"What is it?"
"A letter addressed to me by the murdered prior of St. Wilfred's Priory, who perished in the flames on the fatal night of which we have heard so much."
"Its date?"
"The night in Ascensiontide, three years agone, in which the prisoner left his stepfather's protection and made a vain attempt to reach me at Oxenford, striving to bear the missive of which this is a copy."
"And the original?"
"Fell into the possession of the late baron, his stepfather, after Eustace, Count of Blois, had borne the lad back again by force."
"Hast thou satisfied thyself of the authenticity of the copy?"
"I have; it was attested by Prior Elphege himself, in the presence of the Benedictine from whom I received it."
"Then read the letter."
And amidst breathless attention, Geoffrey read: