the old Arx, flanked by a tower, the monks rang,
and were at once admitted into the courtyard, where, in a few moments,
the prior and all his brethren came forward to greet the strangers.
Because of Basil's condition the ceremony usual on such arrivals was in
his case curtailed: the prior uttered a brief prayer, gave the kiss of
peace, and ordered forthwith the removal of the sick man to a
guest-chamber, where he was laid in bed and ministered to by the
b