“Father, I bring no glad tidings; my news be all bad news! Ivo Taille-Bois is coming against us to complete his iniquities, by finishing our destruction; and the Abbat[15] and our faithful brethren at Crowland are harassed and oppressed themselves, and cannot help us!” The faces of the monks grew very long; but they all said in one voice, “Elfric, thou dreamest. Elfric, thou speakest of things that cannot be; for hath not my Lord Abbat obtained the king’s peace, and security for the lives of all his flock and the peaceful possession of all our houses, succursal cells, churches and chapels, farms and lands whatsoever, together with our mills, fisheries,[16] stews, warrens, and all things appertaining to our great house and order?”[17] One of the primary duties imposed upon novices was to be silent when the elders spake. Elfric stood with his hands crossed upon his breast and with his eyes bent upon the floor, until his superior said “Peace, brothers! let there be silence until the youth hath reported what he hath heard and seen.” And then turning to Elfric, Father Adhelm added, “Bring you no missive from our good Abbat?” “Yea,” said the novice, “I am the bearer of an epistle from my Lord Abbat to your reverence; and lo! it is here.” And he drew forth from under his inner garment a round case made of tin, and presented it most respectuously to the superior. “I am enduring the pains of the body as well as the agony of the spirit,” said the superior, “and my swollen right hand refuses its office; brother Cedric, undo the case.” Cedric took the case, opened it, took out a scroll of parchment, kissed it as if it had been a relic, unrolled it, and handed it to the superior. “Verily this is a long missive,” said the superior, running his eyes over it, “and alack, and woe the while, it commenceth with words of ill omen! Brethren my eyes are dim and cannot read by twilight:[18] the body moreover is faint, I having fasted from everything but prayer and meditation since the mid-day refection; and then, as ye can bear witness, I ate no meat, but only picked a stewed pike[19] of the smallest. Therefore, brethren, I opine that we had better read my Lord Abbat’s epistle[20] after supper (when will they strike upon that refectory bell?), and only hear beforehand what Elfric hath to say.” The cloister-monks gladly assented, for they were as hungry as their chief, and, not being very quick at reading, were glad that the superior had not called for lights in the cell, and called upon them to read the letter. “Now speak, Elfric, and to the point; tell the tale shortly, and after the evening meal the lamp shall be trimmed and we will draw our stools round the hearth in the hall, and read the abbat’s epistle and deliberate thereupon.”