He rose now as if to go, but the prior motioned him to resume his seat.

“There is yet another matter upon which I would speak to you,” he said.  “You have beneath your roof one of our younger brethren, Brother Emmanuel.  How have you found him comport himself since he has been free from the restraints of the cloister?”

The knight looked surprised at the question.

“He is in all ways a very godly and saintly youth,” he replied.  “He instructs my sons after an excellent fashion, keeps the hours of the Church with a scrupulous precision I have never seen equalled, and instructs all who come to him for advice or assistance in a manner that makes him beloved of all.  Whenever I have talked with him or gone to him for spiritual counsel, I have been greatly struck by his spiritual insight, his purity of thought, his earnestness of mind, and his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures.”

The prior shifted a little in his seat, and coughed behind his hand somewhat dubiously.

“He was ever prone to observe the hours well.  He lived blamelessly here in all outward observances; but as for his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, it may be that it goes something too far.  It is whispered abroad that some of his words savour strongly of those very Lollard heresies which are about to be put down with fire and sword.  Hast thou heard and seen naught of that?”

A thrill of indignation ran through Sir Oliver’s frame.  It was only by an effort that he restrained a hasty exclamation.  He well knew that the wave of enlightened feeling rising within the Church herself had found no echo in the remoter parts of the kingdom, where bigotry and darkness and intolerance still reigned supreme.  He was perfectly aware that the most enlightened sons of the Church who had dared to bid the people study the Word of God, and especially to study it as a whole, would have been denounced as heretics had they lifted up their voices in many parts of the kingdom.  This very enlightened understanding, which was so marked a feature in Brother Emmanuel, had been one of the strongest bonds between him and his patron, and it seemed little short of monstrous to the knight to hear such an accusation brought against one who had lived a godly and blameless life, had observed far more rigorously all the laws of the Church than the prior or the fraternity thought of doing, and was a far truer and better son than they ever attempted to be.

But he restrained his indignation, and only answered very calmly: 

“I have seen naught of it; indeed, I have seen so much to the contrary, that methinks it is but an idle tale, not worth your reverence’s attention.  In every matter, word or deed, Brother Emmanuel is faithful to his vows and to his calling.  He is an able instructor of youth; and were your reverence to examine him as strictly as possible, I do not believe that any cause of offence, however trivial, could be found against him.”