as the great door was closing, it darted in again, circled
round the banqueting hall, and came back to rest in the safe nest of
the kindly heart which had sent it forth.

No blessing, truly vitalised, ever ceases to live. If the blessed be
unworthy, it returns on swift wing to the blesser.

CHAPTER XXI

SO MUCH FOR SERAPHINE!

A sense of peace fell upon the banqueting hall, with the closing of the
door. All unrest and suspicion seemed to have departed. An atmosphere
of confidence and serenity pervaded the great chamber. It was in the
Bishop's smile, as he turned to the Knight.

"At length the time has come when we may talk freely; and truly, my
son, we have much to say."

The Knight glanced round the spacious hall, and his look implied that
he would prefer to talk in a smaller chamber.

"Nay, then," said the Bishop. "No situation can be better for a
private conversation than the very centre of a very large room. Have
you not heard it said that walls have ears? Well, in a small room,
they may use them to some purpose. But here, we sit so far removed
from the walls that, strain their ears as they may, they will hear
nothing; even the very key-hole, opening wide its naughty eye, will see
naught, neither will the adjacent ear hear anything. We may speak
freely."

The Bishop, signing to the Knight to help himself to fruit, moved the
wine toward him. At his own right hand stood a Venetian flagon and
goblet of ruby glass, ornamented with vine leaves and clusters of
grapes. The Bishop drank only from this flagon, pouring its contents
himself into the goblet which he held to the light before he drank from
it, enjoying the rich glow of colour, and the beauty of the engraving.
His guests sometimes wondered what specially choice kind of wine the
Bishop kept for his own, exclusive use. If they asked, he told them.

"The kind used at the marriage feast at Cana in Galilee, when the
supply of an inferior quality had failed. This, my friends, is pure
water, wholesome, refreshing, and not costly. I drink it from glass
which gives to it the colour of the juice of the grape, partly in order
that my guests may not feel chilled in their own enjoyment of more gay
and luscious beverage; partly because I enjoy the emblem.

"The gifts of circumstance, life, and nature, vary, not so much in
themselves, as in the human vessels which contain them. If the heart
be a ruby goblet, the humblest form of pure love fillin