Mark could not be otherwise than impressed by what he read.

     Ii qui sub ipsis sunt, dum adulantur partibus, eunt in
     perditionem. . . .

     Nihil contra Abbatis voluntatem faciens. . . .

Mark looked up at the figure of St. Benedict standing in that holy group at the foot of the Cross.

     Ideoque nos proevidemus expedire, propter pacis caritatisque
     custodiam, in Abbatis pendere arbitrio ordinationem monasterii
     sui. . . .

St. Benedict had more than apprehended; he had actually foreseen that the Abbot ought to manage his own monastery.  It was as if centuries ago, in the cave at Subiaco, he had heard that strident voice of Brother Athanasius in this matchboarded Chapter-room, as if he had beheld Brother Dominic, while apparently he was striving to persuade his brethren to accept the Father Superior’s advice, nevertheless taking sides, and thereby travelling along the road that leads toward destruction.  This was the thought that paralyzed Mark’s tongue when it was his turn to speak, and this was why he would not commit himself to an opinion.  Afterward, his neutrality appeared to him a weak compromise, and he regretted that he had not definitely allied himself with one party or the other.

The announcement in The Dragon that the Order had been compelled to give up the Aldershot house produced a large sum of sympathetic contributions; and when the Father Superior came back just before Lent, he convened another Chapter, at which he told the Community that it was imperative to establish a priory in London before they tried to reopen any houses elsewhere.  His argument was cogent, and once again there was the appearance of unanimity among the Brethren, who all approved of the proposal.  It had always been the custom of Father Burrowes to preach his hardest during Lent, because during that season of self-denial he was able to raise more money than at any other time, but until now he had never failed to be at the Abbey at the beginning of Passion Week, nor to remain there until Easter was over.

The Feast of St. Benedict fell upon the Saturday before the fifth Sunday in Lent, and the Father Superior, who had travelled down from the North in order to be present, announced that he considered it would be prudent, so freely was the money flowing in, not to give up preaching this year during Passion Week and Holy Week.  Naturally, he did not intend to leave the Community without a priest at such a season, and he had made arrangements with the Reverend Andrew Hett to act as chaplain until he could come back into residence himself.

Brother Raymond and Brother Augustine were particularly thrilled by the prospect of enjoying the ministrations of Andrew Hett, less perhaps because they would otherwise be debarred from their Easter duties than because they looked forward to services and ceremonies of which they felt they had been robbed by the austere Anglicanism of Brother George.