SILVER CROSS

Copyright, 1922
By Little, Brown, and Company.

All rights reserved
Published March, 1922

Printed in the United States of America

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SILVER CROSS
CHAPTER I

Henry the Seventh sat upon the throne.

The town of Middle Forest had long sincepushed the forest from all sides. Its streets,forked as lightning, ran up to the castle and downto the river. The river here was near its mouth,and wide. The bridge that crossed it had manyarches. Below the bridge quite large craft, whiteand brown and dull red, sailed or dropping sail,came to anchor. Answering to hour and weatherthe water spread carnation, gold, sapphire, jade,opal, lead and ebony. Now it slept glassy, andnow wind made of it a fretful, ridged thing. Thenote of the town was a bleached grey, but withstrong splashes of red and umber. A sharp,steep hill upheld the castle that was of middlesize and importance, built by the lords Montjoyand held now by William of that name.

Behind the town a downward sloping woodtied the castle hill to fields and meadows. Thesmall river Wander ran by these on its way tojoin the greater stream. Up the Wander, twoleagues or so, in a fertile vale couched the Abbey[Pg 4]of Silver Cross. Materially speaking, a knot ofstone houses for monks—Cistercians, WhiteMonks—a stately stone house for God and hisSon and Mary; near-by a quite unstately hamlet,timber, daub and thatch, grown haphazard bychurch and cloister; many score broad acres,wood and field, stream and pasture, mill, forge,weirs, and a tenant roll of goodly length,—suchwas Silver Cross. So far as physical possessionswent what in this region Montjoy did not holdSilver Cross did and what the two did not holdMiddle Forest had managed to wrest from themin Henry Sixth’s time. Silver Cross had, too,immaterial possessions. But once she had beenwealthier here than she was now. That time hadbeen even with a time of material poverty. Nowshe had goods, but she did not have so much sanctity.Yet there were values still, marked with thatother world’s seal; it is useless to doubt that.

The thorn in Silver Cross’ flesh was not nowMontjoy nor Middle Forest, with both of whomshe had for years lived in amity. The thorn wasthe Friary of Saint Leofric—Dominican—acrossthe river from Middle Forest, but tied toit by the bridge, holding its lands well away fromMontjoy and Silver Cross, but rival nevertheless,with an eye to king’s favour, cardinal’s favour,and bidding latterly, with a distinctness, for popular[Pg 5]...