And as he walked with Mora up the golden stair, his mind was at rest; his weary body slept.
A very few minutes of sleep sufficed the Bishop.
He awoke as suddenly as he had fallen asleep; and, as he awoke, he seemed to hear himself say: "Nay, Hugh.

None save the old lay-sister, Mary Antony." He sat up, wondering what this sentence could mean; also when and where it had been spoken.
As he wondered, his eye fell upon the white stone which he had flung into the Severn, and which the Knight, diving from the parapet, had retrieved from the river bed.

The stone seemed in some way connected with this chance sentence which had repeated itself in his brain.
The Bishop rose, walked over to his deed chest, took the white stone in his hand and stood motionless, his eyes fixed upon it, wrapped in thought.

Then he passed out on to the lawn, and paced slowly to and fro between the archway leading from the courtyard, to the parapet overlooking the river.
Yes; it was here.
He had ridden in on Shulamite, from the heights above the town, whence he had watched the Prioress ride in the river meadow.
He had found Hugh d'Argent awaiting him, and together they had paced this lawn in earnest conversation.
Hugh had been anxious to hear every detail of his visit to the Convent and the scene in the Prioress's cell when he had shewn her the copy of the Pope's mandate, just received from Rome.

In speaking of the possible developments which might take place in the course of the next few hours, Hugh had asked whether any in the Convent, beside Mora herself, knew of his presence in Worcester, or that he had managed to obtain entrance to the cloisters by the crypt passage, to make his way disguised to Mora's cell, and to have speech with her.
The Bishop had answered that none knew of this, save the old lay-sister Mary Antony, who was wholly devoted to the Prioress, made shrewd by ninety years of experience in outwitting her superiors, and could be completely trusted.
"How came she to know ?" the Bishop seemed to remember that the Knight had asked.