“And to what end?” inquired his visitor, seating himself with great deliberation.

“Nay, ’twas not a dream,” continued the hermit:  “St Michael stood before me this blessed night, arrayed as thou seest him portrayed in the glass of his holy chapel above.  His armour was all bright and glistering, and his sword a devouring flame.  He flapped his wings thrice ere he departed, and said unto me, ’Arise, Ulphilas, and work, for thine hour is come!’”

“And what the better am I,” said the irreverent priest, “for this
saintly revelation?  I must work too, or “------

“Hold,” said the hermit, laying his hand on the other’s shoulder with great solemnity; “speak not unadvisedly with thy lips; there be created intelligences within hearing that thou little knowest of.”

“Thou didst promise; but verily the substance hath slidden from my grasp:  whilst I, fond fool, embraced a shadow.  Cajoled by thine assurance, that my blood should be with the proud current that inherits these domains, I forebore, and let thee work.  But thou hast been a traitor to my cause I do verily suspect, nay, accuse thee of this fraud.  Thy machinations and thy counsel were the cause.  By thine accursed arts Robert de Lacy hath left his patrimony to a stranger!”

“True, I counselled him thus.  What then?”

“I and mine are barred from the inheritance!”

“Shall the word of the Hermit of the Rock fall to the ground?  Have I not promised that thy blood shall be with those that inherit these domains?”

“Promises are slender food for an hungry stomach,” cried the unbeliever.

“If the promise fail, blame thy dastardly fears, and not my power.  Thou shalt see the promised land thou shalt not inherit.  Thy son shall receive the blessing.”

The dean looked for a moment as though he could have fawned and supplicated for a reversion of the decree; but pride or anger had the mastery.

“And so,” cried he, “thou findest thy predictions run counter to thy schemes, perdie; for thou dost mock me in them with a double sense.”

“How, false one?  Have I not wrought for thee?  Hath not he, whose corpse now resteth in hope, overwhelmed thee with his favours through my counsel and contrivance?  I owed thee a service, for thou wast my stay and sustenance when driven hither an outcast from the haunts of men.  But thoughtest thou that I should pander to thy lust, and hew out a pathway to thy desire?”

“To me this!” said the covetous intruder, his voice quivering with rage.

“Yes, to thee, Robert de Whalley,” replied the hermit:  “because thou hast not leaped the last height of thine ambition, forsooth—­because thou art not lord of these wide domains, through my interest and holy communion with the departed—­and because I have not basely sold myself to thee, thou art offended.  Beware lest the endowment be wrested from thy grasp, the glebe and manor pass away from thine inheritance.”