Here novices were admitted and monastic punishment administered,
while penitential chambers adjoined, to which offenders were taken
after sentence had been delivered.
It was just after the chapter mass, and the fourth hour of the day.
William sat in the abbot's chair; on his right band Lanfranc
himself--for the Benedictine order was deeply interested in the
investigation about to be made. The abbot and all the elder
brethren were present, and sat on the right or northern side of the
building. Next the abbot sat Geoffrey of Coutances; amidst the
brethren was Father Kenelm.
But on the other side sat William's principal nobles and courtiers,
to whom reference has been made in former chapters--De la Pole,
Arundel, Clyfford, Fitz-Maurice, Hastings, Maltravers, Peverill,
Talbot, Harcourt, and many others--some of then grey-headed--in
arms.
Odo of Bayeux and Fitz-Osborne were there likewise, as also Robert
of Mortain and Pevensey.
A large coffer, called "the trunk," not unlike the box in which
prisoners appear in modern courts of justice, stood in the midst;
and therein, pale with illness and worn by mental distress, yet
still undaunted in the spirit, stood Wilfred of Aescendune.
Poor Wilfred! he needed all his courage, for he stood almost alone,
a mere youth, amidst many enemies.
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