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And I did so want a veil of sendal of Inde!" "Worse and worse! Come, old man, prithee, measure off the Cyprus, and look out the wimples quickly, or this damsel of mine will leave me never a farthing in my pocket." "And Eva wants a new gown," suggested Margaret. "Oh yes!" said the Countess, laughing. "And so does Marie, and so does Doucebelle, I suppose, and Hawise, I have no doubt.
"But, Hawise, hadst no masses sung for his soul?" asked Maude in loving pity. "Too late," she said, dropping her face upon her hands. "Too late!" "Too late for what?" softly inquired a third voice so gently and compassionately that no annoyance could be felt. Avice was silent, and Maude answered for her. "For the winning of a soul from Purgatory that hath passed thither without housel ne chrism."
Poor, pretty, gentle, timid Cousin Hawise! What had become of her? The next opportunity she had, Maude inquired from Bertram, "What like dame were my Lady of Buckingham's greathood?" Bertram shrugged his shoulders, as if the question took him out of his depth. "Marry, she is a woman!" said he; "and all women be alike. There is not one but will screech an' she see a spider."
"Mistress Drew and Mother be not alike," answered Maude, falling back on her own small experience. "Neither were Hawise and I alike. She would alway stay at holy Mary her image, to see if the lamp were alight; but I the saints forgive me! I never cared thereabout. So good was Cousin Hawise."
But what shall give back a dead heart or a lost soul? Can thy love pass such death as this, Maude Gerard?" "Madam, I said never unto your Ladyship that Hawise Gerard was kinswoman of mine. How wit you the same?" A faint, soft smile, very unlike her usual one, so bright and cold, flickered for a moment on the lips of the Lady de Narbonne. "Not too far gone for that, Cousin Maude," she said.
Cousin Hawise fair, gent, shamefaced, loving, holy! come back to me, and speak with the olden voice, and give me to wit what terrible thing hath been, to take away thyself, and leave but this instead of thee!" Maude's own earnestness was so intense, that she felt as if her passionate words must have moved a granite mountain; but they fell cold and powerless upon Avice de Narbonne.
She really could not understand what Beatrice wanted. If the priest or the Church they were very much the same thing told her what to do, could she not rest and be thankful? It was a great deal less trouble than everlastingly thinking for one's self. "No one of any note ever thinks for himself," chimed in Hawise. "Then I am glad I am not of any note!" bluntly responded Beatrice. "You a De Malpas!
I would have given my hopes of heaven if I'd had any, you know to go and paddle with 'em. Jolly party you were, my dear jolly old plump papa, rosy mamma and Philippa like a young tree, and Melusine and Hawise bright as apples; and then Vicky and you little dears, you were. I was like a spent salmon, I believe, lantern jawed, hollow-eyed little devil, as solitary as sin."
"But, Father, she does not know the five commandments of holy Church. Nay, she asks what `the Church' means." "If she be in the Church, she can wait to know it. Thy garments will not keep thee less warm because thou hast never learned how to weave them." Hawise did not reply, but she looked unconvinced.
He ended thus, almost abruptly. The chapel was empty, and the congregation were critical. Earl Hubert thought that Father Bruno had a good flow of language, and could preach an excellent discourse. The Countess would have preferred a different subject: it was so melancholy! Sir John thought it a pity that man had been wasted on the Church. Hawise supposed that he had said just what was proper.
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