And remember--between a man and woman of noble birth, each with a stainless escutcheon, each believing the other to be the soul of honour, a broken troth is no light matter." "I did not break my troth," said the Prioress, "until I believed that Hugh had broken his.

I had suffered sore anguish of heart and humiliation of spirit, over the news of his marriage with his cousin Alfrida, ere I resolved to renounce the world and enter the cloister." "But Hugh did not wed his cousin, nor any other woman," said the Bishop.

"He was true to you in every thought and act, even after he also had passed through sore anguish of heart by reason of your supposed marriage with another suitor." "I learned the truth but a few days since," said the Prioress.

"For seven long years I thought Hugh false to me.

For seven long years I believed him the husband of another woman, and schooled myself to forget every memory of past tenderness." "You were both deceived," said the Bishop.