"Yes, but I don't want to talk about that now," Mark said.
"Nor do I," said Brother George. "I want to get on with my ploughing."
Mark saw that it was as useless to argue with him as attempt to persuade the chaplain to stay. He turned sadly away, and walked back with heavy steps towards the Abbey. Overhead, the larks, rising and falling upon their fountains of song, seemed to mock the way men worshipped Almighty God.
CHAPTER XXIX
SUBTRACTION
Mark had not spent a more unhappy Easter since the days of Haverton House. He was oppressed by the sense of excommunication that brooded over the Abbey, and on the Saturday of Passion Week the versicles and responses of the proper Compline had a dreadful irony.
V. O King most Blessed, govern Thy servants in the right way.
R. Among Thy Saints, O King most Blessed.
V. By holy fasts to amend our sinful lives.
R. O King most Blessed, govern Thy Saints in the right way.
V. To duly keep Thy Paschal Feast.
R. Among Thy Saints, O King most Blessed.
"Brother Mark," said Brother Augustine, on the morning of Palm Sunday, "did you notice that ghastly split infinitive in the last versicle at Compline? To duly keep. I can't think why we don't say the Office in Latin."
Mark felt inclined to tell Brother Augustine that if nothing more vital than an infinitive was split during this holy season, the Community might have cause to congratulate itself. Here now was Brother Birinus throwing away as useless the bundle of palms that lacked the blessing of a priest, throwing them away like dead flowers.