Now they bowed their heads and answered that they were, though Eve whispered to Hugh that she misdoubted her of this talk of penance.
“So do I,” he replied, beneath his breath, “but he is a merciful confessor and loves us. From some it might be harder.”
They passed down the stairs, followed by Master de Cressi and his sons, into the entrance hall, where Grey Dick stood watching by the door.
“Whither go they?” he asked of Sir Andrew, “for their road is mine.”
“To confession at God’s altar,” answered the old priest. “Do you come also, Richard?”
“Oh!” he replied, “I hoped it had been to breakfast. As for confession I have naught upon my soul save that I shot too low at the Frenchman.”
“Bide where you are, O man of blood,” said Sir Andrew sternly: “and pray that a better mood be given to you before it is too late.”
“Ay, Father,” he answered unabashed. “I’ll pray, and it is as well that one should wait to watch the door lest you should all presently become men of blood against your will.”
Turning to the right, Sir Andrew led them down steps to a passage underground that joined the Temple to the Church of the Holy Virgin and St. John. It was but short, and at the end of it they found a massive door which he unbolted, and, passing this door, entered the great building, whereof the silence and the icy cold struck them like blows. They had but two lanterns between them, one of which Master de Cressi and his elder sons took with them to the nave of the church. Bearing the other, Sir Andrew departed into the vestry, leaving Hugh and Eve seated together in the darkness of the chancel stalls.
Presently his light reappeared in the confessional, where he sat robed, and thither at his summons went first Hugh and then Eve. When their tales were told, those who watched in the nave of the splendid building—which, reared by the Knights Templar, was already following that great Order to decay and ruin—saw the star of light he bore ascend to the high altar. Here he set it down, and, advancing to the rail, addressed the two shadowy figures that knelt before him.