"By the way, my cousin 'Frida knew where to lay her hand upon that
clerkly fellow. Therefore we sent for him. He came in haste to see
the Lady Alfrida, from whom, during all the years, he had extorted
endless hush-money.
"I and my men awaited him.
"He had fattened on his hush-money! He was no longer lean and out at
elbow.
"He screeched at sight of me, thinking me risen from the dead.
"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.
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