“And the Blessed Sacrament?” asked Chris.
“A priest was sent for this morning to carry It away to a church; I know not which.”
Sir James described the method of destruction.
They were beginning with the apse and the chapels behind the high altar. The ornaments had been removed, the images piled in a great heap in the outer court, and the brasses had been torn up. There were half a dozen masons busy at undercutting the pillars and walls; and as they excavated the carpenters made wooden insertions to prop up the weight. The men had been brought down from London, as the commissioners were not certain of the temper of the Lewes people. Two of the four great pillars behind the high altar were already cut half through.
“And Ralph?”
The old man’s face grew tense and bitter.
“I saw him in the roof,” he said; “he made as if he did not see me.”
They were half-through dinner before Nicholas joined them. He was flushed and dusty and furious.
“Ah! the hounds!” he said, as he stood at the door, trembling. “They say they will have the chapels down before night. They have stripped the lead.”
Sir James looked up and motioned him to sit down.