Upon which the Prioress rent the mandate from top to bottom, then across and again across; flung the pieces upon the floor, and set her foot upon them.

“Thus I answer,” she cried, “your attempt, my lord, to induce the Pope to release me from vows which I hold to be eternally sacred and binding.  And if you are bent upon divorcing a nun from her Heavenly Union, and making her to become the chattel of a man, you must seek her elsewhere than in the Convent of the White Ladies of Worcester, my Lord Bishop!”

So spoke the angry Prioress, making the quiet chamber to ring with her scorn and indignation.

The Bishop had made no attempt to prevent the tearing of the document.  When she flung it upon the floor, placing her foot upon the fragments, he merely looked at them regretfully, and then back upon her face, back into those eyes which flamed on him in furious indignation.  And in his own there was a look so sorrowful, so deeply wounded, and yet withal so tenderly understanding, that it quelled and calmed the anger of the Prioress.

Her eyes fell slowly, from the serene sadness of that quiet face, to the silver cross, studded with oriental amethysts, at his breast; to the sash girdling his purple cassock; to the hand resting on his knees; to the stone in his ring, from which the rich colour had faded, leaving it pale and clear, like a large teardrop on the Bishop’s finger; to his shoes, with their strange Italian buckles; then along the floor to her own angry foot, treading upon the torn fragments of that precious document, procured, at such pains and cost, from His Holiness at Rome.

Then, suddenly, the Prioress faltered, weakened, fell upon her knees, with a despairing cry, clasped her hands upon the Bishop’s knees, and laid her forehead upon them.

“Alas,” she sobbed, “what have I done!  In my pride and arrogance, I have spoken ill to you, my lord, who have ever shewn me most considerate kindness; and in a moment of ill-judged resentment, I have committed sacrilege against the Holy Father, rending the deed which bears his signature.  Alas, woe is me!  In striving to do right, I have done most grievous wrong; in seeking not to sin, lo, I have sinned beyond belief!”

The Prioress wept, her head upon her hands, clasped and resting upon the Bishop’s knees.

Symon of Worcester laid his hand very gently upon that bowed head, and as he did so his eyes sought again the figure of the Christ upon the cross.  The Prioress would have been startled indeed, had she lifted her head and seen those eyes—­heretofore shrewd, searching, kindly, or twinkling and gay,—­now full of an unfathomable pain.  But, sobbing with her face hidden, the Prioress was conscious only of her own sufferings.

Presently the Bishop began to speak.

“We did not mean to overrule your judgment, or to force your inclination, my daughter.  If we appear to have done so, the blame is mine alone.  This mandate is drawn up entirely along the lines of my suggestion, owing to my influence with His Holiness, and based upon particulars furnished by me.  Now let me read to you the private letter from the Holy Father to myself, giving further important conditions.”