"I do, indeed; and marvel, my lord," said he, "that I recognised thee not at once; I bear a letter for thee written by hands long since ashes--by our good Prior Elphege, the night before the monastery was burned."
"Tell me, my brother," said Geoffrey, as he took the letter, "dost thou know who burnt the monastery?"
"I do."
"Who, then? All the world names the youth thou didst save."
"Who would accuse the lamb of devouring the wolf? Hugo, sometime baron of Aescendune, did the accursed deed."
"Canst thou prove it?"
"When thou hast read the letter, I have yet another document for thee. I had brought both here to submit to my lord of Canterbury."
It was startling to watch Geoffrey as he read the parchment, the very hairs of his head seemed to erect themselves, and his colour changed from pale to red, from red to pale again.
"My brother," said Lanfranc, "what dost thou read which so disturbeth thee?"
"Read it thyself," said he, giving the letter which he had finished to the primate. "It purports to be the copy of a letter addressed to me three years ago, when I was at Oxenford, but which never reached me. Oh, what a story of damnable guilt! Tell me, man, where didst thou obtain this?"