Pabo, the Priest: A NovelBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Pabo, the Priest: A Novel
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Great Britain -- History -- Henry I, 1100-1135 -- Fiction; Priests -- Fiction; Wales -- Fiction
"But his fatherliness holds that Pabo the Archpriest was burnt."
"And we know that he was not."
"If there be found one calling himself Pabo--and he is in no mighty
desire that such should be discovered--then let him be esteemed an
impostor--a false Pabo."
"How so?"
The chaplain looked at the men and did not answer.
"But none has as yet been discovered," said Rogier.
"Do not press to find one--not in this manner."
"I shall not desist till he is given up. I have said so, and will be as
good as my word."
As he spoke, a face looked in at the door, then, after an inspection, a
body followed, and Goronwy approached stealthily.
He stood before Cadell with his eyes twinkling with malevolence, and his
sharp white face twitching with excitement, nodding his head, he said--
"He is here--he, Pabo, and she also whom the great Baron, the bishop's
brother, desires; they are both here. Know well that it is I who have
told you this, and it is I who claim the reward."
"The reward!"
"Aye, the Archpriesthood, which thou wilt resign for a rich benefice.
Let me tell thee--here thou canst not live. They will hate thee, they
will not receive the Sacraments from thy hand, they will baptize their
children themselves rather than commit them to thee. The word of God,
coming from thy lips, will have lost all savor. They will die and be
buried on the mountains under cairns, as in the old pagan times, rather
than have thee bless their graves. No--this is no place for thee. What
the captain has done has driven barbed iron into their souls; they will
have none of thee. But I am of the stock of Cunedda--me they will
welcome, and I will be the bishop's henchman."
"Pabo here!" exclaimed Cadell, and looked round at Rogier, who had
understood nothing that had passed in this brief colloquy, as it had
been spoken in Welsh. The man who did understand the tongue was too
deeply engrossed in his game to hearken.
"Aye, aye, Pabo is here--he and Morwen. I have just seen them; they came
together down the glen, and are in the house of Howel ap John. Be speedy
and have them secured, or they may again escape. Pabo is for you--and
for him," he pointed to the Norman captain, "for him the comely Morwen,
whom he has been looking for. Say, didst thou obtain for me the promise
from the bishop?"
"What says this misshapen imp?" asked Rogier.
Then the young man sidled up to him, and, plucking at his sleeve and
pointing through the door, said: "Là--Pabo! Morwen, là!"
"By the soul of the Conqueror," exclaimed the Norman, "if that be so,
Pabo shall be strung up at the door of his church at daybreak!"
Turning to his men, with his hand he brushed the knucklebones off the
board. "Ye shall conclude the game later--we have higher sport in view
now."
The men started to their feet with oaths, angry at the interruption,
especially he who considered that he had won an advantage over his
fellow.
"I would have cornered him in three moves!" he shouted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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