Peter, we have conquered, and may sing 'Dominus illuminatio mea' with
humble and thankful hearts."
"I don't know that," said Ascelin, "my Lord Uncle; I shall never sing
'Dominus Illuminatio' till I see your coffers illuminated once more by
those thirty thousand marks."
"Or I," said Oger le Breton, "till I see myself safe in that bit of land
which Hereward holds wrongfully of me in Locton."
"Or I," said Ivo Taillebois, "till I see Hereward's head on Bourne gable,
where he stuck up those Norman's heads seven years ago. But what the Lord
Abbot means by saying that we have done with English saints I do not see,
for the villains of Crowland have just made a new one for themselves."
"A new one?"
"I tell you truth and fact; I will tell you all, Lord Abbot; and you shall
judge whether it is not enough to drive an honest man mad to see such
things going on under his nose. Men say of me that I am rough, and swear
and blaspheme. I put it to you, Lord Abbot, if Job would not have cursed
if he had been Lord of Spalding? You know that the king let these Crowland
monks have Waltheof's body?"
"Yes, I thought it an unwise act of grace. It would have been wiser to
leave him, as he desired, out on the down, in ground unconsecrate."
"Of course, of course; for what has happened?"
"That old traitor, Ulfketyl, and his monks bring the body to Crowland, and
bury it as if it had been the Pope's.
Pages:
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639