history of the passion and death, which was at that time beyond her
understanding. She drank in with parted lips all that concerned the Holy
Mother, of whom she was never weary of hearing. Jean had a rude drawing
of the Madonna and Child, given him by Father Austin: the figures had
the angularity and rigidity of Byzantine art, but the artist had
represented his subject with reverence, and no lack of skill, and she
loved to dwell on the pure mother's face, and on the longing look in the
eyes of the Child. She accepted wholly the idea of a God who loved
mankind, of infinite goodness and mercy: if she could not as yet enter
into the subtlety of doctrine she could give that childlike faith which
is the envy of doctrinarians.




CHAPTER IV.

REVELATION.

"I curse the hand that did the deid,
The heart that thocht the ill,
The feet that bore him wi' sik speid,
The comely youth to kill."

_Gil Morrice_.--OLD BALLAD.


Jean had often expressed his curiosity to see the interior of the tower,
and Hilda had promised to gratify it. On the 25th of October an
opportunity occurred. She informed her lover that on that day a feast of