CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | Cap and Bells | [1] |
| II. | The Fool’s Entry | [19] |
| III. | Sweet Bondage | [35] |
| IV. | A Woman’s Will | [46] |
| V. | Good Comradeship | [54] |
| VI. | Balda the Witch | [68] |
| VII. | Sanctuary | [83] |
| VIII. | Council at Sangdieu | [91] |
| IX. | The Casting of the Net | [101] |
| X. | Withered Roses | [111] |
| XI. | Outcaste | [124] |
| XII. | The Wanderer | [135] |
| XIII. | Castle Syrtes | [145] |
| XIV. | The Quest | [160] |
| XV. | Simon of the Bees | [169] |
| XVI. | Illusion | [184] |
| XVII. | Aphorisms | [190] |
| XVIII. | The Sage | [205] |
| XIX. | The Choice | [214] |
| XX. | Vibrations | [229] |
| XXI. | Moon Ritual | [239] |
| XXII. | Devil Worship | [251] |
| XXIII. | Abbot Hilary | [265] |
| XXIV. | At Dieuporte | [279] |
| XXV. | An Orchard Egoist | [287] |
| XXVI. | Aelred’s Belief | [297] |
| XXVII. | The Recluse | [308] |
| XXVIII. | In the Forest | [323] |
| XXIX. | Easter Eve and Easter Morning | [332] |
“There was a man seeking Peace.”
Fiona Macleod.
The Jester
CHAPTER I
CAP AND BELLS
NICHOL the Jester having left this world for, we trust, a better, and thereto we cry “God rest his soul,” Peregrine his son reigned in his stead.
This was in accordance with custom. Six times had cap and bells descended from father to son: we see Peregrine as the seventh inheritor thereto, which, perchance, holds some significance. Pythagorus would doubtless have told us it held much; would have told us we find in seven the last of the limited numbers, a mere step from it to the free vibrations. Also he would have seen double significance in that Peregrine’s own name held the same vibration. And who are we to say him nay?