Nay, hop not too close, Sir Redbreast! When we enter her chamber we kneel at the threshold, till she bids us draw nearer.

True, _we_ are merely soberly-clad, holy women, whereas _thou_ art a gay, gaudy man; bold-eyed, and, doubtless, steeped in sin.

But even thou must keep thy distance, in presence of this most Reverend Pea of great price.
"This," indicating the shrivelled pea, "is Mother Sub-Prioress, who would love to have the whipping of thee, thou naughty little rascal! "This is Sister Mary Rebecca who daily grows more crooked, both in mind and body; yet who ever sweetly smileth.
"Now will I show thee, if so be that I can find her, Sister Teresa, a kindly soul and gracious, but with a sniff which may be heard in the kitchens when that holy Lady taketh her turn at the Refectory reading.
And when, the reading over, having sniffed every other minute, she at length, feels free to blow, beshrew me, Master Redbreast, one might think our old dun cow had just been parted from a newly-born calf.
Yea, a kind, gracious soul; but noisy about the nose, and forgetful of the ears of other people, her own necessity seeming excuse enough for veritable trumpet blasts." Mary Antony, half turning as she talked, peered into the open bag in search of Sister Teresa.
Then, quick as thought, the unexpected happened.
Three rapid hops, a jerky bend of the red breast, a flash of wings---- The robin had flown off with the white pea! The shrivelled and the speckled alone remained upon the seat.
Uttering a cry of horror and dismay, the old lay-sister fell upon her knees, lifting despairing hands to trees and sky.
Down by the lower wall, in earnest meditation, the Prioress moved back and forth, on the Cypress Walk.
Mary Antony's shriek of dismay, faint but unmistakable, reached her ears.

Turning, she passed noiselessly up the green sward, on the further side of the yew hedge; but paused, in surprise, as she drew level with the beech; for the old lay-sister's voice penetrated the hedge, and the first words she overheard seemed to the Prioress wholly incomprehensible.
"Ah, thou Knight of the Bloody Vest!" moaned Mary Antony.

"Heaven send thy wicked perfidy may fall on thine own pate! Intruding thyself into our most private places; begging food, which could not be refused; wheedling old Mary Antony into letting thee have a peep at the holy Ladies--thou bold, bad man!--and then carrying off the Reverend Mother, Herself! Ha! Hadst thou but caught away Mother Sub-Prioress, she would have reformed thy home, whipped thy children, and mended thine own vile manners, thou graceless churl! Or hadst thou taken Sister Mary Rebecca, _she_ would have brought the place about thine ears, telling thy wife fine tales of thine unfaithfulness; whispering that Mary Antony is younger and fairer than she.