With a murmured prayer and blessing the monk left him, hoping that he had spoken a word of seasonable warning to one whose heart was enkindled with ardent devotion, whilst his active mind and vivid imagination were in danger of leading him into perilous paths.
No questions were asked of Edred respecting this penance, which took him away from his ordinary occupations during the chief part of the two following days.

He and Brother Emmanuel alone knew the reason for it, and it was against the traditions of the house that any open notice should be taken by others.
The episode of the peddler and the outbreak with the followers of Mortimer had begun to fade somewhat from the minds of those at Chad.

No complaint had reached that house from Mortimer's Keep, as had been expected, and it was hoped that the thing would never be heard of again.
Yet it was with something of a sinking heart that Sir Oliver heard the third day that the Prior of Chadwater desired speech of him; and as he mounted his horse and summoned his servants about him, he wondered, not without considerable uneasiness, what this summons might mean.
He had always been on good terms with the handsome prior of the Benedictine monastery.

The choicest of the game, the fattest of the bucks slain in the forest, the chiefest specimens of his wife's culinary triumphs, always found their way to the prior's table, and an excellent understanding had always been maintained between the two houses.

But the knight had observed of late that the prior had become more slack in those visits of friendly courtesy which once had been common enough between them; and when he had presented himself at the monastery, he had not been quite certain that his welcome was as cordial as heretofore.