“But water—­how could that be brought?  Suppose that we too were watched; suppose we dared not go through the secret door?  What would become of the prisoner?

“I must talk to Bertram and Julian about that.  Bertram has a wonderful gift for getting out of such difficulties; he has a marvellous quick wit.  We never thought in old days how the water was to be conveyed; we thought a few bottles of wine would last a lifetime.  But to die of thirst would be worse than to face one’s foes.  I shall not really rest till I have thought how such a danger might be guarded against.”

Edred left the place with a thoughtful air.  He gained their own long sleeping room without adventure.  Nobody was ever there at this hour of the day, and he sat down on his bed to think and plan.

There his brothers found him later when they came rushing up tumultuously to find him.

“Ha! thou art there.  We have been seeking thee everywhere.  What hast thou been doing, brother?”

“I have been up to the room,” answered the boy.  “I have been making it all ready.  I was something disturbed by what chanced yester-afternoon.  I told thee of Brother Fabian and his evil looks?”

The other two nodded.

“Yes, verily; but they be brothers of one fraternity.  Surely one Benedictine would not hurt another?”

“I know not that.  I was talking this day with Warbel.  He has been about in the world.  He has seen priests and monks accused of heresy the one by the other; and none are so fearfully persecuted as those who wear the tonsure, if men do but suspect them of that sin.

“Brother Emmanuel a heretic!” cried Bertram, with flashing eyes.  “I would force the word down the false throat of any who dared to say so!  Brother Emmanuel is a right holy man.  Art thou mad, Edred, to think such a thing?”

The boy shook his head doubtfully.

“I would I were,” he replied; “but methinks Brother Emmanuel himself thinks that peril may menace him.  I understand not rightly these matters; but I saw that yesterday upon his face which showed me that he felt he stood something in peril, albeit he has no fear.  He is not of the stuff of which cowards are made.”

Julian’s eyes were wide with affright.

“They say the Lollards and heretics are to be sought out and burned, and that right soon,” he said, in low, awe-struck tones.  “Some of our people heard it today from those at Mortimer.  The Lord of Mortimer has become very zealous to help the priests and monks to scent out all suspected of heresy and make a great example of them.

“Edred, thou dost not think they will take Brother Emmanuel—­and—­burn—­him?”

The last words were little more than a whisper.

“I will die sooner than see it done!” cried the boy passionately.  “But in these days no man may say who is safe.  Therefore went I up to the chamber this very day to set it in order;” and then he told his brothers of the difficulty that had beset him there, and how he felt no security for any person in hiding there so long as the difficulty of conveying water to him remained so great.