“Then usually with his full consent, for the cloister can be a promisingcareer, too, But the babes in arms—no, that way is too easily abused.”

“Do you think we shall get this one in a few years, on Father Abbot’sterms?” wondered Cadfael.

“I doubt it. If he’s placed here to school, his sire will have to pay forhim.” Brother Paul, who could discover an angel within every imp he taught, wasnevertheless a sceptic concerning their elders. “Had we accepted the boy as anoblate, his keep and all else would be for us to bear. I know the father. Adecent enough man, but parsimonious. But his wife, I fancy, will be glad enoughto keep her youngest.”

They were at the entrance to the cloister, and the mild green twilight oftrees and bushes, tinted with the first tinge of gold, hung still andsweet-scented on the air. “And the other?” said Cadfael. “Aspley—that should besomewhere south, towards the fringes of the Long Forest, I’ve heard the name,but no more. Do you know the family?”

“Only by repute, but that stands well. It was the manor steward who camewith the word, a solid old countryman, Saxon by his name—Fremund. He reportsthe young man lettered, healthy and well taught. Every way a gain to us.”

A conclusion with which no one had then any reason to quarrel. The anarchyof a country distracted by civil war between cousins had constricted monastic revenues,kept pilgrims huddled cautiously at home, and sadly diminished the number ofgenuine postulants seeking the cloister, while frequently greatly increasingthe numbers of indigent fugitives seeking shelter there. The promise of amature entrant already literate, and eager to begin his novitiate, wasexcellent news for the abbey.

Afterwards, of course, there were plenty of wiseacres pregnant withhindsight, listing portents, talking darkly of omens, brazenly asserting thatthey had told everyone so. After every shock and reverse, such late expertsproliferate.