But now, when a man of
noble birth was to be tried, the whole legal and ecclesiastical
ceremony was carried out with every detail, grotesque or
impressive, which the full ritual prescribed. The distant roll of
church music and the slow tolling of the Abbey bell; the white-
robed brethren, two and two, walked thrice round the hall singing
the "Benedicite" and the "Veni, Creator" before they settled in
their places at the desks on either side. Then in turn each high
officer of the Abbey from below upward, the almoner, the lector,
the chaplain, the subprior and the prior, swept to their wonted
places.
Finally there came the grim sacrist, with demure triumph upon his
downcast features, and at his heels Abbot John himself, slow and
dignified, with pompous walk and solemn, composed face, his
iron-beaded rosary swinging from his waist, his breviary in his
hand, and his lips muttering as he hurried through his office for
the day. He knelt at his high prie-dieu; the brethren, at a signal
from the prior, prostrated themselves upon the floor, and the low
deep voices rolled in prayer, echoed back from the arched and
vaulted roof like the wash of waves from an ocean cavern. Finally
the monks resumed their seats; there entered clerks in seemly
black with pens and parchment; the red-velveted summoner appeared
to tell his tale; Nigel was led in with archers pressing close
around him; and then, with much calling of old French and much
legal incantation and mystery, the court of the Abbey was open for
business.
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