Therefore,
Mora, he left the Court, he left the country. He went to foreign
lands. He thought not of himself. He desired for you the full
completion which comes by means of wedded love. He feared to hinder
this. So he went."
Her face still expressed incredulous astonishment.
"His name?" she demanded, awaiting the answer with parted lips, and
widely-open eyes.
"Father Gervaise," said the Knight.
He saw her slowly whiten, till scarce a vestige of colour remained.
For some minutes she spoke no word; both sat silent, Hugh ruefully
facing his risks, and inclined to repent of his honesty.
At length: "And who told you this tale," she said; "this tale of the
love of Father Gervaise for a young maid, half his age?"
"Symon of Worcester told it me, three nights ago."
"How came the Bishop to know so strange and so secret a thing? And
knowing it, how came he to tell it to you?"
"He had it from Father Gervaise himself. He told it to me, because his
remembrance of the sacrifice made so long ago in order that the full
completion of wifehood and motherhood might be thine, had always
inclined him to a wistful regret over thy choice of the monastic life,
with its resultant celibacy; leading him, from the first, to espouse
and further my cause. In wedding us to-day, methinks the Bishop felt
he was at last securing the consummation of the noble renunciation made
so long ago by Father Gervaise."
With a growing dread at his heart, Hugh watched the increasing pallor
of her face, the hard line of the lips which, but a few moments before,
had parted in such gentle sweetness.
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