"Oh, what a saintly creature you must be!" cried Aliz, clasping her hands in admiration. "That you can _prefer_ a holy life! It is given to few indeed to attain that height." "But the holy life does not consist in dwelling in one chamber," suggested Gerhardt, "nor in refraining from matrimony. He that dwelleth in God, in the secret place of the Most High--this is the man that is holy." "It would be well for you, Gerard, and your friends," observed Aliz freezingly, "not to be quite so ready in offering your strange fancies on religious topics. Are you aware that the priests of the city have sent up a memorial concerning you to my Lord the Bishop, and that it has been laid before King Henry?" The strawberry which Gerhardt's tool was just then rounding was not quite so perfect a round as its neighbours. He laid the tool down, and the hand which held the carving trembled slightly. "No, I did not know it," he said in a low voice. "I thank you for the warning." "I fear there may be some penance inflicted on you," resumed Aliz, not unkindly. "The wisest course for you would be at once to submit, and not even to attempt any excuse." Gerhardt looked up--a look which struck all who saw it. There was in it a little surface trouble, but under that a look of such perfect peace and sweet acceptance of the Divine will, as they had never before beheld. "There will be no penance laid on me," he said, "that my Father will not help me to bear. I have only to take the next step, whether it lead into the home at Bethany or the judgment-hall of Pilate. The Garden of God lies beyond them both." Aliz looked at him as if he were speaking a foreign tongue. "Gerard," she said, "I do hope you have no foolish ideas of braving out the censure of the Bishop. Such action would not only be sin, but it would be the worst policy imaginable. Holy Church is always merciful to those who abase themselves before her,--who own their folly, and humbly bow to her rebuke. But she has no mercy on rebels who persist in their rebellion,--stubborn self-opinionated men, who in their incredible folly and presumption imagine themselves capable of correcting her." "No," answered Gerhardt in that same low voice. "She has no mercy." "Then I hope you see how very foolish and impossible it would be for you to adopt any other course than that of instant and complete submission?" urged Aliz in a kinder tone. Gerhardt rose from his seat and faced her.