these hard matters. I have heard enough to satisfy me, I shall
never want to turn Lollard now. The name was always enough, but now
I see more and more clearly how wrong-headed and wilful they be."

Julian, too, had got an answer that completely satisfied him, and
he readily rose to go with his brother. Those two found an hour or
two of thought and study as much at a time as they cared for. They
called their dogs and sallied forth over the fields towards the
shady, well-fringed river banks, and Brother Emmanuel was left
alone with his second pupil, Edred, whose eyes were still fixed
upon the black lettering of the great Bible open at the last
passage under discussion.

The monk bent an earnest glance upon the boy's face. He saw that an
argument which had completely satisfied the other two had not
satisfied this other keener mind. But he asked no questions,
leaving the boy to speak or not as he chose. These were days in
which too much questioning was a dangerous thing. Many men felt as
though they were treading the crust of a volcano, and that a single
unwary step might plunge them headlong into the burning gulf.

When even such a man as Bishop Peacock had been threatened with the
stake, and sent into perpetual imprisonment, even after having
"recanted" his errors, no wonder that all men holding broad or
enlightened opinions trembled for themselves. And yet, as thought
will not be bound, and the young are ever the most ardent in the
pursuit of truth, and the most impatient under the yoke of fetters
unwillingly worn, so neither this young monk nor his still more
youthful companion could be content to drift on without looking
into the stirring questions of the day for themselves.