THE WITCH WOMAN One of these was Malise the Smith, towering like a giant.

His hands rested on the hilt of a mighty sword, whose blade sparkled in the lamplight as if the master armourer had drawn it that moment from the midst of his charcoal fire.
A little in front of Malise there stood another figure, less imposing in physical proportions, but infinitely more striking in dignity and apparel.

This second was a man of tall and spare frame, of a countenance grave and severe, yet with a certain kindly power latent in him also.

He was dressed in the white robe of a Cistercian, with the black scapulary of the order.

On his head was the mitre, and in his hand the staff of the abbot of a great establishment which he wears when he goes visiting his subsidiary houses.