CHAPTER LI
CHAPTER
I. THE SUBTERRANEAN WAY
II. SISTER MARY ANTONY DISCOURSES
III. THE PRIORESS PASSES
IV. "GIVE ME TENDERNESS," SHE SAID
V. THE WAYWARD NUN
VI. THE KNIGHT OF THE BLOODY VEST
VII. THE MADONNA IN THE CLOISTER
VIII. ON THE WINGS OF THE STORM
IX. THE PRIORESS SHUTS THE DOOR
X. "I KNOW YOU FOR A MAN"
XI. THE YEARS ROLL BACK
XII. ALAS, THE PITY OF IT!
XIII. "SEND HER TO ME!"
XIV. FAREWELL HERE, AND NOW
XV. "SHARPEN THE WITS OF MARY ANTONY"
XVI. THE ECHO OF WILD VOICES
XVII. THE DIMNESS OF MARY ANTONY
XVIII. IN THE CATHEDRAL CRYPT
XIX. THE BISHOP PUTS ON HIS BIRETTA
XX. HOLLY AND MISTLETOE
XXI. SO MUCH FOR SERAPHINE
XXII. WHAT BROTHER PHILIP HAD TO TELL
XXIII. THE MIDNIGHT ARRIVAL
XXIV. THE POPE'S MANDATE
XXV. MARY ANTONY RECEIVES THE BISHOP
XXVI. LOVE NEVER FAILETH
XXVII. THE WOMAN AND HER CONSCIENCE
XXVIII. THE WHITE STONE
XXIX. THE VISION OF MARY ANTONY
XXX. THE HARDER PART
XXXI. THE CALL OF THE CURLEW
XXXII. A GREAT RECOVERY AND RESTORATION
XXXIII. MARY ANTONY HOLDS THE PORT
XXXIV. MORA DE NORELLE
XXXV. IN THE ARBOUR OF GOLDEN ROSES
XXXVI. STRONG TO ACT; ABLE TO ENDURE
XXXVII. WHAT MOTHER SUB-PRIORESS KNEW
XXXVIII. THE BISHOP KEEPS VIGIL
XXXIX. THE "SPLENDID KNIGHT"
XL. THE HEART OF A NUN
XLI. WHAT THE BISHOP REMEMBERED
XLII. THE WARNING
XLIII. MORA MOUNTS TO THE BATTLEMENTS
XLIV. "I LOVE THEE"
XLV. THE SONG OF THE THRUSH
XLVI. "HOW SHALL I LET THEE GO?"
XLVII. THE BISHOP is TAKEN UNAWARES
XLVIII. A STRANGE CHANCE
XLIX. TWICE DECEIVED
L. THE SILVER SHIELD
LI. TWO NOBLE HEARTS GO DIFFERENT WAYS
LII. THE ANGEL-CHILD
LIII. ON THE HOLY MOUNT
LIV. THE UNSEEN PRESENCE
LV. THE HEART OF A WOMAN
LVI. THE TRUE VISION
LVII. "I CHOOSE TO RIDE ALONE"
LVIII. THE WARRIOR HEART
LIX. THE MADONNA IN THE HOME
LX. THE CONVENT BELL
The White Ladies of Worcester
CHAPTER I
THE SUBTERRANEAN WAY
The slanting rays of afternoon sunshine, pouring through stone arches, lay in broad, golden bands, upon the flags of the Convent cloister.
The old lay-sister, Mary Antony, stepped from the cool shade of the cell passage and, blinking at the sunshine, shuffled slowly to her appointed post at the top of the crypt steps, up which would shortly pass the silent procession of nuns returning from Vespers.
Daily they went, and daily they returned, by the underground way, a
passage over a mile in length, leading from the Nunnery of the White
Ladies at Whytstone in Claines, to the Church of St. Mary and St.
Peter, the noble Cathedral within the walls of the city of Worcester.
Entering this passage from the crypt in their own cloisters, they walked in darkness below the sunny meadows, passed beneath the Fore-gate, moving in silent procession under the busy streets, until they reached the crypt of the Cathedral.
From the crypt, a winding stairway in the wall led up to a chamber above the choir, whence, unseeing and unseen, the White Ladies of Worcester daily heard the holy monks below chant Vespers.
To Sister Mary Antony fell the task of counting the five-and-twenty veiled figures, as they passed down the steps and disappeared beneath the ground, and of again counting them as they reappeared, and moved in stately silence along the cloister, each entering her own
