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    304 A MOM'S STORY.

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    4 Hol I, Edmond Cross , Conceive A Monk ...

    ¦ " Oil , father , " she cried , and this so wistfully , " oh , father , love me ! indeed I am good and not evil !"

    I was much staggered hy the abbot's name having no power over her : and altogether I did not know what to make of it .

    But about this time I was sent away to York to take charge of some precious relics , and was absent some time . I returned late at

    night from my heavy travels , and retired to my cell to rest . Ere I did soI looked out from the window upon the old beloved view

    of the river , and the woods , and the dear old castle of Bayhurst . I gazed long upon the scene , in the joy of finding myself at home

    once more , when a figure I had idly noticed to steal along hy the river path , seemed to be skulking beneath our walls . I opened the

    window , beneath which the person appeared to be hiding , and called out" Who ' s there ? "

    , It was Raymond ' s voice that answered me . In the joy of once more hearing that sound , I forgot all and welcomed him warmly .

    He begged to speak with me , so directing him to await me in the chapel , I myself hastened thither . There was little light in the

    chapel , but my dear pupil's face was too well known to me , for me not to perceive that there was trouble in his expression . I forgot

    all my severity , and , glad of my affection , Raymond was soon pouring out everything to memuch as he used to do in boyish

    , scrapes of yore . His trouble concerned his wife , as I guessed at once . His passion for her was most ardent , his whole face lit up

    when he spoke of her ; but the whole country had deserted him for his unlawful connexion with a spirit . He had not been bidden to one

    feast or hunt , and even Grantmesnil , his old beaten enemy , had refused , and refused with scorn , to break lance with him in the

    only tournament that he had had the heart to attend . I could see his high and gallant spirit could not brook this , that his heart was

    breaking . " My very vassals , father , they who so adored me , adored me

    from the very cradle , even they loathe and defy me !" "My son" replied Isorrowfully " we must not think of man

    his praises or , scorn are , of no moment , ; but you must hate the sin , and then all will be well . "

    " Sin ?" " Yes , it is sin to love her ; do you love her still , Raymond , for

    it is a deadly sin ? " " Love her ? She is more than my life ! Love her ? What

    difficulty would there be if I did not love her ? Could I not at once put her away , as your pertinacious abbot for ever urges , ( here

    I frowned severely ) were not she become my very life ? Do not enrage me by even glancing at such a thing ; but , father , I cannot

    do without the countenance of my brave brothers-at-arms , I cannot sit down banned by all who looked up to me ! I cannot rot in my

    own castle like some loathsome reptile ! What ! " cried he , with an

    angry and violent stamp , which awoke all the echoes of th _® silent

    304 A Mom's Story.

    304 A MOM ' S STORY .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1863, page 304, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011863/page/16/