After which, she put herself utterly upon
the judgment of the Church. And meanwhile, she desired and prayed that she
might be allowed to remain at large in the said monastery of Crowland, not
leaving the precincts thereof, without special leave given by the Abbot
and prioress in one case between her and them reserved; to wear garments
of hair-cloth; to fast all the year on bread and water; and to be
disciplined with rods or otherwise, at such times as the prioress should
command, and to such degree as her body, softened with carnal luxury,
could reasonably endure. And beyond--that, being dead to the world, God
might have mercy on her soul.
And she meant what she said. The madness of remorse and disappointment, so
common in the wild middle age, had come over her; and with it the twin
madness of self-torture.
The priest read, and trembled; not for Torfrida: but for himself, lest she
should enchant him after all.
"She must have been an awful sinner," said he to the monks when he got
safe out of the room; "comparable only to the witch of Endor, or the woman
Jezebel, of whom St. John writes in the Revelations."
"I do not know how you Frenchmen measure folks, when you see them; but to
our mind she is,--for goodness, humility, and patience comparable only to
an angel of God," said Abbot Ulfketyl.
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