“Yes, yes, I have not forgotten.” Abbot Heribert looked small, dignified butresigned, standing before them with a scroll of his own gripped in both hands.“There is something I have to announce to you all. These necessary documentscannot be sealed today, for sufficient reason. It may well be that they are nowbeyond my competence, and I no longer have the right to conclude any agreementfor this community. I have here an instruction which was deliveredto me yesterday, from Westminster, from the king’s court. You all know thatPope Innocent has acknowledged King Stephen’s claim to the throne of thisrealm, and in his support has sent over a legate with full powers, Alberic,cardinal-bishop of Ostia. The cardinal proposes to hold a legatine council inLondon for the reform of the church, and I am summoned to attend, to accountfor my stewardship as abbot of this convent. The terms make clear,” saidHeribert, firmly and sadly, “that my tenure is at the disposal of the legate.We have lived through a troubled year, and been tossed between two claimants tothe throne of our land. It is not a secret, and I acknowledge it, that hisGrace, when he was here in the summer, held me in no great favour, since in theconfusion of the times I did not see my way clear, and was slow to accept hissovereignty. Therefore I now regard my abbacy as suspended, until or unless thelegatine council confirms me in office. I cannot ratify any documents oragreements in the name of our house. Whatever is now uncompleted must remainuncompleted until a firm appointment has been made. I cannot trespass on whatmay well be another’s field.”

He had said what he had to say. He resumed his seat and folded his handspatiently, while their bewildered, dismayed murmurings gradually congealed and