“He screeched still louder when he saw the noose, flung over a strong bough.

“We left him hanging, when we rode away.  That Judas kind will do the darkest deeds for greed of gain.  The first of the tribe himself shewed the way by which it was most fitting to speed them from a world into which it had been good for them never to have been born.

“From Alfrida I learned that, as Eleanor had foreseen, thy grief at my perfidy drove thee to the Cloister.  Also that thy Convent was near Worcester.

“To Worcester I came, and made myself known to the Lord Bishop, with whom I supped; and finding him most pleasant to talk with, and ready to understand, deemed it best, in perfect frankness, to tell him the whole matter; being careful not to mention thy name, nor to give any clue to thy person.

“Through chance remarks let fall by the Bishop while giving me the history of the Order, I learned that already thou wert Prioress of the White Ladies.  ‘The youngest Prioress in the kingdom,’ said the Bishop, ‘yet none could be wiser or better fitted to hold high authority.’  Little did he dream that any mention of thee was as water to the parched desert; yet he talked on, for love of speaking of thee, while I sat praying he might tell me more; yet barely answering yea or nay, seeming to be absorbed in mine own melancholy thoughts.

“From the Bishop I learned that the Order was a strictly close one, and that no man could, on any pretext whatsoever, gain speech alone with one of the White Ladies.

“But I also heard of the underground way leading from the Cathedral to the Convent, and of the daily walk to and from Vespers.

“I went to the crypt, and saw the doorway through which the White Ladies pass.  Standing unseen amid the many pillars, I daily watched the long line of silent figures, noted that they all walked veiled, with faces hidden, keeping a measured distance apart.  Also that several were above usual height.  Then I conceived the plan of wearing the outer dress, and of stepping in amongst those veiled figures just at the foot of the winding stair in the wall, leading down from the clerestory to the crypt.  I marked that the nun descending, could not keep in view the nun in front who had just stepped forth into the crypt; while she, moving forward, would not perceive it if, slipping from behind a pillar, another white figure silently joined the procession behind her.  Once within the Convent, I trusted to our Lady to help me to speech alone with thee; and our blessed Lady hath not failed me.

“Now I have told thee all.”

With that the Knight left speaking; and, after the long steady recitation, the ceasing of his voice caused a silence which, seemed, to hold the very air suspended.

Not once had the Prioress made interruption.  She had sat immovable, her eyes upon his face, her hands gripping the arms of her chair.  Long before the tale was finished her sad eyes had overflowed, the tears raining down her cheeks, and falling upon the cross at her breast.