As it was, he paused, gazing intently at it, wondering if indeed it were a being of flesh and blood.
He was just summoning up courage to go forward and salute it, when it moved forward in a gliding and cautious fashion.

Edred felt ashamed of his momentary thrill of fear, for he recognized at once the awkward gait and rolling step of Brother Fabian, and knew that his preceptor's bitterest foe was lingering in the precincts of his home.
Resolved not to be seen himself, the boy sprang up a neighbouring tree as lightly as a squirrel, and from that vantage ground he saw that his brother Julian was approaching, and that the monk had stepped out to greet the lad.

He heard the sound of the nasal tones, so different from the refined accents of Brother Emmanuel.
"Peace be with thee, my son." Julian stopped short, and slightly bent the knee.

He looked up into Brother Fabian's face with a look which Edred well knew, and which implied no love for his interlocutor.

A stranger, however, would be probably pleased at the frank directness of the gaze, not noting the underlying hardihood and defiance.
"Alone, my son ?" questioned the brother.