"I thank you with all my soul," answered the monk. "But I will exact no promises. As you say, you are the best judge."
"Let me speak one more word—for your comfort," she added. "This morning my father returned from the chapel dejected. He is no longer confident that he can strip the azulejos from the wall. Remember, not a single tile must be broken or the buyer will not have them. My father may fail."
"God grant he may," said Antonio fervently.
"You must indulge me," she answered, "if I find it a trifle hard to say Amen."
VI
They found young Crowberry smoking a cigar outside the principal door of the monastery.
"Are the others inside?" Isabel asked.
Young Crowberry meditated a few moments. Then, with his hands clasped behind him, like a dame-school child repeating a lesson, he answered in an absurd monotone:
"I am Abbot of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute;
From the center right down to the say
I am free to behave like a brute."