Or was it that he did not hear
at all the question repeated thrice:--Could one see His Reverence the
Prior, at least in his convent church? "You see him" was the answer,
as a face, all nerve, distressed nerve, turned upon them not
unkindly, the vanity of the great man aware and pleasantly tickled.
The unexpected incident had quickened a prematurely aged pulse, and
in reward for their good service the young travellers were bidden
carry their equipment, not to the village inn, but to the guest-
chamber of the half-empty priory. The eminent man of letters, who
had been always an enthusiastic gardener, though busy just now not
with choice flowers but with salutary kitchen-stuff, working indeed
with much effort, to counteract the gout, was ready enough [62] in
his solitude to make the most of chance visitors, especially youthful
ones. A bell clanged; he laid aside the spade, and casting an eye at
the whirling weather-vanes announced that it would snow. There had
been no "sunset." They had travelled away imperceptibly from genial
afternoon into a world of ashen evening.
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