"
"God helping me, I will do justice between them; but the task is a
heavy one--it is hard, nay, terrible, to stand against the will of
this Conqueror."
"For this cause, perhaps, thou, who fearest not the face of man,
art chosen of Heaven."
A low knock at the door interrupted them.
"Enter," cried Lanfranc; and a monk of the Benedictine order, who
discharged the duty of chamberlain, appeared.
"A brother of our order craves an audience."
It must be remembered that Lanfranc was the abbot of a Benedictine
monastery ere he was called to Canterbury {xxiii}.
"Is he English or Norman? Hath he told thee his errand?"
"English. He hath travelled far, and says that his errand is one of
life or death."
"Let him enter," said the primate.
A man in a faded Benedictine habit, evidently spent with travel,
appeared at the door. His beard was of long growth, his hair was
uncombed, and his whole appearance that of a man who had passed
through perils of no small difficulty and danger.
Lanfranc gazed fixedly at him, and seemed to strive to read his
character in his face.
"Pax tibi, frater; I perceive thou art of our order. At what
monastery hast thou made thy profession?"
"At the priory of St. Wilfred, Aescendune," said Father Kenelm, for
it was he, as he bent the knee to the primate.
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