Directly ahead, in the doorway opening onto the cloister, stood Father Benedict.
CHAPTER
14
AN ASSIGNMENT FOR PENNY
Father Benedict’s face was as expressionless as a marble statue, but his dark eyes smoldered with anger.
Ignoring Penny and Louise for the moment, he fixed the cringing Julia with stern gaze.
“Did I not order you to remain in the kitchen?” he demanded. His voice was low, almost purring. Nevertheless, the woman acted as if she had been lashed with a whip.
Mumbling unintelligibly, she scurried off down the covered passageway along the side of the cloister, and disappeared through another doorway.
“Please, it wasn’t Julia’s fault that she was here,” said Penny, feeling sorry for the unfortunate woman. “Louise and I called for help and she came to assist us.”
“Yes, we were locked in the study,” added Louise. “If she hadn’t come to our rescue, we would have been there yet.”
“Do I understand you to say you were locked in?” asked the monk, his shaggy eyebrows lifting in astonishment. “The door sticks sometimes.”
“It was locked,” interposed Penny quietly. “We tried several times to open it. Julia finally let us out with a key.”