Father Thomas rose and laid his hand on Avice’s head. His words, as coming from a priest, rather surprised her.
“My child,” he said softly, “let us pray for each other.”
Avice stood looking out of the window after him as he went down the street.
“I wonder,” she said to herself, “if our Lord ever turned away thus because Father Thomas’s chamber was not clean! He seemed to know what it was so well—yet how could such a good, holy man know anything about it?”
Note 1. Aubrey is now a man’s name only, but in the earlier hall of the Middle Ages it was used for both sexes.
Note 2. This collect was slightly altered from that in the Sarum Missal. The form here quoted is the older one.