because it behoved him to gather certain herbs, to be used medicinally
in the case of a brother who had fallen sick yesterday. Touching a
little gold locket which Basil wore round his neck on a gold thread he
asked what this contained, and being told that it was a morsel of the
Crown of Thorns, he nodded with satisfaction.

'We questioned whether to leave it on you or not, for we could not open
it, and there was a fear lest it might contain something'--he smiled
and shook his bead and sighed--'much less sacred. The lord abbot,
doubtless'--here his voice sank--'after a vision, though of this he
spoke not, decided that it should be left. There was no harm, for all
that'--his eyes twinked merrily--'in tying this upon the place where
you suffered so grievously.'

From amid Basil's long hair he detached what looked like a tiny skein
of hemp, which, with an air singularly blended of shrewdness and
reverence, he declared to be a portion of a garb of penitence worn by
the Holy Martin, to whom the oratory here was dedicated. Presently
Basil found strength to ask whether the abbot had been beside him.

'Many times,' was the answer. 'The last, no longer ago than yestereve,
ere he went to compline. You would have seen him on the day of your
arrival, ere yet you became distraught, but that a heaviness lay upon
him because of the loss of a precious manuscript on its way hither from
Rome--a manuscript which had been procured for him after much
searching, only to be lost by the folly of one to whom it was
intrusted; if, indeed, it was not rather whisked away by the Evil One,
who, powerless for graver ill against our holy father, at times seeks
to discomfort him by small practice of spite. Sorrow for this loss
brought on a distemper to which his age is subject.'

Reminded all at once that he had no time to lose, Marcus threw open the
shutter, extinguished the lamp, and slipped away, leaving his patient
with eyes turned to the pale glimmer of dawn at the tiny window. Now
only did there stir in Basil clear recollection of the events which had
preceded his coming hither. Marcus's sly word in regard to the locket
had awakened his mind, and in a few moments he thought connectedly. But
without emotion, unless it were a vague, tender sadness. All seemed to
have happened so long ago. It was like a story he had heard in days
gone by. He thought of it until his brain began to weary, then again
came sleep.

A day or two passed. He had begun