To him at first Jonathan would say nothing, but when at length they threatened to take him out and hang him, to save his life, as he said, he found his tongue and told all.
"So, so," said the Abbot when he had finished.

"Now God is good to us.

We have these birds in our net, and I shall keep St.Hilary's at Blossholme after all.

For your services, Master Dicksey, you shall be my reeve at Cranwell Towers when they are in my hands." But here it may be said that in the end things went otherwise, since, so far from getting the stewardship of Cranwell, when the truth came to be known, Jonathan's maiden would have no more to do with him, and the folk in those parts sacked his farm and hunted him out of the country, so that he was never heard of among them again.
Meanwhile, all being ready, Christopher at the Towers was closeted with Cicely, taking his farewell of her in the dark, for no light was left to them.
"This is a desperate venture," he said to her, "nor can I tell how it will end, or if ever I shall see your sweet face again.

Yet, dearest, we have been happy together for some few hours, and if I fall and you live on I am sure that you will always remember me till, as we are taught, we meet again where no enemy has the power to torment us, and cold and hunger and darkness are not.