Among them stood Lord De Freston, foremost in the neighborhood of Ipswich, one of the first to institute that inquiry among the learned monks of Alneshborne, which led to the conversion of Prior John, and to the enlightenment of his fraternity. It has been stated that he was very intimate with the learned John. That intimacy had increased since the marriage of his daughter, and had been productive of much intercourse between the domains of the priory and those of De Freston. It was no surprise to Latimer or his wife, when they arrived at the castle, to find John of Alneshborne a guest at the table of their father. It was a surprise to them, indeed, to find this learned monk a convert to the already greatly advanced wisdom of De Freston. For a monk to entertain opinions having the least approximation to the universal spread of Divine truth, was a wonder in that day; but to find one, the head of a learned fraternity, remarkable for retirement, penance, and bodily infliction, become an advocate for the dissemination of the whole Word of God and the Truth, was indeed a marvel. John of Alneshborne was a rare instance of humility, and though he was respected by all the religious houses with which he was connected, both in England and on the Continent, his views gained him many enemies, much persecution, his final ejection from his priory; but a happy rest in the mansion of his friend and patron, Lord De Freston, who had been instrumental in leading this learned man to a far more liberal view of divinity than the life of solitary nothingness which he spent within the cloistered walls of his establishment. As he had been conducive to his study of the Scriptures, and of the early usages of the Christian church, contrasted with the presumption of the Popes and their universal subjugation of men's consciences to dogmas, instead of doctrine, and all their outward prostrations, impositions, fooleries, idolatries, and indulgences, in the place of inward purification and love of God and man, so when he was degraded and deprived of his power, this noble lord was the first to open his doors, and say, 'My house is your home.' These events transpired after the period of which this narrative is now treating. But the way was then preparing even when Ellen and her husband paid their first visit of any length to the hall of their youth. 'Ha! Prior John here!' exclaimed Latimer. 'It gives me great joy to see thee on this side of the water. I thought I should one day see thee here and shake thee by the hand in our father's mansion; and here thou art. Ellen, here is an old friend with a new face.' The monk started, for even then he felt it strange that his countenance should in the least betray the alteration of his heart and mind. 'How dost thou call my face new, my son? Am I grown more grey; or are the lines of my features become more sharp?'