"At the same time, it is not always well for a monk to remain too long away from the cloister, and a change of instructor is ofttimes better for the young.

I have been thinking that it might be well to recall Brother Emmanuel, and send in his place Brother Fabian, in whom I repose the greatest confidence.

How would such a change meet your good pleasure?
If Brother Emmanuel is in need of penance, it can better be imposed here than elsewhere--and by all I hear it seems to me that he stands something in need of the discipline of the monastery; and Brother Fabian would make an excellent substitute as an instructor for the lads." Whilst the prior was speaking, thought had been rapid with Sir Oliver, and something in the prior's look--a subtlety and almost cruelty about the lines of the mouth--warned him that there was in this proposition that which boded evil to someone.
It flashed across him that Brother Emmanuel was perhaps to be made a victim of ecclesiastical tyranny and cruelty.

He knew that the ascetic young monk had been no favourite with his brethren at Chadwater; and if they could bring against him some charge of heresy, however trifling, it was like enough that he might be silently done to death, as others of his calling had been for less fearful offences.

Monastic buildings held their dark secrets, as the world was just beginning to know; and only a short while back he had heard a whisper that it was not wise for a monk to be too strict in his hours and in his living.