He had a clear, confident voice which had proceeded thus farwith considered force, but without passion, but throbbingindignation robbed him of utterance for a moment when he reachedthe day of the return.

“I was there. I saw what they had made of the holy place.An abomination! A midden! The church defiled, the cloisters anuncleansed stable, dortoir and frater stripped of woodwork to feedfires, all provisions taken away, all those valuables we had notime or warning to remove, stolen. Lead stripped from roofs, roomsleft open to the weather, to rain and frost. Not so much as a potfor cooking, or a service book or a slip of vellum. Ruinous walls,an emptiness, a barren void. All this we have undertaken to rebuildand make more glorious than before, but we cannot do it alone.Abbot Walter has even given up much of his own wealth to buy foodfor the people of our villages, for harvest there has been none.Who could till the fields with death for ever at his heels? Evenfrom the poorest of the poor those malefactors extorted the lastwretched possession, and if there was nothing left to steal, theykilled.”

“We have heard, all too truly, of the terror let loose onall your countryside,” said Abbot Radulfus. “With griefwe have heard it, and prayed an end to it. Now that that end iscome, there is no house of our Order that can refuse all possiblehelp to restore what was despoiled. Ask of us what can best serveRamsey’s needs. For I think you are sent as a brother tobrothers, and within this family of ours injury to one is injury toall.”

“I am sent to ask help from this house and from any amongthe laity who may be moved to do a deed of grace, in alms, inskills, if there are any in Shrewsbury experienced in building andwilling to work for some weeks far from home, in materials, inwhatever aids may avail for our restoration and the benefit of thesouls of the generous. For every penny and every prayer Ramsey willbe grateful. To that end, I ask leave to preach once here in yourchurch, and once, with the permission of sheriff and clergy, at theHigh Cross in Shrewsbury, so that every goodman of the town maysearch his heart and give what he is moved to give.”