The King's Achievement

new timber and plaster faced the evening sun across the square lawns and high terrace; and the w

rising for their evening meal. The tall front of the house on the north, formed by the hall in the centre with the kitchen at its eastern end and the master's chamber on the western, was faced by a square-towered gatehouse through which the straight drive leading into the main road approa

were now being led away with patient hanging heads towards the stables that stood outside the gatehouse on the right, and three or four dusty men in livery were talking to the house-servants wh

ase. The yard dog came out at the sound of the hoofs, dragging his chain after him, from his kennel beneath the little cloister outside the chapel, barked solemnly once or twice, and having done his duty lay down on the cool stones, head on paws, watching with bright eyes the

pectancy on his bearded face and in his bright grey eyes as he looked. His two sons had met at Begham, and were coming home, Ralph from town sites a six months' absence, and Christopher from Canterbury, where he had been spending a week or two in company with Mr. Carleton, the chaplain of the C

essed in purple and black, and stood by him, silently, a yard or two away, watching the carriage out of steady b

e kind of rich splendour, with a short silver-clasped travelling cloak, crimson hose, and plumed felt cap; and his face with its pointed black

good ten years younger, with the grey eyes of his father, and

at the top

' hands; as Christopher went back to the carriage, from which the pri

then added, "Christoph

asked his mother, as they tu

!" he sa

nd Mr. Carleton, and the three fol

er?" said

opher

speak to you, sir, bef

er will be in an hour from now;" and he look

lph and his mother with an awed interest as they came out from the hall. Mr. Ralph had come down from the heart of life, as they knew; had been present at the crowning

red, the servants broke into ta

*

he master's chamber. Sir James looked a little anxious as he came across the clean strewed rushes, past the table at the lower end where the household sat, but Christopher's face was bright with excitem

him; and Sir James and the chaplain did most of the conversation, pleasant harmless talk about the estate and the tenants; but as supper w

et enough. She looked very pretty in her robes; she was in purple v

ere all listening intently; and even a servant

l air, setting down his Venetian glass

father, from his black v

the imagination of his subjects to an extraordinary degree, no less in his

lessly enough. He had s

terbury did the crowning; Te Deum was sung after, and then solemn mass. There was a dozen abbots, I should th

sion?" asked hi

after the Queen, full of ancient old ladies, at which

r James asking most of the questions and Ralph ans

dy Katharin

lancing at Ralph, who sat perfectl

venly; "he is late at Begham, and then asks me about the

looked from on

Cromwell?"

He asked me to give you both his

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s part of the house had been lately re-built, but the old woodwork had been re-used, and the pale oak panels, each crowned by an elaborate foliated head, gave back the pleasant flicker of the fire that burned between the polished sheets of Flemish tiles on either side of the hea

e door, according to custom, was on the point of

"we want you to-night. Chr

with the others, his face in sha

his chin on his hand, and sitting very upright on the long-backe

I was questioning whether I had a vocation to the religious life; and I went, with that in my min

tly still, without a word or sign of either sympathy or disappro

n, my

ath and leaned b

a day or two. There were several others staying with us at the

" put in th

her; and he came to us one morning after mass, and told us that she was in ecstasy, and that we were to come

red his throat, crossed his

the knight q

reat deal," went o

in his mother who wa

and the devil and his torments; and I could hardly bear to listen; and she told us about shrift, and what it did for the soul; and the blessed sacrament. The Carthusian put a question or two to her, and she answered them:

did you say?" asked Ralp

silent. His father glanced q

s," he said. "What

an leaned f

Ralph-"

ing-" bega

said Sir James

to ask her, and I did. She said nothing for a while; and then she began to speak of a great church, as if she saw it; and she saw there was a tower in the middle,

s he turned to the priest for corroboration. Mr

what I had in my mind; and I had not spoken a w

d any?" aske

and she began to speak of black monks going this way and that; and she spoke of a prior, and of his ring; it was of g

ames

t," he sa

it; but she said she saw my cowl and its hanging sleeves, and an antiphoner in my hands; and then her face gr

ng up a bunch of raisins. Ralph sighed once as if wearied out, and

then paused; but there was no answer. A

om God, she is one of Satan's own; and it is hard to think that Satan would tell us of

ht nodde

theart?" he sa

ed to hi

e said. "If Chris believes

you,

d himself i

what I think?" he asked

e to say? I wi

ent of his head; but his

ay what you think

hey are a couple of knaves-clever knaves, I will grant, though perhaps the woman is something of a fool too; for she deceives persons as wise even as Mr. Carleton here by speaking of shrift

l one of them?" pu

d his eyebr

I ought not to speak of this; but I know you will not speak of it again; and I can tell

er leane

mean-" h

you no more. On the other hand if Chris thinks he must be a monk, well and good; I do not think so myself; but that is not my affair; but I hope he will not be a monk only

d will hold to it unless reason is shown to the

said Ralph; and lea

for a while; and then Ralph asked a

usband," said Sir James. "I have told Forrest to

, and sipped

w," he said,

ll," went on the other. "She w

of Religion," put in La

ooked u

hen Mary and I will b

ather, smiling, "and a worldling can be no mo

ith one corner

te right, si

presently from the turret in the chapel-c

ir," said Ralph, "if I

lling. The stay at Begha

son. I will send Morri

Ralph. "I need not depri

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, and the air still and fragrant. There were a few lights here and there round the Court, and the tall chapel windows shone dimly above the little cloister. A link flared steadi

hand tenderly on

lph, my son," he said. "Reme

e that," said Chris fier

s advising you well. You must let him alone, Chris. You must rememb

*

e white steps that rose up to the altar where a single spark winked against the leaded window beneath the silk-shrouded pyx. He had come home full of excitement and joy at his first sight of an ecstatic, and at the message that she had seemed to have for him, and across these heightened perceptions had jarred the impatience of his brother in the inn at Begham and in the carriage on their way home, and above all his sharp criticism and aloofness in the parlour just now. But he became quieter as he knelt now; the bitterness seemed to sink beneath him and to leave him alone in a world of peaceful glory-the world of mystic life to which his face was now set, illuminated by the words of the nun. He had seen one who could see further than h

ed with those high affairs of the soul and the Eternal God, of which he was already beginning to catch glimpses, and even the whispers that ran about the country places and of which Ralph no doubt could t

ething of pity of his brother dozing now no doubt before the parlour f

e himself, at least he had begotten one-one who would represent him before God, bring a blessing on the house, and pray and offer sacrifice for his soul until his time should be run out and he see God face to face. And Ralph would represent him before men and carry on the line, and hand on the house to a third generation-Ralph, at whom he had felt so sorely puzzled of late, for he seemed full of objects and ambitions for which the father had very little sympathy, and to have lost almost entirely that delicate relation with home that was at once so indefinable and so real. But he comforted himself by the thought tha

ttle by little he had found that the wide treasury was empty, clean indeed and capacious, but no more, and above all with no promise of any riches as yet unperceived. Those great black eyes, that high forehead, those stately movements, meant nothing; it was a splendid figure with no soul within. She did her duty admirably, she said her prayers, she entertained her guests with the proper conversation, she could be trusted to behave well in any circumstances that called for tact or strength; and that was

ather lifted his eyes to the gallery, and saw the faint