sonorous strains; and for a time Alfred was able to make a virtue of
necessity, and to give himself wholly to the solemnity; but when it was
over and the procession left the church, he sought an immediate
interview with the abbot, in company with Father Cuthbert.

Dunstan had removed his sacerdotal garments, and had returned to his own
cell, which only differed in size from the cells of his brethren. The
furniture was studiously plain: hard wooden chairs; an unvarnished
table; a wooden bedstead, with no bed, and only a loose coverlet of
sackcloth; the walls uncovered by tapestry; the floor unfurnished with
rushes;--such was the chamber of the man who had ruled England, and
still exercised the most unbounded spiritual influence in the land.

There was no ostentation in this; every monk in the monastery lived in
similar simplicity. Precious books and manuscripts, deeply laden with
gold and colours, were deposited on coarse wooden shelves, while the
Benedictine Breviary lay on the table, written by some learned and
painstaking scribe, skilful in illumination.

The appearance of the abbot was little changed since we last beheld him;
perhaps care had traced a few more lines in his countenance, and his
general manner was more prompt and decided, now that danger menaced him,
for menace him he knew it did, although he hardly knew from what quarter
the bolt would fall.

A lay brother brought him some slight refreshment, the first he had
taken during the day.

The humility inculcated by each precept of the order forbade the brother
in question to speak until his superior gave him leave to do so; but
Dunstan read at once the desire of his subordinate, and said:

"What hast thou to tell me, Brother Osgood?"

"Many people are without, seeking speech of thee."

"This is the case each day; are there any whose business appears pressing?"

"A company has arrived from Aescendune, or some such place in Mercia,
and two of the party--a priest and a young layman--seek an immediate
interview, saying their business is of life and death."

"Aescendune!--admit them first."

The brother left the cell at once, and soon returned, ushering in Father
Cuthbert and Alfred, who saluted the great churchman with all due
humility, and waited for him to speak, not without much evident
uneasiness; perhaps some little impatience was also manifest.

"Are you of the house of Aescendune, my son?" enquired Dunstan of
Alfred. "Methinks I know you by