Sir Charles’s protest on behalf of the Vicar of Wivelrod was effective, for the Prior announced that after all he had decided that it was the duty of the Community to observe Easter within the Abbey gates.  The Reverend Father would return on Easter Tuesday, and their Easter duties would be accomplished within the Octave.  Withal, it was a gloomy Easter for the brethren, and when they began the first Vespers with the quadruple Alleluia, it seemed as if they were still chanting the sorrowful antiphons of Good Friday.

     My spirit is vexed within Me:  and My heart within Me is desolate.

     Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by:  behold and see if there
     be any sorrow like unto My sorrow, which is done unto Me.

     What are these wounds in Thy Hands:  Those with which I was wounded
     in the house of My friends.

Nor was there rejoicing in the Community when at Lauds of Easter Day they chanted: 

    V.  In Thy Resurrection, O Christ.
    R.  Let Heaven and earth rejoice, Alleluia.

Nor when at Prime and Terce and Sext and None they chanted: 

     This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be
     glad in it.

And when at the second Vespers the Brethren declared: 

    V.  Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep
        the Feast.

    R.  Not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and
        wickedness; but with the unleavened Bread of sincerity and
        truth.  Alleluia.

scarcely could they who chanted the versicle challenge with their eyes those who hung down their heads when they gave the response.

* * * * *

The hour of recreation before Compline, which upon great Feasts was wont to be so glad, lay heavily upon the brethren that night, so that Mark could not bear to sit in the Cloister; there being no guests in the Abbey for his attention, he sat in the library and wrote to the Rector.

     The Abbey,

     Malford, Surrey.

     Easter Sunday.

     My dear Rector,

I should have written before to wish you all a happy Easter, but I’ve been making up my mind during the last fortnight to leave the Order, and I did not want to write until my mind was made up.  That feat is now achieved.  I shall stay here until St. George’s Day, and then the next day, which will be St. Mark’s Eve, I shall come home to spend my birthday with you.  I do not regret the year and six months that I have spent at Malford and Aldershot, because during that time, if I have decided not to be a monk, I am none the less determined to be a priest.  I shall be 23 this birthday, and I hope that I shall find a Bishop to ordain me next year and a Theological College to accept responsibility