But Master Baldock was not disposed to bandy many words with this lady, or give her time to spirit away any of the girls; and so he cut short her argument by saying, "I am but the servant of the Cardinal Legate, and his orders I must obey with all the despatch possible, therefore summon the maidens here. My assistant will take down their names and condition, and where their friends dwell, and then I will give you a week to send them to their homes."
The lady almost screamed at the announcement "Send my children away from me!" she gasped, her strong masculine face working with passion, as she clenched her hands as though she would tear the hair of the man who dared to impose his will upon her.
"Madam, one of your novices has not taken her place with the rest," said Master Baldock.
But she soon found that it was useless to struggle against this man. The calm, benevolent face that she thought gave promise of an easily swayed will behind it, proved to be but as a velvet glove on a hand of steel. The Cardinal always chose his instruments wisely, and they were fitted by nature, as well as by training, for the work they were deputed to perform; and so the lady was obliged to send for the novices, and see them ranged in a line before these two men, and in a moment the absence of one was detected by the elder, almost before Miles himself could feel certain that Cicely was not among them.
"Madam, one of your novices has not taken her place with the rest," said Master Baldock, as he looked keenly along the line of shrinking girls.
"She does not wish to expose herself to the gaze of men," said the lady, defiantly, and at the moment the door was pushed open by an elderly nun, and the faint sound of shrieks were heard in the distance. In a moment Miles had sprung from his seat and darted to the door to go to the rescue, for he felt sure that it was Cicely calling for him to help her; but the Lady-Superior reached the door first, and shut it in his face, and the two stood glaring at each other for a moment in silence.
If she had been a man, or even a woman in secular life, Miles would have hurled himself upon her and dragged her from the door; but her sacred habit was still sacred to him, and he shrunk from laying his hand rudely upon a nun. He shook like a tree beaten in a storm, as he watched the hard relentless face, and thought of his darling being in the power of this woman, and he unable to lift hand or foot to help her, tied and bound as he was by the superstitious reverence, in which he had been reared, for the sacred vocation of a nun.
Even Master Baldock was relieved to see that his assistant had sufficient self-control to keep him from what he would have regarded as the sacrilege of using violence to a pledged recluse, and he said, in a calm tone, "My friend would fain have saved the lady from the peril she must have been in, but doubtless the holy sisters of this house have gone to her relief."
"Of course they have," replied the lady, haughtily, and she remained master of the field, while Miles felt himself hopelessly beaten.