Part 50 (1/2)
”Seize the Abbot!” the Knight commanded as he crossed the threshold. . . ”Ho, Raynor! Since when are you afraid to touch a Priest? Seize him, I say.”
The old soldier advanced and saluted.
”The Abbot has escaped,” he said.
”What!--Escaped!--h.e.l.l and Furies!” De Lacy cried, and sprang at him with arm raised to strike. But instantly the anger pa.s.sed; and instead of a blow, his hand fell kindly upon Royk's shoulder. ”How did it happen?” he asked. ”It was through some trick, I warrant, and by no fault of yours.”
”I thank your lords.h.i.+p,” Raynor answered, with another salute. ”The Abbot escaped by a secret pa.s.sage in yonder wall when my eyes were not upon him. This monk saw the stone open and close,” and he pointed to the Prior.
De Lacy eyed Father James sharply, then nodded for him to speak.
At the end, he sent Royk to make another search of the entire Abbey, and himself turned his attention to the wall. But though he tried pressure both light and heavy and in all possible positions and combinations the stone stood firm.
”Is this the first time you have seen this pa.s.sage opened?” he asked.
”It is, my lord; this or any other of its kind. It is a violation of the Abbot's vows to use the secret ways in presence of another.”
”Do you think he never violated them before?”
The monk shook his head. ”Save possibly for certain damsels, I think not; he never before had such occasion. Yet I will inquire. . .
Brothers!” he cried, ”if there be any among you who knows the trick of this hidden door or whither it leads, I enjoin him, in the name of the blessed Benedict and as the ranking officer in this Chapter, that has not yet been dissolved, to reveal the same.”
The monks whispered among themselves. Then one stood forth.
”There is none among us who knows the secret, most reverend Prior,” he answered.
”You hear, sir?” said Father James.
De Lacy nodded. ”Yet I must trouble you to answer me a little further.
Do you know this glove and kerchief? I found them in the room next to the Abbot's.”
The Prior took them and after a glance held them inquiringly toward the Chancellor and Father Albert; but each disclaimed all knowledge.
”I fear me, sir, we cannot help you. . . Women are not unknown in the Abbot's quarters; yet none of us has ever seen them close enough to know them. It is thought he uses for them one of the secret pa.s.sages which opens somewhere beyond the Abbey walls. Leastwise, you may be a.s.sured no one has ever ventured to refer thereto in the holy Aldam's hearing. So, my lord, these articles might belong to any of a dozen demoiselles--with religious inclinations,” and he chuckled. . .
”Yet--here is a cognizance upon the kerchief which may tell much to one acquainted with escutcheons. It is three chevrons gules, I take it.”
”They are the arms of Clare, and the Countess is its heiress,” said De Lacy.
”Then she you seek has, indeed, been here!”
”And is here still, though I have failed to find her.”
”Nay--methinks not. There have been no gentle ones with his reverence these last five days.”
”You are sure of that?”
The Prior's broad face expanded in a grin. ”Well, sir, you see we have thought it good to keep a religious eye upon our worthy head.”