"'My lady hath sent me to learn why Magnificat was not sung to-night?'
"'It was sung indeed—so beautifully.'
"'Nay, it ascended no farther than human ken; the singer was only thinking of his own sweet voice.'
"Then they sent that boy away; and, doubtless, he found his consolation amongst troubadours and trouveres. So you see, my children, the heart is everything—not the voice."
"Yet I should not like to sing so badly as to frighten the birds away," said Richard.
So the months passed away; and meanwhile the leprosy made its insidious progress. The red spot on the hermit's hand deepened and widened until the centre became white as snow; and so it formed a ghastly ring, which began to ulcerate in the centre, the ulcer eating deep into the flesh.
Richard's arm was now wholly infected, and the elbow-joint began to get useless. Evroult's disease extended to the neighbouring regions of the face, and disfigured the poor lad terribly.
Such were the stages of this terrible disease; but there was little pain attending it—only a sense of uneasiness, sometimes feverish heats or sudden chills, resembling in their nature those which attend marsh or jungle fevers, ague, and the like. Happily these symptoms were not constant.
And through these stages the unfortunate boys we have introduced to our readers were slowly passing; but the transitions were so gradual that the patient became almost hardened to them. Richard was so patient; he had no longer a left hand, but he never complained.